Curated by denisse andrade, Liz Park, Tim Saltarelli, and Kristina Scepanski

Helena Rubinstein Curatorial Fellows of the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program

“Creative destruction” initially described the periodic crises that cleared the ground for the creation of new wealth. More recently, the term has been interpreted by finance capital as the ability to profit at the expense of the majority and their livelihoods. The exhibition reclaims the phrase in order to emphasize the potential to reconfigure and rebuild from pre-existing language for different political purposes. The artworks take aim at how these signs perpetuate a constructed yet naturalized state of inequality. Similar to many of the recent global protest movements, they collectively engage in a critical analysis of the existing socio-economic and ideological order.

With works by Melanie Gilligan, Hans Haacke, Alfredo Jaar, Liz Magic Laser, Raqs Media Collective, Kerri Reid, SUPERFLEX, and Fred Wilson, among others.

Exhibition Hours: Tues–Fri, 12–6 pm; Sat 11–6 pm FREE

Support for the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program is provided by Margaret Morgan and Wesley Phoa, The Capital Group Charitable Foundation, the Whitney Contemporaries through their annual Art Party benefit, the Easton Foundation, the National Committee of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Edward and Sally Van Lier Foundation, and an anonymous donor. Endowment support is provided by Joanne Leonhardt Cassullo, the Dorothea L. Leonhardt Fund of the Communities Foundation of Texas, the Dorothea L. Leonhardt Foundation, the Helena Rubinstein Foundation, and George S. Harris.