Three years ago, artists Christine Finley and Eddy Segal were talking about the Whitney Biennial. If she were curator, said Finley (known professionally as C Finley), she’d mix things up by filling three floors with art by women. ‘It’d be called the Whitney Houston Biennial!’ Segal declared. While their exchange was only half-serious, Finley realised it was a solid idea. Two months later, she launched the inaugural Whitney Houston Biennial as a four-hour happening, where work by 85 female artists filled a 3,000 sq ft Brooklyn suite. Finley has been planning its second iteration, which kicks off this week, ever since.
‘There’s a palpable amount of love in the air here,’ Finley says from the exhibition’s Soho venue, where more than 220 works by some 160 artists hang salon-style to make the most of the small space. While the other Whitney Biennial helped hatch the project, it isn’t merely a critique of gender imbalance in the art world or the country’s state of affairs. ‘I wanted to make an event filled with joy, light and positivity that celebrates the coming together of a beautiful group of women,’ Finley says. ‘It creates a consciousness. And it’s refreshing and fun.’
Amerikkka’, by Haley Hughes, 2017.
Finley discovered artists through Instagram and art fairs. She also asked the 2014 participants to submit work and have their friends do the same. Finley made her selection intuitively, aiming to create an inclusive presentation that represents a cross-section of mediums. The resulting exhibition rises to the occasion: Finley is particularly excited about textile-sculptures by Liz Collins, paintings by Sophie Grant and Tracy Molis, and photographs from Maxi Cohen’s ‘Ladies' Rooms Around the World’ series and 18 students from Bard College, curated by the school’s artist-in-residence Daphne Fitzpatrick. Events will take place nearly every night until 29 March, including poetry evenings, a dance performance and tours led by Finley herself.
To maximise the spectrum of women represented, Finley asked each participant to pick a pioneering woman and write about her influence in the wall text accompanying their work. ‘You’ll read about everyone from Joan of Arc to someone’s grandma,’ Finley says. ‘That’s really what this is about. We’re honouring women who dreamed a bigger dream, and helped us dream a bigger dream.’
220 works by 160 artists hang salon-style to make the most of the small space
Featured artists were discovered through Instagram and art fairs
Curator Christine Finley made her selection intuitively, aiming to create an inclusive presentation that represents a cross-section of mediums
Groom Hunter, by Qinza Najm, 2015.
Standing Rock, by Hayley Hughes, 2017.
Grab it by the Papaya, by Kira Nam Greene, 2016.
Entanglement, by Sharon Molloy, 2015.
INFORMATION
The ‘Whitney Houston Biennial: Greatest Love of All’ is on view until 29 March. For more information, visit the Whitney Houston Biennial’s website.
ADDRESS
Whitney Houston Biennial
325 West Broadway
New York NY 10013
-
Warp Records announces its first event in over a decade at the Barbican‘A Warp Happening,' landing 14 June, is guaranteed to be an epic day out
-
Cure your ‘beauty burnout’ with Kindred Black’s artisanal glasswareDoes a cure for ‘beauty burnout’ lie in bespoke design? The founders of Kindred Black think so. Here, they talk Wallpaper* through the brand’s latest made-to-order venture
-
The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt will be shown at Tate ModernThe 42-panel quilt, which commemorates those affected by HIV and AIDS, will be displayed in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in June 2025
-
The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt will be shown at Tate Modern
The 42-panel quilt, which commemorates those affected by HIV and AIDS, will be displayed in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in June 2025
-
Meet the Turner Prize 2025 shortlisted artistsNnena Kalu, Rene Matić, Mohammed Sami and Zadie Xa are in the running for the Turner Prize 2025 – here they are with their work
-
‘Humour is foundational’: artist Ella Kruglyanskaya on painting as a ‘highly questionable’ pursuitElla Kruglyanskaya’s exhibition, ‘Shadows’ at Thomas Dane Gallery, is the first in a series of three this year, with openings in Basel and New York to follow
-
The art of the textile label: how British mill-made cloth sold itself to Indian buyersAn exhibition of Indo-British textile labels at the Museum of Art & Photography (MAP) in Bengaluru is a journey through colonial desire and the design of mass persuasion
-
Artist Qualeasha Wood explores the digital glitch to weave stories of the Black female experienceIn ‘Malware’, her new London exhibition at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, the American artist’s tapestries, tuftings and videos delve into the world of internet malfunction
-
Ed Atkins confronts death at Tate BritainIn his new London exhibition, the artist prods at the limits of existence through digital and physical works, including a film starring Toby Jones
-
Tom Wesselmann’s 'Up Close' and the anatomy of desireIn a new exhibition currently on show at Almine Rech in London, Tom Wesselmann challenges the limits of figurative painting
-
A major Frida Kahlo exhibition is coming to the Tate Modern next yearTate’s 2026 programme includes 'Frida: The Making of an Icon', which will trace the professional and personal life of countercultural figurehead Frida Kahlo
