This year's Whitney Biennial: let's not talk about climate change, shall we?

This weekend I went to the Whitney Biennial , which is, in the words of the Whitney Museum of American Art , America's "leading survey of the most recent developments in American art".

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During the afternoon I spent there, I admired Jes Fan's anthropomorphic sculptures, felt deeply emotional while surrounded by Isaac Julien's immersive installation, and laughed at Pippa Garner's delirious inventions.

But I was shocked at how few pieces addressed climate change head on. Walking through the four floors, it seemed like the topic was simply not of interest to the curators.

While a small handful of pieces dialogued with nature and the environment, in the wall-text accompanying them, these themes were often deemphasized. Take, for instance, “How Many Ways Can You Disappear” by Karyn Olivier , a sculpture whose materials included discarded fishing nets and ocean debris. To me, this piece was a commentary on overfishing and the depletion of ocean resources. But the curators' text favored more abstract themes.

Reading more about the exhibition online, I saw the Biennial was organizing a one-night film program of indigenous artists, including the piece by Jenni Laiti’s “Bivdit luosa máhccat // Asking the salmon to return”, a video installation where the artist, also a climate activist, communes with the waters of a critically endangered river ecosystem. But that video wasn't on display as part of the main exhibit.

Over the past 2 years since the last Biennial, the US suffered an unprecedented series of wildfires, droughts and hurricanes – a harbinger of the ever-increasing stream of catastrophic climate events that is to come. It is therefore ... troubling that none of that would have surfaced in this exhibition. Is it an oversight from the curators, or does it reflect something deeper? Are American artists not all that concerned with this whole climate-change-is-destroying-our-planet thing?

The truth is that even though climate change is well known and understood by most in the US, climate activism and environmentalism isn't yet part of the American psyche.

Back in France, a lot of my friends (artists or not) feel a deep anxiety about climate change. Most are trying to limit their energy use as much as possible, ditching planes and cars for cleaner alternatives. Meanwhile on this side of the pond, people I know don't seem too concerned with flying to Europe for a few days to attend a show.

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(I don't want to assign any blame here - I am also unfortunately flying way too much, and I am aware that my carbon footprint is much higher than where it needs to be. I feel guilt and anxiety, and I try to channel both in my everyday work.)

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This is not groundbreaking stuff - after all, US per-capita energy consumption is twice as high as that of Europe. This country is built on abundant energy, amongst other things. Why install an electric heat pump when natural gas is at $1.5/MBtu?

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But it is puzzling, and sad, to see it also reflected in the way an American arts institution seems to not be interested in engaging with this topic in its landmark survey show. If art is to “serve as a catalyst for exploration, learning, and growth”, as the Museum’s website aptly puts it , then where are the artists that will help Americans better grasp this civilizational threat?

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The argument that there are more pressing social causes in today's world, or that the museum somehow couldn't possibly represent all causes in its show, is a flawed one. Laiti’s work rightfully points out that climate change disproportionately affects minorities and indigenous communities, in the US and elsewhere. Fighting for a more sustainable future is also fighting for a more equal and just future.

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I am aware of the multiple controversies surrounding such an institutional gate-keeper as the Biennial. This exhibition by no means represents all art in the US, definitely not all great art. What it does show though, is that neither climate change, with all its horrors, inevitability, and despair, nor the collective might of the people fighting it, is enough of a part of the mainstream artistic conversation in America.

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#climatechange #art #whitneybiennial