The Whitney Museum of American Art has revealed the 56 artists, duos and collectives that will participate in the 2026 Whitney Biennial, the 82nd edition of the most closely-watched recurring exhibition of contemporary art in the United States. The list of participants includes some names that will be familiar to many on the global art circuit—like the conceptual artist Andrea Fraser, the abstractionist Kamrooz Aram, the multihyphenate artist and poet Precious Okoyomon, the performance artist Pat Oleszko and the comedian and former Saturday Night Life writer Julio Torres—and many more that may not be (full list below).
The exhibition’s co-curators, Marcela Guerrero and Drew Sawyer (a curator and curator of photography, respectively, at the Whitney), have opted to forego a thematic title for their exhibition (the last two Whitney Biennials had titles) and “let our conversations with artists guide us”, Sawyer said in a statement.
“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,” Sawyer added. “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 US power. Together, these artists’ work make space for forms of relation that are intimate, improvised and contested.”
Precious Okoyomon, You have got to sometimes become the medicine you want to take, 2025 (detail). Private collection © Precious Okoyomon, Kunsthaus Bregenz. Image courtesy the artist. Photography by Markus Tretter
The exhibition, which opens 8 March 2026, will occupy most of the Whitney’s building in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District and include a full programme of performances, public events and online programming. Guerrero added in a statement: “With this Biennial, we hope to foreground a network of kinships that gesture toward forms of coexisting in this world.”
In addition to some well-established figures and a slew of emerging artists, next year’s Whitney Biennial will include works by a number of historical or overlooked figures, among them the painter, author and poet Carmen de Monteflores (who is also Andrea Fraser’s mother), the Filipino composer José Maceda (1917-2004) and the photographer Kimowan Metchewais (1963-2011), who was a member of the Cree and Cold Lake First Nations of Canada.
Carmen de Monteflores, Four Women, 1969. Collection of the artist © Carmen de Monteflores. Image courtesy the artist. Photography by Philip Maisel
The Whitney Biennial will also kick off a busy year for the global calendar of -ennials that includes the Biennale of Sydney (14 March-14 June), MoMA PS1’s latest quinquennial survey of the local art scene Greater New York (16 April-18 August), the Venice Biennale (9 May-22 November), Manifesta 16 (21 June-4 October), the Biennale de Lyon (19 September-December), the Toronto Biennial of Art (26 September-20 December) and the Gwangju Biennale (September-November).
The 2026 Whitney Biennial artists:
Basel Abbas & Ruanne Abou Rahme
Basel Abbas (he/him)
Born 1983 in Nicosia, Cyprus
Ruanne Abou-Rahme (she/her)
Born 1983 in Boston
Live in Brooklyn and Palestine
Kelly Akashi (no pronouns; name preferred)
Born 1983 in Los Angeles
Lives in Altadena, California
Kamrooz Aram (he/him)
Born 1978 in Shiraz, Iran
Lives in New York City
Ash Arder (she/they)
Born 1988 in Muscatawing (Flint, Michigan)
Lives in Waawiyatanong (Detroit)
Teresa Baker (she/her)
Born 1985 in Mandan/Hidatsa
Lives in Los Angeles
Sula Bermudez-Silverman (she/her)
Born 1993 in New York City
Lives in Los Angeles
Zach Blas (he/him)
Born 1981 in Point Pleasant, West Virginia
Lives in Toronto
Enzo Camacho & Ami Lien
Enzo Camacho (they/them)
Born 1985 in Manila, Philippines
Ami Lien (they/them)
Born 1987 in Dallas
Live in Berlin and New York City
Leo Castañeda (he/him)
Born 1988 in Cali, Colombia
Lives in Miami
CFGNY (Daniel Chew, Ten Izu, Kirsten Kilponen, and Tin Nguyen)
Founded 2016
Based in Brooklyn, New York
Nani Chacon (she/her)
Born 1980 in Gallup, New Mexico
Lives in Albuquerque
Navajo Nation
Maia Chao (she/her)
Born 1991 in Providence, Rhode Island
Lives in Philadelphia
Joshua Citarella (he/him)
Born 1987 in New York City
Lives in New York City
Mo Costello (she/her)
Born 1989 in Seattle
Lives in Athens, Georgia
Taína H. Cruz (she/her)
Born 1998 in New York City
Lives in New Haven, Connecticut
Carmende Monteflores (she/they)
Born 1933 in San Juan, Puerto Rico
Lives in Berkeley, California
Ali Eyal (he/him)
Born 1994 in Baghdad, Iraq
Lives in Los Angeles
Andrea Fraser (she/her)
Born 1965 in Billings, Montana
Lives in Los Angeles
Mariah Garnett (she/they)
Born 1980 in Portland, Maine
Lives in Los Angeles
Ignacio Gatica (no pronouns; name preferred)
Born 1988 in Santiago, Chile
Lives in New York City and Santiago
Jonathan González (they/them)
Born 1991 in Queens, New York
Lives in New York City and Philadelphia
Emilie Louise Gossiaux (they/them)
Born 1989 in New Orleans
Lives in New York City
Kainoa Gruspe (he/him)
Born 1995 in Louisville, Kentucky
Lives in Honolulu
Martine Gutierrez (she/her)
Born 1989 in Berkeley, California
Lives in New York City
Samia Halaby (she/her)
Born 1936 in Palestine
Lives in New York City
Raven Halfmoon (she/her)
Born 1991 in Oklahoma City
Lives in Norman, Oklahoma
Caddo Nation
Nile Harris with Dyer Rhoads
Nile Harris (he/him)
Born 1995 in Miami
Dyer Rhoads (he/him)
Born 1996 in Portland, Maine
Live in Brooklyn, New York
Aziz Hazara (he/him)
Born 1992 in Wardak, Afghanistan
Lives in Berlin
Margaret Honda (she/her)
Born 1961 in San Diego, California
Lives in Los Angeles
Akira Ikezoe (he/him)
Born 1979 in Kochi, Japan
Lives in New York City
Mao Ishikawa (she/her)
Born 1953 in Okinawa under US Administration
Lives in Okinawa, Japan
Cooper Jacoby (he/him)
Born 1989 in Princeton, New Jersey
Lives in Miami and Paris
David L. Johnson (he/him)
Born 1993 in New York City
Lives in New York City
kekahi wahi (Sancia Miala Shiba Nash and Drew K. Broderick)
Founded 2020
Based in Honolulu, Kona and Oʻahu, Hawaii
Young Joon Kwak (they/them)
Born 1984 in Queens, New York
Lives in Los Angeles
Michelle Lopez (she/her)
Born 1970 in Bridgeport, Connecticut
Lives in Philadelphia
José Maceda (he/him)
Born 1917 in Manila
Died 2004 in Quezon City, Philippines
Agosto Machado (he/him)
Born in New York City
Lives in New York City
Oswaldo Maciá (he/him)
Born 1960 in Cartegena de Indias, Colombia
Lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico and London
Emilio Martínez Poppe (he/him)
Born 1993 in Baltimore
Lives in New York City
Isabelle Frances McGuire (she/her)
Born 1994 in Austin, Texas
Lives in Chicago
Kimowan Metchewais (he/him)
Born 1963 in Oxbow, Saskatchewan
Died 2011 in Saint Paul, Alberta
Cree, Cold Lake First Nations
Nour Mobarak (she/her)
Born 1985 in Cairo
Lives in Athens and Bainbridge Island, Washington
Erin Jane Nelson (she/her)
Born 1989 in Neenah, Wisconsin
Lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Precious Okoyomon (they/them)
Born 1993 in London
Lives in Brooklyn, New York
Aki Onda (they/them)
Born 1967 in Tenri, Nara, Japan
Lives in Mito, Ibaraki, Japan
Pat Oleszko (she/her)
Born 1947 in Detroit
Lives in New York City
Malcolm Peacock (no pronouns; name preferred)
Born 1994 in Raleigh, North Carolina
Lives in Brooklyn, New York
Sarah M. Rodriguez (no pronouns; name preferred)
Born 1984 in Honolulu
Lives in Ojo Caliente, New Mexico
Gabriela Ruiz (she/her)
Born 1991 in San Fernando Valley, California
Lives in Los Angeles
Jasmin Sian (she/her)
Born 1969 in the Philippines
Lives in New York City
Jordan Strafer (she/her)
Born 1990 in Miami
Lives in New York City and Athens
Sung Tieu (she/her)
Born 1987 in Hai Duong, Vietnam
Lives in Berlin
Julio Torres (no pronouns; name preferred)
Born 1987 in San Salvador, El Salvador
Lives in New York City
Anna Tsouhlarakis (she/her)
Born 1977 in Lawrence, Kansas
Lives in Boulder, Colorado
Navajo Nation and Creek
Johanna Unzueta (no pronouns; name preferred)
Born 1974 in Santiago, Chile
Lives in Berlin and New York City
- 2026 Whitney Biennial, 8 March-August 2026, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
