Sure, you’re ready for the Independent, SPRING/BREAK, and the Brucennial, but what about the Whitney Houston Biennial? Mark your calenders, because the latest addition to Armory Week, single-day, all-female art show organized by artist Christine “C.” Finley will be held in Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood on Sunday, March 9.
This year’s Whitney Biennial actually has an unusually low number of women participants—a mere 32 percent of all the artists represented—so with over 50 artists, all of them women, The Whitney Houston Biennial: I’m Every Woman (a subtitle taken from the Chaka Khan song memorably recorded by Houston in 1992) hopes to help balance the male-dominated art fair and museum circuit. Among the artists featured are Mickalene Thomas and the Guerrilla Girls.
The late singer’s name (and in some cases, career) has been appropriated by art shows before: Chicago art collective Murdertown renamed their biennial in Houston’s honor following her death in 2012; Jeff Hnilicka curated an all-Houston inspired Biennial in Minneapolis in 2010; and Nicole Eisenman referenced the pop diva in her contribution to the 1995 Whitney Biennial in New York.
The Whitney Houston Biennial will be on view from 4–8 p.m. on Sunday, March 9, at 20 Jay Street, Suite 207, DUMBO, Brooklyn.