The 82nd Whitney Biennial Surveys Contemporary American Art

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The 82nd Whitney Biennial Surveys Contemporary American Art

Podcast: All Of It with Alison Stewart (WNYC)
Episode Date: March 4, 2026
Guests:

• Marcella Guerrero (Co-Curator, Whitney Biennial 2026)
• Drew Sawyer (Co-Curator, Whitney Biennial 2026)
  Main Theme:
  A conversational preview of the 82nd Whitney Biennial, an exhibition surveying the state of contemporary American art. Host Alison Stewart engages the co-curators in an exploration of this year’s approach, featured artists, and the stories, tensions, and questions animating the 2026 edition.

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Episode Overview

The 82nd Whitney Biennial opens to the public on March 8, 2026, with a free admission day. Featuring 56 artists, duos, and collectives, the exhibition aims to “take the temperature” of American art in all its diversity and complexity. In this episode, co-curators Marcella Guerrero and Drew Sawyer share their curatorial process, discuss specific artworks, and reflect on issues of public space, cultural identity, humor, and institutional representation within contemporary art.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Curatorial Approach and Philosophy

• Process-first, not theme-first
  • Guerrero describes entering the process “without a preset idea” in order to listen to artists and let the show reflect contemporary realities (02:32).
  • Quote (Guerrero, 02:32):

    "Both of us have done big group shows ... but in this case, we wanted to just meet as many artists as we could and listen to artists and where they were. Because the task of the Biennial is to take the temperature of American art in the last two years."

• Emotional range and the internet era
  • Sawyer emphasizes the desire for a show with a “range of tones,” acknowledging the emotional flux of contemporary life and online experience (03:14).
  • Quote (Sawyer, 03:14):

    “Online is a kind of marker ... you know, if you’re on Instagram ... one thing can be really terrorizing sad news, and the next thing is, like, humorous or really cute. And I think we wanted the show to kind of reflect that in various ways.”

2. Research, Selection, and Studio Visits

• Extensive outreach
  • Over 450 artists were considered, 300+ studio visits were conducted, and the curators traveled to dozens of cities, including internationally (04:07).
  • Quote (Guerrero, 04:48):

    "We visited probably a couple dozen cities, including international, and then we also visited 300... more than 300 artists... in a year."

• Varied dynamics
  • Studio visits ranged from informal conversations to ambitious pitches for Biennial-specific works (05:52).

3. Visitor Experience and Exhibition Design

• The Whitney’s expanding free programs prompted the curators to consciously design visitor-friendly experiences, ensuring smooth flow, engaging sight lines, and meaningful artwork juxtapositions while protecting the art (06:04).
• Quote (Guerrero, 06:04):

  "We really have to think about our visitors... and at the same time secure the work. Of course. And it's a fun puzzle to resolve in the space."

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Artists & Highlighted Works

1. David L. Johnson — Code of Conduct Signs (07:03)

• Conceptual intervention: Johnson removes “code of conduct” placards from public and private spaces and arranges them in the gallery.
• Themes: Public vs. private space, rules, ownership, and who belongs.
• Quote (Guerrero, 08:30):

  “It makes us think about, you know, the spaces we occupy and who gets a claim to say who owns it. Right. And it's about land and ownership and belonging.”

• Memorable Moment (08:49):
  • Stewart: “The word lying down was on almost every single placard ... that lying down is a problem.”

2. Khamruz Aram — Folding Screen and Ceramics (09:02)

• Mediums: Oil, pencil, oil crayon on linen, ceramics.
• Themes: Modernist grids in European/American art versus abstraction in Persian decorative arts; re-examining “high art” hierarchies.
• Quote (Sawyer, 09:19):

  “He's thinking about rugs ... painted screen ... ceramics ... where kind of histories of abstraction lived in art forms, but are always seen as kind of secondary within a hierarchy of what are high art forms.”

3. Precious Okoyaman — “Doll in a Bunny Suit” & Installation (10:12)

• Impactful aesthetics: Violent, uncanny use of dolls/toys (taxidermied wings, nooses), mixing cuteness with pain and histories of racial violence.
• Major installation coming March 25.
• Quote (Guerrero, 11:39):

  “Combines… absolute cuteness with violence at the same time. So you see, you feel that tension … using the idea of the toy as this threshold that encompasses both object and subject, pain and beauty, coziness, cuteness with histories of racial violence.”

4. Pat Ilesco — Blow Hard (12:04)

• Work: Massive inflatable, performance-rooted art—humor, spectacle, self-parody.
• Quote (Sawyer, 12:17):

  “Humor is a powerful tool, and I think she’s known that since the 1970s … she talks a lot about … in moments of authoritarianism or any kind of authority, right? Including curatorial authority, doesn’t like to be made fun of.”

5. CFGNY Collective — “Vaguely Asian” (13:29)

• Brooklyn-based fashion and art collective: Critical and playful approach to Asian subjectivity.
• Exhibition feature: Sculptural installation with ceramics molded from Chinatown shop items, plushies, and architectural elements.
• Quote (Sawyer, 14:46):

  “They took items that they found in shops in Chinatown... that kind of designate various ideas of Asian culture and they use those to make molds of new ceramic objects that are kind of torn apart in various ways.”

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Representation & Identity

• Marcella Guerrero’s presence: The first Puerto Rican curator at the Whitney, foregrounding Latinx representation in the show.
• Quote (Guerrero, 15:15):

  “We can’t ignore, as you know, Bad Bunny has taught us, Latinos are here and we're not going anywhere. So there’s a really robust representation of Latinx artists in the exhibition.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote/Context | |-----------|---------|---------------| | 02:32 | Guerrero | “Both of us have done big group shows ... but in this case, we wanted to just meet as many artists as we could and listen to artists and where they were.” | | 03:14 | Sawyer | “We wanted to kind of create an exhibition that hit on many different emotional registers... especially online...” | | 06:04 | Guerrero | “We are really... thinking about the flow of visitors and how to ... give them a really nice, gratifying experience.” | | 08:30 | Guerrero | “It’s about land and ownership and belonging.” [On Johnson’s code of conduct signs] | | 11:39 | Guerrero | “Combines… absolute cuteness with violence at the same time.” [On Okoyaman’s installation] | | 12:10 | Alison Stewart | “I make a spectacle of myself, and I don’t mind if you laugh.” [Quoting artist Pat Ilesco] | | 15:15 | Guerrero | “We can’t ignore... Latinos are here and we’re not going anywhere.” |

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Timestamps of Key Segments

• 01:29 – Introduction to the Biennial and guest curators
• 02:32 – Curatorial goals and philosophy
• 03:50 – Tone, emotional registers, and impact of digital life
• 04:07 – Selection process and scope of research
• 04:52 – Studio visits: logistics and approaches
• 06:04 – Designing for the public and visitor experience
• 07:03-08:49 – David L. Johnson’s Code of Conduct piece
• 09:02 – Khamruz Aram’s references and intentions
• 10:12-11:55 – Precious Okoyaman’s installations and their affect
• 12:02-13:29 – Pat Ilesco’s Blow Hard and performance art
• 13:29-14:46 – CFGNY collective: Asian subjectivity and ceramics
• 15:02 – Guerrero as first Puerto Rican curator at the Whitney, Latino representation
• 15:53 – Closing remarks and thanks

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Overall Tone & Takeaway

This episode conveys the richness, ambition, and complexity of the 2026 Whitney Biennial. The curators’ thoughtful, dialogic approach seeks to mirror the multiplicity of American experiences—tonally, demographically, and aesthetically. Through stories from behind the scenes, descriptions of powerful works, and open engagement with identity and public space, listeners get a vivid sense of the Biennial’s cultural resonance.

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Transcript

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[Host/Interviewer (possibly Alison Stewart or another WNYC host)]

This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. The Whitney Biennial is ready. Every two years the Whitney organizes an exhibit which surveys the state of American contemporary art. The first year the Whitney Biennial took place was in 1932. The Whitney Biennial 2026 opens for member previews today and then is open to the general public on Sunday, March 8. Opening Day will be free for all visitors because admission to the Whitney is free on the second. There are 56 artists, duos and collectives included in this latest show. There's a video game, designers, a mother and daughter duo, sound and art working in concert. It's a lot in the best way. Joining me now are this year's curators, the Whitneys. Marcella Guerriera. Sorry, excuse me. Guerriero and Drew Sawyer. They're both here with me now for a preview. It is nice to talk to you both.

[Marcella Guerrero]

Good to see you Alison.

[Drew Sawyer]

Thank you for having us.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Alison Stewart or another WNYC host)]

So the Biennial is always a huge effort for a curator. Marcella, going into the curation process, what were your goals?

[Marcella Guerrero]

Yeah, when Drew and I were selected to be the co curators of the Biennial, we had meetings and I think one of the first things that we decided was to not go into it with a preset idea of what we wanted to show. Both of us have done big group shows, and we know what a good, thematic, cogent group show can be. But in this case, we wanted to just meet as many artists as we could and listen to artists and where they were. Because the task of the Biennial is to take the temperature.

[Alison Stewart]

Right.

[Marcella Guerrero]

Of American art in the last two years. So that's kind of what we set out to do.

[Alison Stewart]

Drew, what kind of tone were you

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Alison Stewart or another WNYC host)]

hoping to strike with this show?

[Drew Sawyer]

I think we really wanted a range of tones. I think, you know, I feel like there's. So we wanted to kind of create an exhibition that hit on many different emotional registers. Just the way that, you know, we experience that in contemporary life right now in the United States and especially online, I think. Right. I think online is a kind of marker of the way, you know, if you're on Instagram looking at stories, one thing can be really terrorizing sad news, and the next thing is, like, humorous or really cute. And I think we wanted the show to kind of reflect that in various ways.

[Alison Stewart]

Oh, that's so interesting, because as you went through the show, you see something that makes you laugh, and then you turn the next corner and would have you in tears. Yeah, it's really interesting. So there are 56 artists, duos, and collectives in this show. Marcela, how did you go about identifying the artists and the talents to consider?

[Marcella Guerrero]

Yeah, so we assembled a list, a huge list of names and artists, more than 450 artists. And then we decided, okay, let's. We need to travel wide and go to as many places as we can. And so we were very diligent in our. In our ways of traveling. So we went to a lot of cities that had biennials and triennials and big shows. So we could see a lot of things, do a lot of studio visits. So we. At the end, we visited probably a couple dozen cities, including international, and then we also visited 300. More than 300 artists. Yeah. In.

[Alison Stewart]

That's amazing.

[Marcella Guerrero]

In a year. Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

Drew, what does the studio visit like for you?

[Drew Sawyer]

It was really a range. I mean, I've, you know, I've done studio visits in the past, but certainly not 300 in less than 12 months, nearly, you know, a studio visit a day, at least during the work. Work week. And I was really just. Yeah, it was, like, amazing how they were. They were really all so different. Some artists approach it more as just a conversation. Right. You just have really interesting conversations, sometimes not even about their Work, but just about things. They're reading what's happening, just different ideas, you know, other times, then if an artist especially is like, really object based and is like, working materially, then you're looking at, you know, things in the studio. And then sometimes it's even more like a pitch, Right. An artist has, like, you know, this is their chance. And they're going to give you, like, three ideas of works that they've always wanted to present inside the Whitney Museum. Like, you know, you know, the thinking site specifically about the building and about the Biennial.

[Alison Stewart]

Oh, so that's interesting. There are artists who pitch to you.

[Drew Sawyer]

Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

Oh, that's very interesting. Marcela, when you're having these conversations and you get a collection of artists and you think you have the right artists for this show, are you thinking about the visitor?

[Marcella Guerrero]

Definitely. Especially now that the Whitney has the three free programs. We're free under 25, free Friday nights, free second Sundays. We really have to think about our visitors. And we're probably gonna approach a million visitors this year, 400 to 500,000 visitors just to see the Biennial. So we are really, with our team, an excellent team of art handlers and registra and conservators and security, thinking about the flow of visitors and how to also give them a really nice, gratifying experience where they can see sight lines, put artworks in dialogue with each other, and at the same time secure the work. Of course. And it's a fun puzzle to resolve in the space with the artists and then with our colleagues.

[Alison Stewart]

We are previewing the 82nd Whitney Biennial opening to the public on March 8th and now open for member previews. My gu. Our co curators, Marcella Guerrero. Did I say it correctly?

[Marcella Guerrero]

You did.

[Alison Stewart]

Thank you. And Drew Sawyer. All right. I went yesterday with my camera in hand. I put a couple pictures on instagram @olive NYC. You should go see everything in person, I should say. But I did want to ask about a couple of New York artists because we're wnyc. David L. Johnson. This really struck me. He's born in 1993, and David has removed dozens of code of conduct signs, and he has put them up. They're in public spaces and private space too. And he's put them up on a wall about the restrictive rules. First of all, when did you first hear of David's project?

[Drew Sawyer]

Yeah, David's been working for a while. He shows with a gallery called Theta in Tribeca, and he's had a couple shows and he's been included in other group shows around the city. And Elsewhere, his more well known body of work is called Loiter, where he removes standpipe covers much more kind of sculptural objects. Whereas this is a new body of work really premiering here in the Biennial, which was super exciting and he was really excited to show this and you know, it kind of continues that which is really the kind of interventions into public spaces or the way that public spaces have become privatized.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Alison Stewart or another WNYC host)]

Yeah, it's so interesting. What did it evoke for you, looking at that piece?

[Marcella Guerrero]

I mean, it's very conceptual and it's something that we had to work also kind of behind the scenes with our general counsel.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Alison Stewart or another WNYC host)]

Sure.

[Marcella Guerrero]

Of out to Nick Holmes because they have been. Yeah. Removed from private spaces. But it makes us think about, you know, the spaces we occupy and who gets a claim to say who owns it. Right. And it's about land and ownership and belonging.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Alison Stewart or another WNYC host)]

Yeah, it was interesting. The word lying down was on almost every single placard and it just left. It left me sort of speechless at the end. That lying down is a problem.

[Marcella Guerrero]

Yeah, you know, totally.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Alison Stewart or another WNYC host)]

Also we talk about Khamruz Aram, an Iranian born artist now living in New York. He's beautiful pieces, including a folding screen. He uses oil and pencil and oil crayon on linen. What is Khamruz referencing in his work on view?

[Drew Sawyer]

Yeah, a lot of his work in painting, but also kind of decorative art architecture is thinking about histories of European American modernism and in particular the idea of the grid that is so prominent in those histories, especially in the 20th century. And he's comparing that to histories of abstraction in decorative arts or ornamentation, especially in Persian art. So he's thinking about rugs, but you see, there's a painted screen within the gallery. There's also ceramics again, where kind of histories of abstraction lived in art forms, but are always usually seen as kind of secondary within a hierarchy of what are high art forms, especially again in European American art histories, especially the histories of painting. So he's kind of playing with those systems and mapping those two together.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Alison Stewart or another WNYC host)]

Precious Okoyaman. It's a wild exhibit. So you get off the elevator and you see a doll in a bunny suit with a black face sort of nailed to the wall. It's part of an installation that wants to kill you and you should be afraid. What do you like about the way

[Alison Stewart]

she uses dolls and discarded toys in such unusual ways?

[Marcella Guerrero]

Yeah, so in the case of Precious, that's an example of traveling internationally even. We went to Bragance in Austria to see explicitly to see their show. And there we saw these dolls, dolls and. And stuffed animals, um, with taxidermied wings, kind of with a noose around their neck, floating in the space. And it was really impactful. And for the Biennial, we have one bunny doll, as you said, Alison on the wall. And kind of previewing what's going to happen on March 25, on the eighth floor of the museum, we're going to have the presentation very similar to what we saw in Breggen's in Austria. But what's really impactful and captivating about Precious Work is that it combines, you know, these, as they say, absolute cuteness with violence at the same time. So you see, you feel that tension very palpable. And using the idea of the toy as this threshold that encompasses both object and subject, pain and beauty, coziness, cuteness with histories of racial violence.

[Alison Stewart]

It's wild. I wanted to ask about Pat Ilesco, a favorite of mine since the 1990s.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Alison Stewart or another WNYC host)]

So it's this sort of.

[Alison Stewart]

Is it, I don't know, a massive inflatable. It's called Blow Hard.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Alison Stewart or another WNYC host)]

And she once said, it's in your book.

[Alison Stewart]

I make a spectacle of myself, and I don't mind if you laugh. Why did you want to include Blow Hard?

[Drew Sawyer]

You know, I think both of us were kind of less familiar with Pat's work until she had a solo exhibition at a gallery downtown called David Peter Francis. And we were. That was, I guess, two summers ago. And we were both really just taken away by her practice, which includes. Which is really, she's a performance artist. And then those performance artists include. Those performances include a lot of hats and costumes as well as inflatables that serve as props. And I just love the kind of absurdity and humor and the way she's thinking about. Especially, you know, she talks a lot about right kind of in. In moment. In moments of authoritarianism or any kind of authority. Right. Including curatorial authority, doesn't like to be made fun of. Right. Humor is a powerful tool, and I think she's known that since the 1970s. She moved to New York in the early 70s. She's been active ever since. And what's really admired, what I admire about her, is that she's really stuck to what she's been doing from the beginning and only now really getting her due. In fact, she has a full survey of her inflatables and some of her costumes at Sculpture center right now in Long Island City.

[Alison Stewart]

She's the best. You also include collectives, the cfgny. It's made of a Four Brooklyn based artists who, and this is what it says on the placard, who take both a critical and playful approach to Asian subjectivity. Where do we see this in this piece? They're pieces.

[Marcella Guerrero]

Yeah.

[Drew Sawyer]

I mean, they're probably primarily known as fashion designers and they've been working in the field of fashion for about 10 years. So many people have probably seen presentations at New York Fashion Week, seen people wear their clothing. We actually have some of the items from their new line in the museum shop. But we're presenting another aspect of their practice which is really more kind of sculpture, installation, kind of, I would say, like institutional critique in various ways. On the sixth floor of the museum. And that is kind of an architectural structure that shows ceramics as well as these kind of plushy sculptures that also play with this idea of cuteness. But the ceramics are really interesting and play into this idea of what they call vaguely Asian. And they're really interested in different, like kind of commodities that circulate both within the U.S. but many of them coming from East Asia. So they took items that they found in shops in Chinatown.

[Alison Stewart]

Right.

[Drew Sawyer]

The kind of designate various ideas of Asian culture and they use those to make molds of new ceramic objects that are kind of torn apart in various ways.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Alison Stewart or another WNYC host)]

All right, Marcela, please correct me if I'm wrong, but you are the first Puerto Rican curator at the Whitney.

[Marcella Guerrero]

I am, that's correct, yes.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Alison Stewart or another WNYC host)]

There was a New York Times piece that said you are leading the way in the field of Latino art. Was that on your mind as you were putting together the Biennial?

[Marcella Guerrero]

Yeah, certainly. It's always in my mind. And I think both of us are known for Drew as being a curator of photography and expert in his field. I'm a curator who has been presenting and championing a lot of Latinx artists and. Yeah, but we wanted, I think both of us to kind of go a little bit beyond our purview in the typical shows that we do. But at the same time, we can't ignore, as you know, Bad Bunny has taught us, Latinos are here and we're not going anywhere. So there's a really robust representation of Latinx artists in the exhibition.

[Host/Interviewer (possibly Alison Stewart or another WNYC host)]

We've been previewing the 82nd Whitney Biennial. It's opening to the public on March 8th and now open for member previews. We have been speaking with its co curators, Marcella Guerrero and Drew Sawyer. Thank you so much for being with us and thank you for the Biennial.

[Marcella Guerrero]

Thank you so much, Alison, for having us.

[Drew Sawyer]

Thank you.

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