Robert Smithson. Casting a Glance: Dancing With Smithson @ Marian Goodman Gallery, Los Angeles - Exhibition Curated by Lisa Le Feuvre

Robert Smithson 

Casting a Glance: Dancing With Smithson

Curated by Lisa Le Feuvre

Marian Goodman Gallery, Los Angeles

8 November 2025 – 24 January 2026

In 1968 Robert Smithson declared: “A great artist can make art by simply casting a glance.” This exhibition takes him at his word. Casting a Glance: Dancing with Smithson invites eighteen artists to join him on the floor as partners who resist, improvise, and extend the rhythm of his thinking.

Robert Smithson with Leonor Antunes, Nairy Baghramian, Daniel Boyd, Tony Cragg, Tacita Dean, Pierre Huyghe, An-My Lê, Steve McQueen, Julie Mehretu, Ana Mendieta, Delcy Morelos, Bruce Nauman, Gabriel Orozco, Giuseppe Penone, Tavares Strachan, Álvaro Urbano, Adrián Villar Rojas, and James Welling.

Casting a Glance tracks Smithson’s trajectory from his early 1960s drawings that confront the crumbling ideals of European Modernism with a queer sensibility to his searing critiques of industrial capitalism and attention to geological timescales, positioning him as both provocateur and visionary. Robert Smithson called for artists to infiltrate corporations, championed the agency of all earth-beings, choosing the exhausted edges of suburbia over charismatic metropolitan centers. His innovative conception of the site/Nonsite dialectic, his redefinition of what sculpture could be, and his conviction that art is a philosophical encounter with the Earth’s surface converge in this vibrant dance among the artists on view.

Rarely seen works by Robert Smithson — chosen in dialogue with the participating artists — capture his restless energy. His drawings of landmark earthworks, pseudo-minimalist sculptures, references to the occult and the erotic, sit alongside renderings of imagined islands and material experiments. Smithson asked urgent questions about place, decay, and the fictions of permanence. Mirror Displacement Indoors (1969), colloquially known as “Dead Tree,” anchors the exhibition. It is comprised of an uprooted tree, with leaves and root ball intact, and double-sided mirrors inserted into the tangle of roots and branches. Over time the tree dries, the leaves fall, the earth falls from the roots, while the fixed structure of the mirrors remain stable. Decay and entropy are key concepts for Smithson, and are threads running through the exhibition.

The eighteen artists gathered here both challenge and align with Smithson’s art and ideas. Tony Cragg’s In No Time (2018) joins works by Leonor Antunes and Álvaro Urbano in a knot of arboreal forms, extending Smithson’s fascination with trees and their mirrored lives. Delcy Morelos’s grounded forms quietly speak to An-My Lê’s charged landscape, which, in turn, suggests a kinship to Smithson’s imagined islands. James Welling’s Barbizon (2025) channels Smithson’s dismissive obsession with constructed landscapes, while Giuseppe Penone’s Geometria nelle mani – ovale (2005) stands in dialogue with Smithson’s reclining, decaying tree. Ana Mendieta’s earthworks resonate with Smithson’s Hypothetical Continents, with both artists employing the photographic image to make their temporal sculptures immutable.

Smithson’s speculative crystal universes are echoed in Pierre Huyghe’s evocation of half-million-year-old selenite, while Tavares Strachan’s redefinition of polar exploration rub against Smithson’s mapping of New Jersey as a different kind of elsewhere. A rarely seen mirror table sculpture from Smithson’s studio supports three hand scaled sculptures by Gabriel Orozco, reflecting the continuity of these mirrored surfaces into the present.

Nairy Baghramian’s Jupon Suspendu (2017) folds her sculptural lexicon into the conversation, gently interrupting Smithson’s hand-built Minimalism. Daniel Boyd’s collages double back on Hercules, pushing against Smithson’s conflation of camp bodies with classical statuary, while two scores by Bruce Nauman ask for a hired dancer to clear a room and telephone the artist. Adrián Villar Rojas’s Return the World X (2012) shares time with Smithson’s Partially Buried Woodshed (1970). Julie Mehretu’s Six Bardos: Luminous Appearance (2018) which meditates on time, memory, and transcendence, is placed in dialogue with the atmospheric veils of color in Smithson’s 1963 painting Tear.

Steve McQueen’s Broken Column (2014) speaks directly to Smithson’s acute attention to materiality and material history, while Tacita Dean’s Salt (A Collection) (2013–14) from the Great Salt Lake slips beside Smithson’s own drawings of Spiral Jetty (1970); both charting the eponymous film. Three moving image works complement the exhibition. East/Coast West Coast, made with Nancy Holt in 1969, is an improvised a dialogue in which Holt and Smithson perform the stereotypical positions of American East Coast and West Coast artists of the late 1960s. Robert Smithson described the thirty-five-minute film Spiral Jetty (1970) as “a set of disconnections, a bramble of stabilized fragments taken from things obscure and fluid, ingredients trapped in a succession of frames, a stream of viscosities both still and moving” – a phrase that reverberates across and through Casting A Glance. Swamp, from 1971, also made with Nancy Holt, is shot in the swamplands of New Jersey, Smithson’s home state, a location he frequently returned to in his work.

Curator Lisa Le Feuvre

Lisa Le Feuvre is a curator, writer, and editor. In 2018 she became inaugural Executive Director of Holt/Smithson Foundation, the artist foundation dedicated to the legacies of artists Nancy Holt (1938-2014) and Robert Smithson (1938-1973).

Lisa Le Feuvre has curated more than seventy-five exhibitions as an institutional and independent curator, edited over thirty books and journals, spoken at 150 museums and universities across the world, and has published more than 125 essays and interviews with artists. Her recent curated exhibitions include For What It’s Worth: Value Systems in Art since 1960 at The Warehouse, Dallas, (2024, curated with Thomas Feulmer); Robert Smithson / Teresita Fernández at SITE SANTA FE, New Mexico (2024, curated with Fernández); at the Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio Nancy Holt: Power Systems and Maria Hupfield: The Endless Return of Fabulous Panther (Biimskojiwan) (2025); and, on display through next year at the Farnsworth Art Museum, Joan Jonas: An Island Departure (with Jaime DeSimone). Le Feuvre’s recent publications include the introduction to the compendium Great Women Sculptors (Phaidon Press) and texts on the artists Henry Moore, Kapwani Kiwanga, Delcy Morelos, Charlotte Moth, Lucia Pizzani, Robert Rauschenberg and Medardo Rosso.

About Holt/Smithson Foundation

Nancy Holt (1938-2014) and Robert Smithson (1938-1973) transformed the world of art and ideas. Holt/Smithson Foundation develops their distinctive creative legacies and is the hub of all things Holt and Smithson. Holt and Smithson recalibrated the limits of art, changing what art can be and where art can be found. Their art, writings, and ideas built the ground from which contemporary art has grown. Collaborating with artists, writers, thinkers, and institutions the Foundation realizes exhibitions, publishes books, initiates artist commissions, programs educational events, encourage research, and develops collections globally from its headquarters in New Mexico.

MARIAN GOODMAN GALLERY

1120 Seward Street, Los Angeles, California 90038

www.mariangoodman.com

Jodi Hauptman: Chief Curator, MoMa, New York - The Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator of Drawings and Prints

The Museum of Modern Art appoints Jodi Hauptman as The Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator of Drawings and Prints

JODI HAUPTMAN

© 2021 The Museum of Modern Art, New York 

Photograph by Peter Ross

The Museum of Modern Art announces the appointment of Jodi Hauptman as The Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator of Drawings and Prints following a comprehensive search by the Museum in partnership with search firm Russell Reynolds. In this role, Jodi Hauptman will guide all aspects of the department’s wide-ranging program, from exhibitions and publications, to acquisitions and research, to The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Study Center—a collection of more than 70,000 drawings, prints, illustrated books, multiples, and ephemera that has been central to MoMA since its founding.

“Jodi is a curator of uncommon clarity and imagination,” said Christophe Cherix, The David Rockefeller Director of The Museum of Modern Art. “Her exhibitions and publications have changed how we look at works on paper, and as The Robert Lehman Chief Curator she will deepen the strength of MoMA’s collection while empowering audiences to connect intimately with art and artists, think more broadly, and discover new connections.”

“I am honored to take on this new role at this pivotal moment,” said Jodi Hauptman. “I look forward to sharing the Museum’s unparalleled collection, collaborating with exceptional colleagues, and illuminating modern and contemporary artists’ innovative, radically experimental, and deeply formative practices on paper—encouraging close looking and inspiring wonder in the infinite possibilities of drawings, prints, books, multiples, and much more.”

Jodi Hauptman most recently served as The Richard Roth Senior Curator in MoMA’s Department of Drawings and Prints. Her acclaimed exhibitions—including Cézanne Drawing; Engineer, Agitator, Constructor: The Artist Reinvented; Edgar Degas: A Strange New Beauty; Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs; Georges Seurat: The Drawings; and this year’s Hilma af Klint: What Stands Behind the Flowers—have illuminated the crucial role of works on paper in modern and contemporary art, revealing fascinating new aspects of an artist’s practice and often providing the essential key to understanding their work more broadly.

Jodi Hauptman has authored and co-edited numerous award-winning publications and has partnered with colleagues in MoMA’s David Booth Conservation Department on fieldshaping technical research. She has contributed to acquisition initiatives that have been transformative for the Museum’s collection, including the avant-garde works of the Merrill C. Berman Collection—with numerous artists represented at MoMA for the first time—and, this year, an extraordinary gift of drawings and paintings by Paul Cézanne from the Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation. Hauptman holds a doctorate in art history from Yale University and earned her A.B. from Princeton University. She was a 2018 Fellow at the Center for Curatorial Leadership.

MoMA - The Museum of Modern Art, New York 

www.moma.org

Mary Savig: Curator-in-Charge for the Renwick Gallery of the SAAM, Washington DC

Mary Savig

Curator-in-Charge for the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Mary Savig

Photo by Libby Weiler 

The Smithsonian American Art Museum has appointed Mary Savig the Fleur and Charles Bresler Curator-in-Charge for the Renwick Gallery, home to the museum’s craft and decorative art program since 1972. Mary Savig, who has served as acting curator-in-charge since January 2024, joined the museum staff in 2020 as the Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft. During her tenure, Savig has continued to guide the direction of the Renwick Gallery’s curatorial program with a roster of acclaimed exhibitions that have contributed new scholarship to the field. As curator-in-charge, Mary Savig will oversee staff, acquire artworks for the museum’s permanent collection and present exhibitions and collection displays that advance appreciation for craft and maker culture at the Renwick Gallery. Savig’s appointment is effective immediately. 

“After a national search, I am delighted to welcome Mary Savig to this role,” said Jane Carpenter-Rock, acting Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. “Her distinctive vision for the state of craft in the United States and dedication to championing its importance within American culture opens up new possibilities for SAAM’s contemporary craft program.” 

Mary Savig is the lead curator for “State Fairs: Growing American Craft,” opening August 22, the first exhibition dedicated to artists’ contributions to the great U.S. tradition of state fairs. Other recent exhibitions that reassess and uplift craft’s relevance to American culture include “We Gather at the Edge: Contemporary Quilts by Black Women Artists” (2025), “Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women” (2024) and “This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World” (2022). 

Previously, Mary Savig was curator of manuscripts from 2013 to 2020 at the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art, where she pursued collections documenting the history of American studio craft and conducted oral-history interviews with Beth Lipman, Preston Singletary and James Tanner. 

Mary Savig earned a master’s degree from The George Washington University and a doctorate in American studies from the University of Maryland, College Park. Her dissertation was titled “Stitches as Seeds: Crafting New Natures.” Savig’s research interests include American studio craft, contemporary craft, American art and material culture. 

RENVICK GALLERY

Pennsylvania Avenue at 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006

americanart.si.edu

Nicole Lampl: Curator of American Art at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, PA

Nicole Lampl Joins The Westmoreland Museum of American Art, in Greensburg, as Curator of American Art

The Westmoreland Museum of American Art announces the appointment of NICOLE LAMPL as Curator of American Art. With 16 years of experience across museums, galleries, academic institutions, and arts education, Lampl’s curatorial work is rooted in scholarly research, interdisciplinary thinking, and a deep commitment to public engagement. In this role, she will work to give voice to diverse perspectives and expand the traditional canon of American art through the presentation of innovative exhibitions and by guiding the Museum’s new art acquisitions.

“I am honored to join The Westmoreland and excited to collaborate with the team to shape a curatorial vision that makes art more inclusive, resonant, and engaging for diverse audiences,” said Nicole Lampl. “At the heart of this work is my commitment to creating meaningful audience-centered experiences and ensuring the Museum is welcoming and relevant to all.”

Nicole Lampl most recently served as the inaugural Director and Curator of the Reeves House Visual Arts Center in Atlanta, where she launched the visual arts program from the ground up—curating over 20 exhibitions and shaping the institution’s identity through strategic planning, community partnerships, and immersive programming. Her past exhibitions have explored intersections of art, science, identity, and social justice, and combined conceptual rigor with accessible storytelling. She has also held curatorial roles at the New Orleans Museum of Art and worked independently on a range of curatorial projects.

Her writing has been published in academic journals, and she has presented her work at conferences across the country. Nicole Lampl holds an MA in Art History from Tulane University and a BA with honors from UC Berkeley, where she double-majored in Art History and Studio Art. Her graduate research on Gustav Klimt was supported by a year-long fellowship at Freie Universität in Berlin.

“We’re excited to welcome Nicole to The Westmoreland in this lead curatorial role,” said Richard M. Scaife Director/CEO Silvia Filippini-Fantoni, PhD. “She brings a forward-thinking approach that aligns with our strategic initiatives to grow our audience, foster belonging, and deepen community engagement.”

THE WESTMORELAND MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART

221 N Main Street, Greensburg, PA 15601

thewestmoreland.org

Lavett Ballard, Amber Robles-Gordon, Evita Tezeno @ Driskell Center, University of Maryland, College Park - "Solace and Sisterhood" Exhibition

Solace and Sisterhood

Lavett Ballard, Amber Robles-Gordon, Evita Tezeno

Driskell Center, University of Maryland, College Park

September 10 - December 10, 2025

Evita Tezeno 

True Sistahs, 2024 

Acrylic and mixed media collage on canvas, 48 × 48 in. 

Courtesy of Luis de Jesus Los Angeles and the artist

The Driskell Center announces the exhibition Solace and Sisterhood, a group exhibition featuring the work of contemporary artists Lavett Ballard, Amber Robles-Gordon, and Evita Tezeno. 

Solace and Sisterhood brings the powerful dynamic of sisterhood to the forefront by showcasing the work of three prominent Black female artists: Lavett Ballard, Amber Robles-Gordon, and Evita Tezeno. Curated by Dr. Lauren Davidson, this exhibit explores the depth of Black sisterhood, highlighting the strength, resilience, and bond that unites these women, both individually and as a collective.

Through their artwork, Ballard, Robles-Gordon, and Tezeno invite viewers into their personal and shared experiences, offering a window into the powerful friendships and sisterhood they have cultivated over the years. Drawing from their own histories and the broader African American and African diasporic narratives, the artists use a diverse range of media — including painting, collage, photography, and mixed media — to reflect on themes of self-identity, Black female beauty, spiritual awakening, and the impact of shared cultural traditions. Their work transcends simple categorizations, questioning conventional perceptions of Black womanhood and challenging stereotypes in both contemporary and historical contexts.

Each artist brings a unique perspective to the exhibit. Lavett Ballard's work explores themes of spiritual and cultural connection, using visual storytelling to reflect on the power of faith and the transformative nature of Black womanhood. Amber Robles-Gordon blends abstraction with personal symbolism, creating intricate and thought-provoking works that delve into the complexities of Black female identity and empowerment. Evita Tezeno's vibrant and layered collage works engage with the intersection of history, race, and Black joy, offering a reflective vision of Black womanhood that celebrates its quiet beauty and strength in the face of societal challenges.

Solace and Sisterhood has been guest curated by Dr. Lauren Davidson, an independent curator and scholar, who notes, “Sisterhood is more than a familial bond — it’s a vital, necessary force for survival and affirmation in the lives of Black women. The work of these three artists goes beyond mere friendship and becomes a manifestation of this sisterhood: a way to reframe narratives, challenge societal expectations, and assert our rightful place in the world.” Works in this exhibition have been generously loaned by the artists, private collectors, Luis De Jesus Los Angeles Gallery, and Morton Fine Art, L.L.C. has been guest curated by Dr. Lauren Davidson, an independent curator and scholar, who notes, “Sisterhood is more than a familial bond — it’s a vital, necessary force for survival and affirmation in the lives of Black women. The work of these three artists goes beyond mere friendship and becomes a manifestation of this sisterhood: a way to reframe narratives, challenge societal expectations, and assert our rightful place in the world.” Works in this exhibition have been generously loaned by the artists, private collectors, Luis De Jesus Los Angeles, and Morton Fine Art, L.L.C. The exhibition will be accompanied by a publication — available for free — with essays by the curator and Dr. Jordana Saggese, as well as full-color images of the works. This exhibition was originally organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Arlington, VA, and is supported in part by the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) and the University of Maryland's Arts for All initiative. It is part of the NEXTNow Fest.

ARTIST LAVETT BALLARD

b. 1970, East Orange, NJ

Lives and works in Willingboro, NJ

Lavett Ballard’s work is in public and private collections, including the US Embassy in Kambala, Uganda, the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University, Stockton University Art Collection and the collections of ABC Studios, CBS Studios, and NBC/Universal Studios. Ballard created two commissioned covers for TimeMagazine: one in March 2020 for the 100th anniversary of Women’s Suffrage and a second in February 2023 to accompany Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson’s essay about her book CASTE: Origins of our Discontent.

Lavett Ballard holds a BA in Studio Art and Art History from Rutgers University and an MFA from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia and is an adjunct professor at Rowan College of South Jersey. Ballard is represented by Galerie Myrtis in Baltimore.

ARTIST AMBER ROBLES-GORDON

b. 1977, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Lives and works in Washington, DC

Amber Robles-Gordon is an Afro-Latina interdisciplinary visual artist whose creations are visual representations of her hybridism: a fusion of her gender, ethnicity, cultural, and social experiences. Her assemblages, large sculptures, installations, and public artwork, emphasize the essentialness of spirituality and temporality within life.

Robles-Gordon’s work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions at the American University Museum (Washington, DC), Morton Fine Art (Washington, DC), Derek Eller Gallery (New York, NY), and the August Wilson African American Cultural Center (Pittsburgh, PA), among other venues, and in group exhibitions across the United States and internationally. She was a resident at the American Academy in Rome in 2019 and a semi-finalist for the Janet & Walter Sondheim Prize in 2022. She holds an MFA from Howard University and a BS from Trinity College.

ARTIST EVITA TEZENO

b. 1960, Port Arthur, TX

Lives and works in Dallas, TX

Evita Tezeno’s collage paintings employ richly patterned hand-painted papers and found objects. They depict a cast of characters in harmonious scenes inspired by her family and friends, childhood memories in South Texas, personal dreams, and moments from her adult life and influenced by the great 20th century modernists Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, and William H. Johnson.

Tezeno’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Pérez Art Museum (Miami, FL), the Dallas Museum of Art, African American Museum of Dallas, Figge Art Museum (Davenport, IA) Embassy of the Republic of Madagascar; and Pizzuti Collection (Columbus, OH) among many others. She is the recipient of a 2023 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and, in 2012, the Elizabeth Catlett Award for the New Power Generation. She is represented by Luis de Jesus Los Angeles.

CURATOR LAUREN DAVIDSON

Dr. Lauren Davidson is an independent art curator and founder of Museum Nectar Art Consultancy, L.L.C. Her research interests include Black cultural aesthetic theory, visual culture, and the influence of place and geographical migration throughout the African Diaspora. Recent curatorial projects include Collecting Community:Millenium Arts Salon at 25 (co-curated with Jarvis Dubois), Chosen Family, The Ties That Bind and Zero Dollar Bill: The Prints of Imar Lyman (co-curated with Jarvis Dubois), and Bria Edwards: More Time in A Day.

DRISKELL CENTER

The David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora

University of Maryland - College of Arts & Humanities

1214 Cole Student Activities Building, College Park, MD 20742

driskellcenter.umd.edu

Primavera 2025: Young Australian Artists @ MCA Australia, Sydney - Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

Primavera 2025: Young Australian Artists

MCA Australia, Sydney

5 September 2025 - 8 March 2026 

EMMALINE ZANELLI

Magic Cave, 2024 

6.5 x 4 x 2.4 m, bird, mouse, rat, cat, dog and 

hermit crab cages, plastic tunnels, toys, LED lights

Installation view, Firstdraft, Sydney

© and courtesy of the artist

Primavera is the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia's annual exhibition of young Australian artists aged 35 and under. Now in its 34th year, Primavera continues to be a significant platform for early-career Australian artists and curators to present exciting new work. Since its inception, the exhibition series has presented the work of more than 250 artists and 30 curators and propelled the careers of many of Australia’s most significant artists. Primavera was initiated in 1992 by Dr Edward Jackson AM, Mrs Cynthia Jackson AM and their family in memory of their daughter and sister Belinda, a talented jeweller who died at the age of 29.

The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA Australia) announces the five artists to exhibit in Primavera 2025: Young Australian Artists, Francis Carmody (VIC/NSW), Alexandra Peters (VIC), Augusta Vinall Richardson (VIC), Keemon Williams (QLD) and Emmaline Zanelli (SA).

Primavera 2025: Young Australian Artists is curated by MCA Australia Curator, Tim Riley Walsh. The artist selection is driven by the theme of society’s relationship to industry and the machine in the contemporary era. The work of the five artists address es technology and mechanical intertwinement in various ways.

About Primavera 2025, Riley Walsh said: 'The selected artists for Primavera 2025 reflect the innovation and sheer talent of the emerging contemporary Australian art world. Over the course of close to 50 studio visits I conducted across the country I saw intriguing shifts in how young practitioners are engaging with a rapidly changing sociopolitical and technological landscape. How this translates into creative practice is the focus of this presentation.'

'My ongoing interest as a curator is art’s power to make us look anew at subjects that typically evade representation or understanding. What is out of view or exceeds our senses. These five artists help broaden our world view and begin to unravel the complexity of the current era.'

Primavera 2025: Young Australian Artists - About the artists

FRANCIS CARMODY

Photo: Tim Herbertson

Francis Carmody 

Born 1998, Gadigal Country/Sydney. Lives and works Naarm/Melbourne 

Francis Carmody thinks of his practice as a form of speculative storytelling. He considers the social structures that underpin our current reality to understand our past and to imagine possible futures. Carmody’s work spans mediums and engages collaborators with expertise across diverse disciplines to investigate historical and natural phenomena. Francis Carmody received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. Between 2022–2024 he was a Gertrude Studio Artist at Gertrude Contemporary, Naarm/Melbourne. Recently he has exhibited work at Gertrude Glasshouse, Conners Conners, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art and Mejia, all located in Naarm/Melbourne.  

FRANCIS CARMODY

Black Swan Event: Incubating (detail), 2024 

Plaster, horsehair, polymer paint, nylon, 

60 x 60 x 30 cm

© and courtesy of the artist. Photo: Christian Capurro

FRANCIS CARMODY

A Relic Remains, 2023 

Installation view, Gertrude Glasshouse, Collingwood 

© and courtesy of the artist. Photo: Christian Capurro

Alexandra Peters 

Born 1990, Warrnambool. Lives and works Naarm/Melbourne 

Alexandra Peters is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Naarm/Melbourne. Her work spans painting, print, sculpture and assemblage, often taking the form of an installation. These arrangements explore the field of expanded painting through the interrogation of support structures and framing devices. Peters completed a Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) at Monash University, Melbourne in 2022, where she was the recipient of the Monash University Museum of Art Award and the Megalo Print Award. Her works have been exhibited throughout Australia and internationally and include recent commissioned presentations at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne and Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne. She has also been featured in exhibitions by 1301SW, Melbourne; Asbestos, Melbourne; NAP Contemporary, Mildura; Perth Institute of Contemporary Art; and Propaganda Network, Tbilisi, Georgia. She is currently part of the studio program at Gertrude Contemporary.

ALEXANDRA PETERS 

Breakneck: Blowback (Source), 2024

Acrylic and water-based ink with screen-print 

medium and paste on leatherette, 250 x 180 cm

(2-panels, each 250 x 90 cm) 

© and courtesy of the artist. Photo: Andrew Curtis

ALEXANDRA PETERS

Installation view, Future Remains: 

The 2024 Macfarlane Commissions, 

Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, 

Naarm/Melbourne, 2024 

© and courtesy of the artist. Photo: Andrew Curtis

ALEXANDRA PETERS

Breakneck: Fenestration (Auto-Extrication), 2024

Acrylic and water-based ink with screen-print 

medium and paste on leatherette,

250 x 480 cm (4-panels, each 250 x 120 cm) 

© and courtesy of the artist. Photo: Andrew Curtis

AUGUSTA VINALL RICHARDSON

© the artist. Courtesy The Commercial, Sydney

Photo: Lucy Foster

Augusta Vinall Richardson 

Born 1991, Naarm/Melbourne. Lives and works Naarm/Melbourne 

Augusta Vinall Richardson makes abstract composite sculptures out of sheet and cast metals, employing industrial materials and processes in a practice underpinned by an ethics of responsibility for objects. Her works recall legacies of minimalism but celebrate irregularities and imperfections, investing especially in textural qualities. Her process begins with hand drawings or the building of cardboard and papier-mâché maquettes. In 2022 Vinall Richardson was awarded a Master of Fine Art by Monash University, Naarm/Melbourne. She has exhibited at La Trobe Art Institute, Djaara/Bendigo, and in the 2024 Melbourne Sculpture Biennial. In 2026, she will present a solo exhibition at Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne. She is represented by The Commercial, Sydney.

AUGUSTA VINALL RICHARDSON

Box Sculpture (side by side), 2025

Stainless steel, 150kg approx., 226 x 99 x 23 cm

© the artist. Courtesy The Commercial, Sydney. 

Photo: Andrew Curtis

AUGUSTA VINALL RICHARDSON

Day by day, 2025 

Bronze, patina, 120kg approx., 93 x 215 x 18 cm 

Private collection, Melbourne

© the artist. Courtesy The Commercial, Sydney

Photo: Andrew Curtis

KEEMON WILLIAMS

Photo: Sam Harrison

Keemon Williams 

Kuku Yalanji, Koa, Meriam, and South Sea Islander peoples. Born 1999, Gimuy/Cairns. Lives and works Magandjin/Brisbane 

Keemon Williams is a Koa, Kuku Yalanji, Meriam Mir and South Sea Islander artist and curator based in Magandjin/Brisbane. His practice considers queer, Indigenous and Australian experiences as lived in the shadow of colonisation. His work often draws on the language of production, as well as memory and humour. Williams has presented solo exhibitions at Kuiper Projects, Brisbane, Milani Carpark Gallery, Brisbane and Northsite Contemporary Arts, Cairns. His work has been featured at the National Gallery of Victoria; Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane; UQ Art Museum, Brisbane; QUT Art Museum, Brisbane; Griffith University Art Museum, Brisbane; and Museum of Brisbane. Williams is currently Assistant Curator, Indigenous Australian Art at QAGOMA, Brisbane. He was previously the Exhibitions Officer at Outer Space in Brisbane from 2022–2025. He graduated from Queensland University of Technology with a BFA (Visual Art) in 2019. 

KEEMON WILLIAMS

Installation view, Boomerangs, 2023

Wurrdha Marra, The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, 2023 

© and courtesy of the artist. Photo: Tom Ross

KEEMON WILLIAMS

Business is Boomin’, 2021

Porcelain, underglaze, glaze, epoxy, 55 x 45 mm 

© and courtesy of the artist. Photo: Kyle Weise

KEEMON WILLIAMS

Business is Boomin’, 2021

Porcelain, underglaze, glaze, epoxy, 55 x 45 mm 

© and courtesy of the artist. Photo: Kyle Weise

EMMALINE ZANELLI

Photo: Thomas McCammon

Emmaline Zanelli 

Born 1994, Tarndanya/Adelaide. Lives and works Tarndanya/Adelaide

Emmaline Zanelli’s work combines elements of video, photography, sculpture and performance. Influenced by absurdism and surrealism, she creates art that seeks humour and meaning in the everyday. Recently, her work has considered themes of labour and youth culture. Emmaline Zanelli completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts at Adelaide College of the Arts in Tarndanya/Adelaide in 2015, and a MA in Photography at the Photography Studies College in Naarm/Melbourne in 2021. Her work has been exhibited in galleries across Australia, including Stills Gallery, Sydney, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Naarm/Melbourne, and the Art Gallery of South Australia, Tarndanya/Adelaide. Her work has been published in the British Journal of Photography and Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, and screened at the Arles Photography Festival in France. In 2022 her video work Dynamic Drills (2019–2021) was selected as the winner of The Churchie Emerging Art Prize. 

EMMALINE ZANELLI

Magic Cave, 2024 

6.5 x 4 x 3.8 m, bird, mouse, rat, cat, dog and 

hermit crab cages, plastic tunnels, toys, LED lights

Installation view, Studios: 2024, 

Adelaide Contemporary Experimental 

© and courtesy of the artist

EMMALINE ZANELLI

I take care of what’s mine (still), 2023–2024

Two channel video, sound, 25:47 minutes, 

Commissioned by Adelaide Film Festival X UniSA 

Samstag Museum of Art EXPAND Lab, 

Supported by Creative Australia 

© and courtesy of the artist

EMMALINE ZANELLI

I take care of what’s mine (still), 2023–2024

Two channel video, sound, 25:47 minutes, 

Commissioned by Adelaide Film Festival X UniSA 

Samstag Museum of Art EXPAND Lab, 

Supported by Creative Australia 

© and courtesy of the artist

EMMALINE ZANELLI

I take care of what’s mine (still), 2023–2024

Two channel video, sound, 25:47 minutes, 

Commissioned by Adelaide Film Festival X UniSA 

Samstag Museum of Art EXPAND Lab, 

Supported by Creative Australia 

© and courtesy of the artist

Primavera 2025: Young Australian Artists - Curator Tim Riley Walsh

TIM RILEY WALSH

Photo: Hamish McIntosh

Primavera 2025 Curator, Tim Riley Walsh, is Assistant Curator at the MCA Australia. Previously, he was Curator in Residence, Gertrude, Naarm/Melbourne, and held roles at Camden Art Centre, London and Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Magandjin/Brisbane. Riley Walsh’s MCA Australia curatorial projects include Data Dreams: Contemporary Art in the Age of AI (2025, co-curator), MCA Collection: Artists in Focus (2025, curatorium) and supporting the presentations of Hiroshi Sugimoto: Time Machine (2024) and Tarek Atoui: Waters’ Witness (2023–24). Outside of the MCA, his recent external projects include Unbecoming, La Trobe Art Institute, Djaara/Bendigo (2025) and You Are Here Too, Institute of Modern Art, Magandjin/Brisbane (co-curator, 2025).

MCA AUSTRALIA

Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

Tallawoladah, Gadigal Country

140 George Street, The Rocks, Sydney NSW 2000

www.mca.com

Lynn Gumpert, Grey Art Museum Director to Retire after a Wonderful Work

NYU’s Grey Art Museum Director Lynn Gumpert to Retire

LYNN GUMPERT in the Grey Art Museum’s new galleries 

at 18 Cooper Square for the exhibition 

Americans in Paris: 

Artists Working in Postwar France, 1946–1962 

Photo: Tracey Friedman / NYU

Lynn Gumpert, who has served as director of New York University’s Grey Art Museum since 1997, will retire in mid-April 2025. During her tenure, the museum (formerly the Grey Art Gallery) has presented more than 80 exhibitions focused on a wide range of topics, from abstract art from the Arab world to downtown galleries in New York City, expanded its collection, and moved to a larger and more accessible location at 18 Cooper Square.

As museum director, curator, administrator, and art historian, Lynn Gumpert raised the profile of the Grey by presenting ambitious exhibitions and engaging with faculty and students from across the university. Thanks to a significant gift from donors Dr. James Cottrell and Joseph Lovett, the Grey Art Museum will open the Cottrell-Lovett Study Center, a research space for scholars of all levels that offers access to the museum’s permanent collection of American, modern Asian, and Middle Eastern art.

NYU President Linda G. Mills said, “The Grey has an impact on New York’s cultural life that has far exceeded its size, with wonderful, carefully curated shows that have delighted art lovers and contributed to Greenwich Village’s—and NYU’s—reputation as a center for the arts.  For more than 25 years, Lynn Gumpert has been the Grey’s steward, as well as an exceptional colleague, a curator of groundbreaking exhibitions, and a guardian of the NYU Art Collection. We thank her, and wish her well.”

Provost Gigi Dopico added: “The scholarship that the Grey has generated over nearly half a century is remarkable. With landmark exhibitions, from The Downtown Show in 2006 to Modernisms: Iranian, Turkish, and Indian Highlights from NYU’s Abby Weed Grey Collection in 2019, the Grey exemplifies New York University’s commitment to innovative ways of looking at art.”

Exhibition highlights organized during Lynn Gumpert’s tenure include Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950s–1980s, Inventing Downtown: Artist-Run-Galleries in New York City, 1952–1965, and Americans in Paris: Artists Working in Postwar France,1946–1962, the critically-acclaimed exhibition that inaugurated the museum’s new location earlier last year.

The Grey Art Museum has also contributed to New York City’s cultural scene by hosting shows that otherwise would not have traveled here. They include The Beautiful Brain: The Drawings of Santiago Ramón y Cajal; Art after Stonewall, 1969–1989; Diane Arbus: Family Albums; and Maya Lin: Topologies.

Lynn Gumpert is co-curator of Make Way for Berthe Weill: Art Dealer of the Parisian Avant-Garde, organized with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Musée de l’Orangerie. It opened at the Grey on October 1, 2024 and is accompanied by a book, Berthe Weill: Art Dealer of the Parisian Avant-Garde (Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris/Flammarion). Lynn Gumpert also edited Pow! Right in the Eye, Weill’s 1933 memoir (University of Chicago Press, 2022), and co-edited Americans in Paris (Grey Art Museum, NYU/Hirmer, 2022).

“It’s been an enormous honor and privilege to lead the Grey Art Museum for more than 28 years. Our holdings of modern Iranian, Turkish, and Indian art donated by our founder Abby Weed Grey in 1975 align wonderfully with New York University’s global vision. Likewise, our exceptional holdings of downtown New York School artworks through the 1990s complements NYU’s Special Collections at Bobst Library,” says Lynn Gumpert. “And, with our recent move from Washington Square East to 18 Cooper Square, our renovated facilities are now much more welcoming.”

Prior to joining NYU, Lynn Gumpert served as curator and senior curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art from 1980–88 and was a consulting curator for The Gallery at Takashimaya from 1992–95. She wrote the first substantial monograph on French artist Christian Boltanski (Flammarion, 1992; 1994), and in 1999, she was honored by the French government with the distinction of the Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters.

Lynn Gumpert earned a BA from the University of California at Berkeley, and an MA in art history from the University of Michigan. A member of the Association of Art Museum Directors, she has served on various boards, including the Hauser & Wirth Institute.

Deputy Director Michèle Wong will be interim director.

GREY ART MUSEUM, New York University 

18 Cooper Square, New York, NY 10003

greyartmuseum.nyu.edu

Hoor Al Qasimi, Biennale of Sydney 2026, Artistic Director

Hoor Al Qasimi appointed as Artistic Director of the 25th Biennale of Sydney, 2026

HOOR AL QASIMI

Photograph: Daniel Boud

HOOR AL QASIMI has been appointed as the Artistic Director of the Biennale of Sydney, scheduled to take place from 7 March to 8 June 2026. Hoor Al Qasimi will collaborate with local communities, artists and academics, whilst drawing on her own international network, to develop and realise the concept for the 25th edition of the Biennale.

As a curator, Hoor Al Qasimi’s focuses on the histories of each place she works in, creating multidisciplinary programming with a collaborative approach and emphasis on supporting experimentation and innovation in the arts. For more than 20 years, she has worked extensively with various mediums including film, music, performance, publications, to bring together all forms of art in conversation.

‘Sydney has a multicultural community at its core, with people from different cultures from across the world choosing and calling this vibrant city as their home,’ said Hoor Al Qasimi. ‘I’m interested in exploring the multifaceted cultures and perspectives within this city, working with local artists and communities as well as bringing new voices to the Biennale. It is an honour and privilege to be nominated and then selected to be Artistic Director of the 25th Biennale of Sydney, which I have been visiting for over a decade now. I have seen the developments over the years, including the amplification of Indigenous voices both local and global, which has made it an essential platform for rewriting art history.’

Hoor Al Qasimi is the President and Director Sharjah Art Foundation, an organisation she founded in 2009 as a catalyst and advocate for the arts around the world. She has been the Director of Sharjah Biennial since 2002, an internationally recognised platform for contemporary artists, curators and cultural producers, and curated Sharjah Biennial 15 in 2023. She was appointed as the President of the International Biennial Association (IBA) in 2017 and serves as the President of The Africa Institute, Global Studies University, Sharjah and President and Director of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial. Al Qasimi was appointed as the Artistic Director of the sixth Aichi Triennale (2025) last July, becoming the first person to be chosen for the role from outside of Japan. She has also co-curated exhibitions at leading organisations around the world, including the Serpentine Gallery in London and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

Source: Sharjah Art Foundation

www.sharjahart.org

Beata America: Curator Biography - Assistant Curator, Zeitz MOCAA

Beata America: Curator Biography

Assistant Curator, Zeitz MOCAA

BEATA AMERICA

Photo Ramiie G

BEATA AMERICA (b. 1994, South Africa) is an Assistant Curator at Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa. She holds a Diploma in Classical music, from Stellenbosch University (2012 - 2015) and a BA Humanities Degree from Stellenbosch University (2016 - 2018), as well as an Honours in Curatorship through the Centre for Curating the Archive, at the University of Cape Town’s Michaelis School of Fine Art (2019).

During her time at Zeitz MOCAA, America has assisted and conducted research for several exhibitions: Only Sun in the Sky Knows How I Feel – (A Lucid Dream) (2021), Soft Vxnxs (2022), Shooting Down Babylon (2022), Indigo Waves & Other Stories: Re-Navigating the Afrasian Sea and Notions of Diaspora (2022), the Zeitz MOCAA Atelier residency by Igshaan Adams titled Not Working (Working Title) (2022), When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting (2022), Past Disquiet (2023), Seismography of Struggle: Towards a Global History of Critical and Cultural Journals (2023), as well as co-curated Seekers, Seers, Soothsayers (2023) with Tandazani Dhlakama. She has also  assisted and contributed to publications that have accompanied these exhibitions. Most recently, she curated The Other Side of Now, a solo exhibition of Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn, which opened in August 2024 at Zeitz MOCAA. 

Beata America curated Rita Mawuena Benissan: One Must Be Seated, which is currently on view at Zeitz MOCAA (13 November 2024 - 5 October 2025)

In 2020, she co-founded the art wine collective Processus with partner Megan van der Merwe, a curator and winemaker collaboration which explores wine as an ephemeral art object and the artistic processes therein.

Biography courtesy of Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town

Zeitz MOCAA - Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa

S Arm Rd, Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town, 8001

zeitzmocaa.museum

Kim Conaty, Chief Curator @ Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City

Kim Conat named Chief Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Kim Conaty 

Photograph by Bryan Derballa

The Whitney Museum of American Art has named Kim Conaty the Nancy and Steve Crown Family Chief Curator. In this new role, effective April 8, Kim Conaty will serve on the Museum’s senior leadership team and participate in shaping its mission and vision. She will oversee the Museum’s curatorial, publications, and conservation departments and assume responsibility for the Museum’s scholarly and artistic program while managing the development of the Museum’s permanent collection and exhibitions.

Kim Conaty has worked at the Whitney since 2017 as the Steven and Ann Ames Curator of Drawings and Prints and recently curated the landmark exhibition Edward Hopper’s New York (2022), one of the most popular and critically acclaimed exhibitions in the Museum’s history. Other Whitney exhibitions include Mary Corse: A Survey in Light (2018), Nothing Is So Humble: Prints from Everyday Objects (2020), and Ruth Asawa Through Line (2023), the first survey of Asawa’s drawing practice. Conaty’s latest exhibition Survival Piece #5: Portable Orchard featuring a major example of 1970s environmental art, opens June 29, 2024, at the Whitney.

In addition to developing leading exhibitions and best-selling catalogues, Conaty also co-directed the development of the Whitney’s Collection Strategic Plan (CSP), a multi-year research initiative to comprehensively assess the Museum’s collection of more than 26,000 works and set priorities for its future. In 2023, with the CSP in place, the Whitney acquired 286 works, including 57 new artists, with a focus on underrepresented areas. As Curator of Drawings and Prints, Conaty has stewarded the Whitney’s holdings of over 15,000 drawings and prints, led the programming of the Whitney’s Sondra Gilman Study Center for prints, drawings, and photographs, and steers the Museum’s Acquisition Committee on Drawings and Prints. She currently serves on the Board of Directors at the Print Council of America (PCA) and plays an active role on its DEAI Committee.

With this appointment following an international search, Kim Conaty joins the Museum’s senior leadership team, led by Alice Pratt Brown Director Scott Rothkopf. Other members include Deputy Director I.D. Aruede, Chief Operating Officer Amy Roth, and Chief Strategy Officer Andrew Cone.

“Kim brings to the role of Chief Curator an extraordinary range of talents. Her brilliance as an exhibition maker is matched by her deep scholarly expertise across the range of the Whitney’s program and collection from 1900 to the present,” said Scott Rothkopf, Alice Pratt Brown Director of the Whitney. “Beyond the Whintey, Kim has contributed generously to the entire museum field as a colleague and mentor, while demonstrating great care for our staff, artists, and audiences. I am thrilled to partner with her—and the entire curatorial team—on the artistic vision for the Whitney’s future.”

“It’s a great honor to take on this leadership role at the Whitney, an institution that has long held a special place for me,” said Kim Conaty. “I’m excited to guide and empower our stellar curatorial team as we continue to shape the Whitney’s collection in meaningful ways and develop dynamic and rigorous exhibitions that tell stories, ask questions, and engage deeply with artists and audiences.”

Kim Conaty’s Whitney exhibitions have traveled nationally and internationally, including the 2019 presentation of Mary Corse: A Survey in Light at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the first-ever exhibition of Edward Hopper’s work in Korea, Edward Hopper: From City to Coast (2023), organized in conjunction with Seoul Museum of Art. Ruth Asawa Through Line was co-organized with the Menil Collection, where the exhibition is currently on view. Earlier in her career, Conaty also served as Biennial Coordinator for the 2008 Whitney Biennial and as a curatorial intern and researcher at the Whitney.

Prior to the Whitney, Kim Conaty was Curator at the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, where she oversaw the museum’s renowned permanent collection of modern and contemporary art and led the curatorial program of special exhibitions, collection installations, and related programming. There, she organized several exhibitions, including Sharon Lockhart I Noa Eshkol (2016) and David Shrigley: Life Model II (2016); commissioned the major site-specific installation Tony Lewis: Plunder (2017); and served as coordinating curator for the first U.S. solo museum exhibition of Joe Bradley, Joe Bradley: A Survey (2017). While at the Rose, Conaty also curated an exhibition for Art + Practice, Los Angeles, Fred Eversley: Black, White, Gray (2016), a focused examination of the artist’s critically important monochromatic sculptures of the 1970s, which opened at A+P and traveled to the Rose.

Before joining the Rose, Kim Conaty served as the Sue and Eugene Mercy, Jr., Assistant Curator in the Department of Drawings and Prints at The Museum of Modern Art, New York. There, she curated Abstract Generation: Now in Print (2013) and served as curatorial assistant on the exhibition Print/Out (2012), both of which proposed a new range of approaches to contemporary print practice. At MoMA, she also collaborated on several exhibitions of postwar and contemporary art, such as Marcel Broodthaers: Retrospective (2016), Contemporary Art from the Collection (2010), Fluxus Preview (2009), and In & Out of Amsterdam: Travels in Conceptual Art, 1960–1976 (2009), among others. In addition to growing the collection with works by artists including Daniel Joseph Martinez, Janice Kerbel, and Pope.L, Conaty led a project team dedicated to MoMA’s Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection and was an active member of the cross­ departmental research initiative C-MAP (Contemporary and Modern Art Perspectives in a Global Context).

Kim Conaty has also held positions at the Clark Art Institute; the Grey Art Gallery, NYU; the Guggenheim Museum; and the Harvard Art Museums, where she organized an exhibition on Marcel Breuer's bent-plywood furniture from the 1930s (2002). A former instructor on modern and contemporary art for MoMA Courses and contributor to several publications, Conaty has authored texts for, among others, the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, LACMA, MoMA, and the Whitney, and has published and lectured on a variety of topics, including Joe Bradley, Wade Guyton, Nadia Kaabi-Linke, Stanley Whitney, and Avalanche magazine, the subject of her Ph.D. dissertation. A recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to Germany in 2003 and a Clark Art Institute Summer Fellowship in 2014, Conaty earned her B.A. from Middlebury College, M.A. from Williams College, and Ph.D. from NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts.

Whitney Museum of American Art

99 Gansevoort Street, New York, NY 10014

whitney.org

Whitney Biennial 2024: Addition of 5 curators for the Film and Performance Program

Whitney Biennial 2024

Addition of 5 curators for the Film and Performance Program

Opens March 20, 2024

The Whitney Museum of American Art announces the addition of five curators to help lead the film and performance program for the 2024 Whitney Biennial. Co-organizers Chrissie Iles and Meg Onli have invited Korakrit Arunanondchai, asinnajaq, Taja Cheek, Greg de Cuir Jr, and Zackary Drucker to join them in developing a Biennial that goes beyond the Museum’s traditional in-gallery presentation to showcase the latest creativity and innovation in art, film, performance, and sound. 

For the first time in Whitney Biennial history, audiences will be able to enjoy elements of the Biennial film program online, as well as during special screenings at the Museum. Artists and curators Korakrit Arunanondchai, asinnajaq, Greg de Cuir Jr, and Zackary Drucker will select filmmakers who highlight a breadth of expression through moving images today. American experimentalist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and curator Taja Cheek will select a group of artists and develop a performance and sound series in the Museum’s galleries and theater space that represents the forefront of contemporary experimental performance and sound.  

“The Whitny Biennial always champions the creativity, talent, passion, and vision of our time.” said Scott Rothkopf, the Whitney’s Alice Pratt Brown Director. “The strength of this edition is highlighted by the visionary curatorial talent of Chrissie and Meg and the incredible collaborators they have invited to broaden the show’s perspectives and amplify its vitality.”

“As we build the 2024 Whitney Biennial, we are fortunate to be shaping the film and performance program in concert with the unique voices of asinnajaq, Greg, Korakrit, Taja, and Zackary,” said Whitney curators Chrissie Iles and Meg Onli. “Film, sound, and performance are such significant mediums for both of us, and we look forward to sharing with our audiences an incredibly robust film program that raises questions about the porousness of boundaries and identities, along with a thoughtful curation of live performance that offers a sensorial experience centered around embodiment. Each film and performance program is deeply interwoven with the ideas coursing throughout the exhibition, articulating many of its themes in cinematic and musical form.” 

Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing opens March 20, 2024, and is the eighty-first edition of the Museum’s landmark exhibition series, the longest-running survey of American art. A constellation of the most relevant art and ideas of our time, the Whitney Biennial is a showcase of contemporary artists working across media and disciplines, representing evolving notions of American art.

ABOUT THE CURATORS 

Film Program

Korakrit Arunanondchai

Photograph courtesy of The Whitney

Korakrit Arunanondchai focuses on the transformative potential of storytelling. With each project, the artist expands his world of interconnected stories through expansive video installations, paintings, sculptures, and performative works. In his work, the idea of collectivity is understood through both the secular and the sacred. A polyphony of storytellers produces a multi-perspectival and non-linear mode of story-telling in Arunanondchai's work. Born in Bangkok and working primarily between Bangkok and New York, he often works with collaborators to assemble audio and visual materials from various sources. In 2018, Arunanondchai co-founded GHOST:2561, a video and performance art triennial in Bangkok, Thailand.

asinnajaq

Photograph courtesy of The Whitney

asinnajaq is from Inukjuak, Nunavik, and lives in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) as a photographer, writer, curator, and filmmaker. She, along with Barbara Fischer, Candice Hopkins, Catherin Crowston, and Jose Drouin Brisbois, was part of the curatorial team that supported Isuma, an artist collective that represented Canada at the 58th Venice Biennale. asinnajaq has also co-created, with Stephern Pushkas, the three-day film festival, Tillitarniit, that celebrates Inuit art and artists. In 2017, she wrote and directed the short sci-fi documentary Three Thousand. She was long-listed for the 2020 Sobey Art Award and co-curated the inaugural exhibition INUA at the Winnipeg Art Gallery – Qaumajuq alongside Kablusiak, Krista Ulujuk Zawadski, and Dr. Heather Igloliorte. asinnajaq organized the Flaherty NYC 2022 fall program Let’s all be lichen.

Greg de Cuir Jr

Photograph courtesy of The Whitney

Greg de Cuir Jr is co-founder and artistic director of Kinopravda Institute in Belgrade, Serbia. He has organized programs at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (London), National Gallery of Art (Washington DC), Anthology Film Archives (New York), Locarno Film Festival, Eye Filmmuseum (Amsterdam), Biennale de Lubumbashi, and many other institutions. 

Zackary Drucker

Photograph courtesy of The Whitney

Zackary Drucker is an American multimedia artist, director, and producer who has dedicated her career to telling stories that expand cultural understanding of difference. Drucker is a trans woman and activist based in Los Angeles who often works collaboratively to share narratives about gender-expansive people and women and humanize their communities and struggles. Zackary Drucker recently directed the Hulu Original documentary Queenmaker: The Making of an It Girl and co-directed the Sundance award-winning HBO original documentary The Stroll and the HBO documentary series The Lady and the Dale. She is an Emmy-nominated producer for the docuseries This Is Me and a producer on Golden Globe and Emmy-winning Amazon original series Transparent. She is also a producer on the science fiction film Biosphere, released by IFC Films. Drucker has performed and exhibited her work internationally in museums, galleries, and film festivals, including the 2014 Whitney Biennial. 

Performance Program

Taja Cheek

Photograph courtesy of The Whitney

 

Taja Cheek, also known professionally as L'Rain, is a curator and musician. She has led performance programs at MoMA PS1, including Sunday sions, an interdisciplinary performance series, and Warm Up, a summer outdoor music series that the museum has hosted since 1998. Prior to her time at MoMA PS1, she worked closely with artists to realize projects at institutions, including Creative Time, Weeksville Heritage Center, and The High Line. She also co-founded a DIY rehearsal and performance space in her neighborhood in Brooklyn that primarily supports independent, improvised, and experimental music. Cheek has previously performed at the Whitney as a part of Kevin Beasley: A view of a landscape. She joined Onyx Collective as a part of Jason Moran’s 2019 solo exhibition performance series and as a member of the ensemble as part of the 2016 perforshake the stars with your song. Under the moniker L'Rain, Cheek is an internationally acclaimed musician whose most recent third album I Killed Your Dog considers what it means to hurt the people you love the most. It earned major praise from the likes of The New York Times, NPR Music, Rolling Stone, and was named Best New Music by Pitchfork.

ABOUT WHITNEY BIENNIAL CO-ORGANIZERS

Chrissie Iles is the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art. She is responsible for helping build the Museum’s comprehensive collection of moving image art. Past exhibitions at the Museum include two major thematic surveys of film and video installation, Into the Light: The Projected Image in American Art (2001) and Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art (2016), and the retrospective Dan Graham: Beyond (2009), co-organized with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. She was co-curator of the 2004 and 2006 Whitney Biennials and curated the film section of the 2002 Biennial. Recent shows include Mountain/Time (2022), a group exhibition addressing ideas of re-mapping, migration, Black and Indigenous geographies, and conceptualizations of time and knowledge, including Korakrit Arunanondchai, Tourmaline, Kandis Williams, Kahlil Joseph, Clarissa Tossin, Maia Ruth Lee, Arthur Jafa, Anicka Yi, Alan Michelson, Ian Cheng, and Mark Leckey. Chrissie Iles is a Graduate Committee member of the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, a Curatorial Studies faculty member at the School of Visual Arts, a Visiting Critic in Columbia University’s Fine Art Department, and a board member of the Julia Stoschek Collection. Recently published writing includes “East German Gothic and Black Second Sight: Unheimliche Histories in Stan Douglas’s Der Sandmann” (Das Minsk, Potsdam, 2022) and “Sacred Systems: The Moving Image Works of Korakrit Arunanondchai” (Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zürich, and Kunsthalle Hamburg, 2022). 

Meg Onli is Curator-at-Large at the Whitney Museum of American Art. In addition to the 2024 Whitney Biennial, Onli will co-curate the Museum’s highly anticipated 2026 retrospective for Roy Lichtenstein, the first New York retrospective for the artist in more than thirty years, with artist Alex Da Corte and Scott Rothkopf, the Alice Pratt Brown Director of the Whitney Museum. Meg Onli was previously co-director and curator of the Underground Museum. Prior, she was the Andrea B. Laporte Associate Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania (ICA Philadelphia). While at the ICA Philadelphia, Onli curated the exhibitions Speech/Acts (2017), Colored People Time: Mundane Futures, Quotidian Pasts, Banal Presents (2019), Jessica Vaughn: Our Primary Focus is to be Successful (2021), and co-curated the retrospective Ulysses Jenkins: Without Your Interpretation (2021). Onli is the recipient of a 2012 Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant from Creative Capital for the Black Visual Archive, a project she founded in 2010 that reviews contemporary Black visual culture. She received a 2014 Graham Foundation Grant and the 2019 Transformation Award from the Leeway Foundation. She was also the inaugural recipient of the Figure Skating Prize, awarded by Virgil Abloh’s Art Space in 2021.

Whitney Museum of American Art

99 Gansevoort Street New York, NY 10014

whitney.org