WHITNEY BIENNIAL

No event on New York City's contemporary art calendar arouses such angst and ire as the Whitney Biennial. Tempers always run high over the Whitney Museum's long-running survey of what it deems "outstanding" and "challenging" in American art of the past two years; but, amidst the inevitable sound and fury at who's in or out, everyone agrees that the Biennial is an accurate barometer of the mood of the moment. Two years ago the bullish 1980's were seen out by the Whitney's flashy show of spectacle which was duly slammed for its lack of social and political awareness, whereas this year the Whitney has attempted to pull its political socks up and has therefore been attacked for trying to please too many, too late. This may be true but, in marked contrast to Berlin's recent 'Metropolis" extravaganza, it was refreshing to see a showcase in which the art establishment at least paid lip service to a world lying beyond the narrow confines of the dealer-collector-curator axis.

Much of the most vital art was to be found among the younger generation of artists--those who had emerged during the 1980's and who were making their Whitney debut. And repeatedly it was issues of sex and gender that emerged as a major priority. In view of the Whitney's previous reluctance to make any acknowledgment of the AIDS crisis, the inclusion of Group Material's AIDS timeline was especially welcome. The arts collective (Doug Ashford, Julie Ault, Felix Gonzales-Torres and Karen Ramspacher) have collaborated with a number of artists...