The 2026 Whitney Biennial has opened at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, featuring a video and sound installation by artists Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme titled 'Until we became fire and fire us'. The work, which began in 2023, weaves traditional songs, contemporary footage of indigenous plants, and drawings by Abou-Rahme's father to explore collective feelings of love, longing, and haunting in the context of Palestinian erasure.
The biennial is a major barometer of contemporary American art, and the inclusion of Abbas and Abou-Rahme's politically engaged, multimedia work highlights the exhibition's ongoing role in presenting critical perspectives on identity, land, and memory. Their installation underscores how artists are using layered, personal archives to address broader historical and cultural narratives, making it a significant contribution to the current discourse within the institutional art world.