If @whitneymuseum Follows You, Are You an Artist?

This year, the Whitney Museum holds its first Biennial in its downtown space, and perhaps more noticeable than the ingenious Renzo Piano building—designed with the art-going experience in mind, its footprint runs east to west with floor-to-ceiling windows inviting in light, shapely but open floor plans, commissaries—is the reenergized mission given our times: showcase American art.

The mandate might’ve felt stuck in the past, as the Guggenheim and Modern and Met rushed toward the excitement of different eras. Nationalism seemed a restrictive business plan, but here we are, in a year when the MoMA responded to Trump’s immigration ban by replacing works by Matisse, Picasso and Picabia among others with works by seven artists from the majority-Muslim nations named in the E.O. All the works were quietly hung by the gallery’s curators overnight, without a single tweet or Instagram post from the Museum to promote the change.

You could argue the Whitney’s been on that beat since day one, asking us what it means to be American. With our National Endowment for the Arts under attack, it’s a more important question than ever. All of which is to say: shouldn’t we be thinking critically about, well, everything?

So here’s a small but meaningful (maybe?) thing to consider: who the Whitney follows on Instagram. Is it an indicator of who has a seat at their conversational table? Is it friends of The Whitney’s Sarah Meller who runs the account and who joined the museum as a research assistant seven years ago? One thing we know: as the museum’s geared up for its Biennial over the last month, that list hasn’t really changed.

#whitneybiennial #armoryweek #museumpeople #artworldspaces #instaart #publicart #instamuseum #artwatchers_united

A post shared by earlboykins (@earlboykins) on Feb 13, 2017 at 7:00pm PST

@earlboykins

Andrew Kuo, a New York artist, is known and collected—lucratively—for his graphs and charts that shed light into his young life. Earl Boykins, his alter ego, is known and followed for his love of cute animals, “whats…happening here” moments like a massive motorcycle tucked into a hotel bed, and weird plants. He visited the museum’s Carmen Herrera works in January.

Job: Artist

Followers: 174k

A post shared by The Obama White House (@obamawhitehouse) on Nov 16, 2016 at 11:36am PST

@obamawhitehouse

One of the great photojournalists of the last decade is Pete Souza, the official White House photographer who gifted us with an incredible and unprecedented glimpse into a presidential administration. His personal Instagram from that time—@petesouza44, numbered for his President—is archived, just as @obamawhitehouse is a timecapsule, too.

Job: Archive of the Obama Administration

Followers: 3.6m

A post shared by Willa Köerner 💎 (@willak) on Feb 19, 2017 at 5:34pm PST

@willak

The Whitney’s watching how the Internet, and instant commerce, forges a new conversation around art. Willa Köerner, whose Instagram bio reminds us, wonderfully, of 2004-era AOL Instant Messenger profiles (💎 ➖🔸▫️♦️🌾 art/writing/internet ♦🌗🔘🔹🔺➖ 〰〰〰 director of curation @kickstarter 〰〰〰 ) makes decisions on what, according to the crowdfunding platform, is art.

Job: Kickstarter’s Director of Curation

Followers: 2,362

A post shared by Tom Campbell (@thomaspcampbell) on Dec 7, 2016 at 9:01pm PST

@thomaspcampbell

Three days ago, the Met’s Director and CEO resigned reportedly under pressure from the board, following a slacking financial record despite all-time-high attendance. He’ll stay in his role until June of this year, says the NYT. To contextualize the news, we suggest reading his recent op-ed about the challenges the National Endowment for the Arts is facing. But don’t forget the comments section, where the conversation between opposing views really takes shape.

Job: Former Director and CEO of @metmuseum

Followers: 34k

A post shared by Hilton Als (@hilton.als) on Feb 5, 2017 at 6:10pm PST

@hilton.als

Author, critic, writer, essayist, thought guide—Hilton Als mostly calls The New Yorker home, but our favorite words of his recently are on the walls at David Zwirner. He’s curated the gallery’s show of Alice Neel, a New York artist celebrated for celebrating Harlem, most specifically its mixed section called Spanish Harlem. His writing is so inviting, so fun, so human, that even if his sentimental essays weren’t on the walls, it would stand out all the more in the gallery world where any writing is usually just a stack of press releases.

Job: Critic

Followers: 12.8k