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. Their work, titled 'Until we became fire and fire us,' explores collective feelings of love, longing, and haunting in the context of Palestinian erasure, weaving together traditional songs, contemporary footage of indigenous plants, and personal ephemera like drawings by Abou-Rahme's father.
The biennial is a major barometer of contemporary American art, and the inclusion of Abbas and Abou-Rahme's politically engaged, multimedia work highlights themes of displacement, memory, and resistance. Their installation represents a significant contribution to the discourse on land, community, and cultural preservation within a premier institutional setting.