Weighted towards midcareer artists in their late 30s, with a few better-known figures like John Baldessari and Sherrie Levine, as well as one or two quirky choices -- the name Spike Lee jumps out -- the show seems fairly insiderish. It certainly won’t challenge prevailing notions of what the U.S. art capitals are. About 42 of the 81 participating artists or teams are based in New York, and an additional 24 come from Los Angeles. It also seems unlikely to mollify ongoing concerns about the underrepresentation of women, with female participation at well under 40 percent. What’s more, the Whit is dropping the conceit of titling the survey, which it tried out in 2006, calling the show "Day for Night."

The curatorial team is spearheaded by Whitney curators Henriette Huldisch and Shamim M. Momin, overseen by Donna De Salvo. Special advisory input comes from Thelma Golden of the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Wexner Center’s Bill Horrigan and former Fogg Art Museum curator Linda Norden. The artists:

Rita Ackermann (b. Budapest; lives New York), Natalia Almada (b. Mexico; lives Mexico City and New York), Edgar Arceneaux (b. Los Angeles; lives Los Angeles), Fia Backström (b. Stockholm; lives New York), John Baldessari (b. National City, Ca.; lives Santa Monica), Robert Bechtle (b. San Francisco; lives San Francisco), Walead Beshty (b. London; lives Los Angeles), Carol Bove (b. Geneva; lives New York), Joe Bradley (b. Old Orchard Beach, Me.; lives New York), Matthew Brannon (b. Saint Maries, Idaho; lives New York), Bozidar Brazda (b. Cambridge, Canada; lives New York), Olaf Breuning (b. Schaffhausen, Switzerland; lives New York), Jedediah Caesar (b. Oakland; lives Los Angeles), William Cordova (b. Lima; lives Houston and Miami), Dexter Sinister aka David Reinfurt and Stuart Bailey (b. Chapel Hill and York, England; live New York), Harry (Harriet) Dodge and Stanya Kahn (b. San Francisco; live Los Angeles).

Shannon Ebner (b. Englewood, N.J.; lives Los Angeles), Gardar Eide Einarsson (b. Oslo, lives New York), Roe Ethridge (b. Miami; lives New York), Kevin Jerome Everson (b. Mansfield, Ohio; lives Charlottesville, Va.), Omer Fast (b. Jerusalem; lives Berlin), Robert Fenz (b. Ann Arbor; lives Cambridge), Coco Fusco (b. New York; lives New York), Gang Gang Dance (founded and based New York), Amy Granat and Drew Heitzler (b. St. Louis and Charleston; live New York and Los Angeles), Rashawn Griffin (b. Los Angeles; lives New York), Adler Guerrier (b. Port-au-Prince; lives Miami), M.K. Guth (b. Stevens Point, Wisc.; lives Portland, Oreg.), Fritz Haeg (b. St. Cloud, Minn.; lives Los Angeles), Rachel Harrison (b. New York; lives New York), Ellen Harvey (b. Kent, England; lives New York), Mary Heilmann (b. San Francisco; lives New York), Leslie Hewitt (b. New York; lives New York and Houston), Patrick Hill (b. Royal Oak, Mich.; lives Los Angeles), William E. Jones (b. Canton, Ohio; lives Los Angeles).

Karen Kilimnik (b. Philadelphia; lives Philadelphia), Alice Könitz (b. Essen, Germany; lives Los Angeles), Louise Lawler (b. Bronxville, N.Y.; lives New York), Spike Lee (b. Atlanta; lives New York), Sherrie Levine (b. Hazleton, Pa.; lives Santa Fe and New York), Charles Long (b. Long Branch, N.J.; lives Los Angeles), Lucky Dragons aka Luke Fischbeck (b. San Francisco; lives Los Angeles), Daniel Joseph Martinez (b. Los Angeles; lives Los Angeles), Corey McCorkle (b. La Crosse, Wisc.; lives New York), Rodney McMillian (b. Columbia, S.C.; lives Los Angeles), Julia Meltzer and David Thorne (b. Hollywood, Ca. and Boston, Mass.; live Los Angeles), Jennifer Montgomery (b. New York; lives Chicago), Olivier Mosset (b. Bern; lives Tucson), Matt Mullican (b. Santa Monica; lives New York), Neighborhood Public Radio (NPR) (formed Oakland; based in Oakland, San Diego and Chicago), Ruben Ochoa (b. Oceanside, Ca.; lives Los Angeles), DJ Olive (b. Boston; lives New York).

Mitzi Pederson (b. Stuart, Fla.; lives San Francisco), Kembra Pfahler aka The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black (b. Hermosa Beach, Ca.; lives New York), Seth Price (b. East Jerusalem; lives New York), Stephen Prina (b. Galesburg, Il.; lives Cambridge and Los Angeles), Adam Putnam (b. New York; lives New York), Michael Queenland (b. Pasadena; lives New York), Jason Rhoades (b. Newcastle, Ca.), Ry Rocklen (b. Los Angeles; lives Los Angeles), Bert Rodriguez (b. Miami; lives Miami), Marina Rosenfeld (b. New York; lives New York), Amanda Ross-Ho (b. Chicago; lives Los Angeles), Mika Rottenberg (b. Buenos Aires; lives New York), Heather Rowe (b. New Haven; lives New York).

Eduardo Sarabia (b. Los Angeles; lives Los Angeles, Guadalajara and Berlin), Melanie Schiff (b. Chicago; lives Chicago), Amie Siegel (b. Chicago; lives New York and Berlin), Lisa Sigal (b. Philadelphia; lives New York), Gretchen Skogerson (b. Teaneck; lives New York), Michael Smith (b. Chicago; lives New York and Austin, Tex.), Agathe Snow (b. Corsica, France; lives New York), Frances Stark (b. Newport Beach, Ca.; lives Los Angeles), Mika Tajima/New Humans aka Mika Tajima and Howie Chen (b. Los Angeles and Cincinnati; live New York), Javier Téllez (b. Valencia, Venezuela; lives New York), Cheyney Thompson (b. Baton Rouge; lives New York), Mungo Thomson (b. Woodland, Ca.; lives Berlin and Los Angeles), Leslie Thornton (b. Oak Ridge, Tenn.; lives New York), Phoebe Washburn (b. Poughkeepsie; lives New York), James Welling (b. Hartford; lives Los Angeles) and Mario Ybarra, Jr. (b. Los Angeles; lives Los Angeles).

By the way, congratulations to all the lucky participants. Now, kick ass!

USA FELLOWS ANNOUNCED
The second round of "USA Fellows" from the United States Artists foundation has been announced, 50 in all for 2007, in the categories architecture/design, crafts/traditional arts, dance, literature, media, music, theater arts and visual arts. Worth $50,000 a pop, the fellowships were founded to bolster American creative muscle, and are selected after nominations by an anonymous committee. To be eligible, artists must possess "expert artistic skill," have "received artistic education or training (formal or informal)," "attempted to derive income from those skills" and "been actively engaged in creating artwork and presenting it to the public." For 2007, the winners in the visual arts are Edgar Arceneaux, Uta Barth, Paul Chan, Charles Gaines, Ann Hamilton, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Marcos "Erre" Ramirez, Allan Sekula, Gary Simmons and Zoe Strauss.

MOMA/CONDO TOWER FROM NOUVEL
International real estate conglomerate Hines has announced that Parisian starchitect Jean Nouvel has designed the gargantuan 75-story building to be constructed adjacent to the Museum of Modern Art in New York, between West 53rd and 54th streets. The asymmetrical steel-and-glass building tapers as it ascends, and has a skin crisscrossed with a web of irregular diagonals. Levels two through five of the tower are dedicated to a 50,000-square-foot expansion for MoMA, but the complex also contains a 100-room, seven-star hotel and 120 top-of-the-market condos. Denizens of the tower can expect to enjoy breathtaking views of New York and year-round tourist traffic on the street. Pre-sales for the condos start in 2008. More on the project at www.53W53.com

PROSPECT.1 VENUES ANNOUNCED
Well, you can’t say that Dan Cameron doesn’t have big dreams. The former New Museum curator, now visual arts director at the New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center (CAC), is organizing Prospect.1 New Orleans, Nov. 1, 2008-Jan. 18, 2009, and one year out he already has announced that the visual arts festival is going to be "the largest international art biennial ever to take place in the United States." What’s more, Cameron expects his show to attract one quarter of a million visitors and "redevelop the city as a cultural destination" after Katrina.

The list of artists in Prospect.1 won’t be announced until March 2008, but in the meantime, we have the list of 10 venues for the show, an impressive lineup of local institutions partnering with CAC: the Historic New Orleans Collection, L9, Louisiana Artworks, the U.S. Mint Louisiana State Museum, the National World War II Museum, Louisiana African American Museum, New Orleans Center for Creative Arts / Riverfront, New Orleans Museum of Art, the Newcomb Art Gallery at Tulane University and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art.

Seed money for the big show comes from art patron and New Museum trustee Toby Devan Lewis.

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