Artists Among Us

In this minisode, exhibition curator Adrienne Edwards describes the new Edges of Ailey “extravaganza” dedicated to the life, dances, and enduring legacy of the legendary artist and choreographer, Alvin Ailey.

Through an immersive eighteen-screen video installation, illuminating archival materials, an ambitious performance program, and wide-ranging artworks by eighty-two visual artists, Edges of Ailey explores a titan of modern dance whose impact reverberates across media and time, and whose beloved company, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, remains a global cultural force to this day. Edwards takes us through her impetus and vision for the show and some of the discoveries she made along the way.

More about the exhibition: https://whitney.org/exhibitions/edges-of-ailey

The Ailey Performances: https://whitney.org/AileyPerformances

Associate Curator Jennie Goldstein discusses how Day Clean, a painting by Eldzier Cortor (1916–2015), recently found its way into the Whitney's collection. She describes Cortor's interest in depicting Black American life in the South and how he drew influences from his travels to the Caribbean, African Art, European Surrealism, and American Realism.

More about the exhibition: https://whitney.org/exhibitions/collection-1900-to-1965 

See the art described in this minisode: https://whitney.org/collection/works/67747

In this minisode, teens from the Whitney's Youth Insights Leaders program interview 2024 Biennial artist Holly Herndon. The conversation explores how the artist's identity and creative process are influenced by artificial intelligence (AI). They talk about the ethical use of AI, if AI can elicit an emotional response to art, and the evolution of the art world to include machine learning models as an art form. Visit the Whitney's portal to Internet and new media art, artport, to enter Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst: xhairymutantx, a project that focuses on training data behind AI models, opening new possibilities for its use.

Explore xhairymutantx: https://whitney.org/exhibitions/xhairymutantx

More about the Biennial: https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2024-biennial

Know a teen who might be interested in the Whitney’s programs? Learn more and apply now: https://whitney.org/education/teens/youth-insights

In this minisode, teens from the Whitney's Youth Insights Leaders program interview 2024 Biennial artist Kiyan Williams. Williams has two artworks in the 2024 Whitney Biennial: a large sculpture of a neoclassical building made of brown soil that appears to be sinking into the ground, and a shiny chrome sculpture depicting the gay rights activist Marsha P. Johnson. The teens talk to Williams about what the sculptures mean especially when seen together and at this particular moment in time. 

More about the exhibition: https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2024-biennial

Know a teen who might be interested in the Whitney’s programs? Learn more and apply now: https://whitney.org/education/teens/youth-insights

See the art described in this minisode: https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2024-biennial?section=66

Today we hear from five artists who together form the collective People Who Stutter Create. For their contribution to the 2024 Biennial, the group mobilized the Whitney’s exhibition billboard at 95 Horatio Street, across the street from the Museum and the south end of the High Line. The artists, all of whom stutter, created a public artwork that celebrates the transformational space of dysfluency, a term that can encompass stuttering and other communication differences. In this minisode, we hear from all five artists about their artwork titled Stuttering Can Create Time.

More about the exhibition: https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2024-biennial

See the art described in this minisode: https://whitney.org/exhibitions/people-who-stutter-create

Today we hear from Maja Ruznic about one of her two paintings in the Biennial. She talks about finding beauty in sadness, her path to becoming the artist she is today, and the restorative power of awe.
 
More about the exhibition: https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2024-biennial
See the art described in this minisode: https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2024-biennial?section=53#exhibition-feature

In this minisode, we hear from Cannupa Hanska Luger about his Biennial artwork that takes the form of a tipi inverted and hung from the ceiling of the gallery. But Luger lets us know that, "The tipi is not upside down. The tipi is actually in the right positioning, in right relationship, in a right way in the world if the world isn't as upside down as it is presently."
 
More about the exhibition: https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2024-biennial
See the art described in this minisode: https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2024-biennial?section=37#exhibition-feature

In this minisode, we hear from 2024 Whitney Biennial artist Dala Nasser. Her work is titled Adonis River and she made it along the banks of that river, now called the Abraham River on Mount Lebanon north of Beirut. The work tells the ever-evolving story of that place and its namesake.

More about the exhibition: https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2024-biennial
See the art described in this minisode: https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2024-biennial?section=40#exhibition-feature 

This spring and summer we’ll be sitting down with 2024 Whitney Biennial artists to talk about their work and what it means to be making art in the present unfolding moment. In this minisode, we hear from Eamon Ore-Giron about his series Talking Shit in which he reimagines deities from ancient Peruvian and Mexican cultures in a contemporary context to explore the idea of a living ancestral past.

More about the exhibition: https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2024-biennial
See the art described in this minisode: https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2024-biennial?section=45#exhibition-feature

Two works by artist Kambui Olujimi are currently on view in the exhibition Inheritance, open through February. Olujimi made Hart Island Crew and Your King Is on Fire in 2020 during lockdown and both paintings describe tumultuous moments familiar to us all. We sat down with Olujimi to hear more about these emotive works.

More about the exhibition: https://whitney.org/exhibitions/inheritance
See the art described in this minisode: https://whitney.org/collection/works/64950 and https://whitney.org/collection/works/65005