The 80th Whitney Biennial, which opened for previews this week (and officially opens to the public on April 6) is simultaneously a wildly ambitious and a quietly reserved exhibition.
With 63 artists and collectives, the show is an attempt to depict America as it can, may, or should exist in a moment of deep political, environmental, and social uncertainty. Titled “Quiet as It’s Kept,” the biennial is anchored by every flash of hope and dread you can imagine: the pandemic, demands for racial and economic justice, the 2020 election—you fill in the blanks.
Amid all that, the show’s curators, David Breslin and Adrienne Edwards, opted not to make any grand statements, but instead to offer a series of suggestions and hypotheses. Probably that was the right call.
The show, quite simply, bursts with ideas and provocations both gentle and pointed. So to help you take it all in (or to jog your memory), we’ve put together an extensive collection of images from the show.
Exterior
A piece in Rayyane Tabet, 100 Civics Questions (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
Tony Cokes, Evil.80.Empathy? (2020). Photo by Ben Davis.
Nayland Blake, Rear Entry: Service Entry for a Haunted House (1976-2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
Lobby
Renée Green, Space Poem #7 (Color Without Objects: Intra-Active May Words) (2020). Photo by Ben Davis.
Ground-Floor Gallery
Moved by the Motion, EXTRACTS (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
Stairwell
Rodney McMillian, shaft (2021-2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
3rd Floor
Installation dedicated to Cassandra Press. Photo by Ben Davis.
Installation dedicated to Cassandra Press. Photo by Ben Davis.
Two of the readers displayed by Cassandra Press. Photo by Ben Davis.
5th Floor
Charles Ray, Burger (2021) and Jeff (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
A visitor interacts with Alejandro “Luperca” Morales’s Juárez Archive (2020–ongoing). Photo by Ben Davis.
One of the images in Alejandro “Luperca” Morales’s Juárez Archive (2020–ongoing). Photo by Ben Davis.
Lucy Raven, Demolition of a Wall (Album 1) (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
Guadalupe Rosales, Kennedy Hall (2022) and 6th Street #2 (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
Danielle Dean, Long Low Line (Fordland) (2019). Photo by Ben Davis.
Buck Ellison, The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday, Steyr-Mannlicher Luxus in .027 Winchester, See Statement 11, New Nanny 2003 (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Ralph Lemon, a selection from an as-yet untitled series (2020–22). Photo by Ben Davis.
Eric Wesley, North American Buff Tit (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
Andrew Roberts, CARGO: A certain doom (2020). Photo by Ben Davis.
Andrew Roberts, La horda (The horde) (2020). Photo by Ben Davis.
Paintings by Jane Dickson. Photo by Ben Davis.
Sable Elyse Smith, LAUGH TRACK, OR WHO’S THAT PEEKING IN MY WINDOW (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Adam Gordon, She throws children into the world (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
Emily Barker, Death by 7,865 Paper Cuts (2019) and Kitchen (2019). Photo by Ben Davis.
Harold Ancart, The Guiding Light (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Jacky Connolly, Descent Into Hell (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Woody de Othello, The will to make things happen (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Alex Da Corte, ROY G BIV (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
Leidy Churchman, Mountains Walking (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
Lisa Alvarado, Vibratory Cartography: Nepantla (2022), Vibratory Cartography: Nepantla (2021–22), and Vibratory Cartography: Nepantla (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Matt Connors, One Wants to Insist Very Strongly (2020), Occult Glossary (2022), I / Fell / Off (after M.S.) (2021), First Fixed (2021), and How I Made Certain of My Paintings (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Rindon Johnson, a selection of panels from An island is all surrounded by water… (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
Yto Barrada, A Day Is a Day (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
Works by Duane Linklater. Photo by Ben Davis.
Rock Lowe, Project Row Houses: If Artists Are Creative Why Can’t They Create Solutions? (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Pao Houa Her, from the series “After the Fall of Hmong Teb Chaw” (2017). Photo by Ben Davis.
Detail of Pao Houa Her’s “After the Fall of Hmong Teb Chaw” series. Photo by Ben Davis.
Renée Green, Lesson (1989). Photo by Ben Davis.
James Little, Borrowed Times (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Dyani White Hawk, Wopila | Lineage (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Mónica Arreola, Untitled, from the series “Valle San Pedro” (2018). Photo by Ben Davis.
Photo by Mónica Arreola installed in the Whitney Biennial. Photo by Ben Davis.
Documentation of the creator of Awilda Sterling-Duprey, …blindfolded (2020–ongoing). Photo by Ben Davis.
Awilda Sterling-Duprey, …blindfolded (2020–ongoing). Photo by Ben Davis.
Works by Veronica Ryan. Photo by Ben Davis.
Installation paying tribute to the work of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951–1980).
Work by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha.
Jason Rhoades, Sutter’s Mill (2000) and Aria Dean, Little Island/Gut Punch (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
Rose Salane, 64,000 Attempts at Circulation (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
Detail of Rose Salane, 64,000 Attempts at Circulation (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
Rayyane Tabet, Learning English (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
Stairs
One piece in Rayyane Tabet, 100 Civics Questions (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
6th Floor
Video installation by Tony Cokes. Photo by Ben Davis.
Denyse Thomasos, Displaced Burial/Burial at Gorée (1993). Photo by Ben Davis.
Michael E. Smith, Untitled (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
![Works by Guadelupe Rosales and [foreground] Rebecca Belmore, <em>iskode (fire)</em> (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.](https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2022/03/guadelupe-rosales-and-rebecca-belmore-1024x682.jpeg)
Works by Guadelupe Rosales and [foreground] Rebecca Belmore, iskode (fire) (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Cy Gavin, Untitled (Snag) (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
Trinh T. Minh-ha, What About China? (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Coco Fusco, Your Eyes Will Be an Empty Word (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Dave McKenzie, Listed under Accessories (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
Adam Pendleton, Ruby Nell Sales (2020-2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
Raven Chacon, works from the “For Zitkála-Šá” series (2017-2020). Photo by Ben Davis.
Image from Raven Chacon, Three Songs (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Unattributed, Thomas Edison’s Last Breath (1931). Photo by Ben Davis.
A visitor views a mysterious object that is part of the 2022 Biennial but left unlabeled. Photo by Ben Davis.
Daniel Joseph Martinez, Three Critiques… (n.d.). Photo by Ben Davis.
James Little, Stars and Stripes (2021), Big Shot (2021), and Exceptional Blacks (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.
Adam Pendleton, Untitled (Days) (2021-22). Photo by Ben Davis.
Works by N.H. Pritchard. Photo by Ben Davis.
Two pages from N.H. Pritchard, Mundus: A Novel (1970). Photo by Ben Davis.
Image from Alfredo Jaar, 06.01.2020 18.39 (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
Kandis Williams, Death of A (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
![Visitors interact with WangShui, <em>Titration Print (Isle of Vitr:.ous)</em> (2022) and <em>Hyaline Seed (Isle of Vitr:.ous)</em> (2022), and [on the ceiling] <em>Scr:.pe II (Isle of Vitr:.ous)</em> (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.](https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2022/03/WangShui-1-768x1024.jpg)
Visitors interact with WangShui, Titration Print (Isle of Vitr:.ous) (2022) and Hyaline Seed (Isle of Vitr:.ous) (2022), and [on the ceiling] Scr:.pe II (Isle of Vitr:.ous) (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
Na Mira, Night Vision (red as never been) (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
Jonathan Berger, An Introduction to Nameless Love (2019). Photo by Ben Davis.
Installation dedicated to A Gathering of the Tribes/Steve Cannon. Photo by Ben Davis.
Ivy Kwan Arce and Julie Tolentino, Echo Position (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.
Alia Farid, Chibayish (2022) installed on the deck at the Whitney Museum. Photo by Ben Davis.
Alia Farid, Palm Orchard (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.