Experience the Art Event of the Season

The 2026 Whitney Biennial March 8 thru August 23, 2026 at the Whitney Museum of American Art, bringing together 56 contemporary artists, duos, and collectives whose work reflects the ideas, tensions, and possibilities shaping today’s cultural landscape. Held every two years, the Whitney Biennial is the longest-running survey of contemporary American art, first launched in 1932 by museum founder Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. Over the decades it has introduced many influential artists and helped define the evolving story of American art.

For the 2026 edition, artists take over the museum’s galleries with work spanning film, performance, painting, sculpture, photography, digital media, and installation, offering visitors an expansive look at how artists respond to the world today

Curators Shaping the Biennial

This year’s exhibition is co-organized by Marcela Guerrero and Drew Sawyer, with support from assistant curator Beatriz Cifuentes and fellow Carina Martinez.

Guerrero, the Whitney’s DeMartini Family Curator, has focused much of her work on Latinx and Caribbean art and expanding the museum’s engagement with diverse artistic communities. Sawyer, the Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography, brings expertise in photography, queer art histories, and contemporary visual culture.

To assemble the exhibition, the curators visited more than 300 artists’ studios, allowing conversations with artists to guide the selection process rather than imposing a predetermined theme.

Themes and Mood: A World of Interconnection

Rather than presenting a single thesis, the Biennial explores the “strangeness of our times” through interconnected themes of relationship and coexistence.

Artists in the exhibition investigate ideas such as:

• Interspecies relationships and ecological connections

• Family, community, and chosen kinship

• Geopolitical histories and global entanglements

• Technology and digital culture

• Shared mythologies and collective memory

These ideas reflect how artists navigate an increasingly interconnected and complex world. The curators describe the exhibition as highlighting networks of relationships—social, ecological, technological, and political—that shape contemporary life.

Artists to Watch

The Biennial features emerging and established voices from across the United States and beyond, including artists connected to regions shaped by American cultural influence or migration.

Among the participating artists are:

• Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme, whose multimedia work explores politics, memory, and displacement.

• Kamrooz Aram, known for painting and installation that examine cultural identity and modernist aesthetics.

• Joshua Citarella, whose work investigates online subcultures and digital communities.

• Sung Tieu, whose installations reflect histories of migration, labor, and geopolitical structures.

• Filmmaker Mariah Garnett, presenting new video work exploring collaboration, performance, and mythology.

The exhibition also includes a dynamic program of performances, screenings, and public events, expanding the Biennial beyond the gallery walls.

Why the Whitney Biennial Matters

The Whitney Biennial has long served as a barometer of contemporary art in the United States, offering early visibility to artists who often go on to shape the broader art world. From painting and sculpture to experimental media and performance, the exhibition reflects the changing language of art and the issues artists engage with today.

For visitors, the Biennial is an opportunity to experience new ideas, bold experimentation, and emerging voices—all within the striking galleries overlooking the Hudson River in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District.

Plan Your Visit

The Whitney Biennial 2026 opens to the public on March 8, 2026 at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Tickets are available through the museum’s website, where visitors can also explore the full list of artists and public programs.

For anyone interested in contemporary art, the Biennial remains one of the most anticipated cultural events of the season in New York.