The 2026 Whitney Biennial features artists using technology to explore themes of surveillance, data extraction, and the unsettling blur between human and machine. Works like Cooper Jacoby's AI-generated piece, which scrapes data from deceased individuals' social media, and Isabelle Frances McGuire's 3D-scanned witch figures, confront the ethical and existential implications of biometrics and digital quantification.
This exhibition matters because it captures a significant cultural shift, moving beyond the sterile, futuristic optimism once associated with technology. Artists are now critically examining the 'techno-capitalist age,' revealing the horror and moral ambiguity embedded in systems of constant measurement, data harvesting, and AI, making the Biennial a vital barometer of contemporary anxiety and critique.