Artists announced for Whitney Biennial 2026

Opening March 8, 2026, this is the 82nd edition of the Museum’s landmark exhibition series, the longest-running survey of American art. A presentation of the most relevant art and ideas of our time, the artists featured in the Whitney Biennial showcase work across most of the Museum’s gallery space as well as through a robust series of performance and public programs available at the Museum and online. Co-organized by two Whitney curators, Marcela Guerrero and Drew Sawyer, the Biennial presents the work of contemporary artists working across media and disciplines, representing evolving notions of American art.

“Rather than coming to our research for the Biennial with a preconceived container, Marcela and I let our conversations with artists guide us. After more than 300 visits, we found that many of the artists we gravitated toward were exploring various forms of relationality with a particular emphasis on infrastructures,” said Drew Sawyer, the Whitney Museum’s Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography. “In addition to artists from across 25 states, we also invited artists from Afghanistan, Chile, Iraq, Okinawa, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Vietnam, and elsewhere—places marked by the reach of U.S. power. Together, these artists’ work make space for forms of relation that are intimate, improvised, and contested.”

“Co-curating the Whitney Biennial offers a unique opportunity to think about the ways artists are entangled—formally and thematically—within this ecosystem we know as contemporary art. With this Biennial, we hope to foreground a network of kinships that gesture toward forms of coexisting in this world,” said Marcela Guerrero, the DeMartini Family Curator of the Whitney Museum of American Art.

“I’m especially excited about this Biennial because it will be the first to appear since the launch of all three of our free admissions programs,” said Scott Rothkopf, Alice Pratt Brown Director at the Whitney Museum. “This is a show that is always full of emerging talents and new ideas about American art, so I can think of no greater gift to our younger audiences than a Biennial that is entirely free for everyone twenty-five and under from anywhere in the world.”

Whitney Biennial 2026 offers a vivid atmospheric survey of contemporary American art shaped by a moment of profound transition. The work of 56 artists, duos, and collectives reflects the current moment and examines various forms of relationality, including interspecies kinships, familial relations, geopolitical entanglements, technological affinities, shared mythologies, and infrastructural supports. Rather than offering a definitive answer to life today, this Whitney Biennial foregrounds mood and texture, inviting visitors into environments that evoke tension, tenderness, humor, and unease. Together, the works capture the complexity of the present and propose imaginative, unruly, and unexpected forms of coexistence.

Whitney Biennial 2026 is co-organized by Whitney curators Marcela Guerrero, the DeMartini Family Curator, and Drew Sawyer, the Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography, with Beatriz Cifuentes, Biennial Curatorial Assistant, and Carina Martinez, Rubio Butterfield Family Fellow.

Basel Abbas & Ruanne Abou-Rahme 
Basel Abbas (he/him) 
Born 1983 in Nicosia, Cyprus 
Ruanne Abou-Rahme (she/her) 
Born 1983 in Boston, MA  
Live in Brooklyn, NY and Palestine 

Kelly Akashi (no pronouns; name preferred)  
Born 1983 in Los Angeles, CA  
Lives in Altadena, CA  

Kamrooz Aram (he/him)  
Born 1978 in Shiraz, Iran  
Lives in New York, NY 

Ash Arder (she/they) 
Born 1988 in Muscatawing (Flint, MI)
Lives in Waawiyatanong (Detroit, MI)

Teresa Baker (she/her)  
Born 1985 in Mandan/Hidatsa   
Lives in Los Angeles, CA  

Sula Bermudez-Silverman 
(she/her) 
Born 1993 in New York, NY  
Lives in Los Angeles, CA  

Zach Blas (he/him)  
Born 1981 in Point Pleasant, WV
Lives in Toronto, ON, Canada 

Enzo Camacho & Ami Lien 
Enzo Camacho (they/them)        
Born 1985 in Manila, Philippines
Ami Lien (they/them) 
Born 1987 in Dallas, TX  
Live in Berlin, Germany and New York, NY 

Leo Castañeda (he/him)  
Born 1988 in Cali, Colombia   
Lives in Miami, FL  

CFGNY (Daniel Chew, Ten Izu, Kirsten Kilponen, and Tin Nguyen) 
Founded 2016   
Based in Brooklyn, NY 

Nani Chacon (she/her)  
Born 1980 in Gallup, NM 
Lives in Albuquerque, NM 
Navajo Nation

Maia Chao (she/her)  
Born 1991 in Providence, RI  
Lives in Philadelphia, PA  

Joshua Citarella (he/him) 
Born 1987 in New York, NY 
Lives in New York, NY 

Mo Costello (she/her)  
Born 1989 in Seattle, WA 
Lives in Athens, GA 

Taína H. Cruz (she/her)  
Born 1998 in New York, NY  
Lives in New Haven, CT 

Carmen de Monteflores (she/they) 
Born 1933 in San Juan, Puerto Rico 
Lives in Berkeley, CA

Ali Eyal (he/him)  
Born 1994 in Baghdad, Iraq       
Lives in Los Angeles, CA

Andrea Fraser (she/her)  
Born 1965 in Billings, MT  
Lives in Los Angeles, CA 

Mariah Garnett (she/they)  
Born 1980 in Portland, ME  
Lives in Los Angeles, CA  

Ignacio Gatica (no pronouns; name preferred) 
Born 1988 in Santiago, Chile 
Lives in New York, NY and Santiago, Chile 

Jonathan González (they/them) 
Born 1991 in Queens, NY 
Lives in New York, NY and Philadelphia, PA

Emilie Louise Gossiaux (they/them)
Born 1989 in New Orleans, LA  
Lives in New York, NY 

Kainoa Gruspe (he/him)  
Born 1995 in Louisville, KY 
Lives in Honolulu, HI 

Martine Gutierrez (she/her)  
Born 1989 in Berkeley, CA  
Lives in New York, NY  

Samia Halaby (she/her) 
Born 1936 in Palestine   
Lives in New York, NY 

Raven Halfmoon (she/her) 
Born 1991 in Oklahoma City, OK  
Lives in Norman, OK  
Caddo Nation

Nile Harris with Dyer Rhoads  
Nile Harris (he/him)          
Born 1995 in Miami, FL 
Dyer Rhoads (he/him) 
Born 1996 in Portland, ME 
Live in Brooklyn, NY  

Aziz Hazara (he/him)  
Born 1992 in Wardak, Afghanistan 
Lives in Berlin, Germany

Margaret Honda (she/her)  
Born 1961 in San Diego, CA  
Lives in Los Angeles, CA  

Akira Ikezoe (he/him)  
Born 1979 in Kochi, Japan 
Lives in New York, NY 

Mao Ishikawa (she/her) 
Born 1953 Okinawa under US Administration 
Lives in Okinawa, Japan

Cooper Jacoby (he/him) 
Born 1989 in Princeton, NJ  
Lives in Miami, FL and Paris, France 

David L. Johnson (he/him) 
Born 1993 in New York, NY 
Lives in New York, NY 

kekahi wahi (Sancia Miala Shiba Nash and Drew K. Broderick)
Founded 2020 
Based in Honolulu, Kona, Oʻahu, HI  

Young Joon Kwak (they/them) 
Born 1984 in Queens, NY 
Lives in Los Angeles, CA  

Michelle Lopez (she/her) 
Born 1970 in Bridgeport, CT 
Lives in Philadelphia, PA  

José Maceda (he/him)  
Born 1917 in Manila, Philippines 
Died 2004 in Quezon City, 
Philippines  

Agosto Machado (he/him)         
Born in New York, NY 
Lives in New York, NY 

Oswaldo Maciá (he/him) 
Born 1960 in Cartegena de  
Indias, Colombia 
Lives in Santa Fe, NM and London, United Kingdom

Emilio Martínez Poppe (he/him) 
Born 1993 in Baltimore, MD 
Lives in New York, NY 

Isabelle Frances McGuire (she/her) 
Born 1994 in Austin, TX 
Lives in Chicago, IL 

Kimowan Metchewais (he/him) 
Born 1963 in Oxbow, SK, Canada 
Died 2011 in Saint Paul, AB, Canada 
Cree, Cold Lake First Nations

Nour Mobarak (she/her) 
Born 1985 in Cairo, Egypt 
Lives in Athens, Greece and Bainbridge Island, WA

Erin Jane Nelson (she/her) 
Born 1989 in Neenah, WI 
Lives in Santa Fe, NM 

Precious Okoyomon (they/them) 
Born 1993 in London, United Kingdom 
Lives in Brooklyn, NY 

Aki Onda (they/them) 
Born 1967 in Tenri, Nara, Japan 
Lives in Mito, Ibaraki, Japan 

Pat Oleszko (she/her) 
Born 1947 in Detroit, MI 
Lives in New York, NY 

Malcolm Peacock (no pronouns; name preferred) 
Born 1994 in Raleigh, NC 
Lives in Brooklyn, NY 

Sarah M. Rodriguez (no pronouns; name preferred) 
Born 1984 in Honolulu, HI  
Lives in Ojo Caliente, NM 

Gabriela Ruiz (she/her) 
Born 1991 in San Fernando Valley, CA 
Lives in Los Angeles, CA 

Jasmin Sian (she/her) 
Born 1969 in the Philippines  
Lives in New York, NY 

Jordan Strafer (she/her) 
Born 1990 in Miami, FL 
Lives in New York, NY and Athens, Greece

Sung Tieu (she/her) 
Born 1987 in Hai Duong, Vietnam 
Lives in Berlin, Germany 

Julio Torres (no pronouns; name preferred) 
Born 1987 in San Salvador, El Salvador 
Lives in New York, NY  

Anna Tsouhlarakis (she/her) 
Born 1977 in Lawrence, KS 
Lives in Boulder, CO 
Navajo Nation and Creek

Johanna Unzueta (no pronouns; name preferred) 
Born 1974 in Santiago, Chile 
Lives in Berlin, Germany and New York, NY