Meg Onli, an influential curatorial force behind several of the Whitney Museum of American Art’s signature exhibitions, and Zack Winokur, an acclaimed performing arts director and co-founder of the American Modern Opera Company, have been named as the co-curators for the upcoming 2028 Whitney Biennial, the museum announced today, November 6.
The appointment pairs one of contemporary art’s most celebrated visual arts curators with an innovative interdisciplinary programmer known for bridging opera, theater, dance, and the visual arts. Together
, they will shape the 83rd edition of the museum’s flagship survey of American art, which is slated to open in March 2028.
“Meg is one of the most compelling curatorial voices working today, with an extraordinary ability to champion artists and bring fresh perspectives to the history of American art,” Scott Rothkopf, director of the Whitney, said in a statement accompanying the announcement. “Zack is an equally inventive artistic programmer who has become one of the leading voices of his generation through groundbreaking work across opera, theater, dance, and the visual arts. Their partnership promises a radical new vision for the 2028 Biennial.”
The announcement arrives just two months after the closure of the 2026 edition of the Biennial and follows a period of significant internal activity at the Manhattan museum. Only a month prior, unionized staff at the Whitney successfully averted a full-blown strike just ahead of the opening of Roy Lichtenstein: Like New, a major blockbuster retrospective co-curated by Onli.
The labor action at the Whitney was part of a broader wave of organizing across New York City’s cultural institutions. The Whitney’s union had united with staff at three other prominent museums—the Brooklyn Museum, the American Folk Art Museum, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum—under United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2110 to authorize strikes amid protracted contract negotiations centered on low compensation, benefits, and workplace conditions. Hours before the planned picket lines were set to form, unionized staffers successfully ratified their second collective bargaining contract. The agreement secured a new wage floor, increased parental and bereavement leave, and stronger workplace safety provisions, among other structural amendments.
For Onli, the appointment marks another major milestone in her tenure at the Whitney. First joining the museum as curator-at-large in 2023, Onli quickly established her curatorial footprint by co-curating the 2024 Whitney Biennial, titled Even Better Than the Real Thing, alongside Chrissie Iles. That same year, her contributions were recognized with a promotion to Nancy and Fred Poses Curator, a position entrusted with leading the Whitney’s painting and sculpture acquisition committee.
Before arriving at the Whitney, Onli built an extensive reputation through leadership roles in the contemporary art world. She previously served as the director and curator of the Underground Museum in Los Angeles, a culturally vital independent art space, and as an associate curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania, where she organized numerous acclaimed exhibitions that engaged deeply with contemporary social and political discourse.
“From the Whitney’s early Annuals to its many subsequent iterations, the Biennial has a rich history of reinvention that is already giving us much to think about,” Onli said in a statement regarding her new curatorial assignment. “I couldn’t be more excited to explore what the Biennial can be alongside Zack, who is such a dynamic thinker, and to see where our conversations with artists lead.”
Co-curator Zack Winokur brings a distinctly cross-disciplinary perspective to the visual arts institution. As the co-founder of the American Modern Opera Company, Winokur works alongside a collective of 17 singers, musicians, dancers, and performing artists who champion boundary-pushing, collaborative productions. In addition to his work with the collective, Winokur has served in prominent leadership roles within the performing arts sector, including artistic director for Little Island on Pier 55, the innovative public park and performance venue on the Hudson River, and artistic director for NYPopsUp, a statewide cultural initiative launched to revitalize performing arts spaces and safely reopen the sector in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m honored to be curating the Whitney Biennial with Meg,” Winokur added in his statement. “Our shared desire to center objects and people and the collision between them already echoes our collaboration. It’s that energy that makes the dialogue with her so fun and inspiring.”
Dating back to its founding by museum founder Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in 1932, the Whitney Biennial remains the longest-running and most closely watched survey of contemporary American art. Over nearly a century, the exhibition has served as a barometer for shifts in artistic practice, capturing the anxieties, innovations, and stylistic evolutions of generations of creators. More than 3,600 artists have participated in the exhibition since its inception, making it a critical stepping stone and career milestone for emerging and established figures alike. As Onli and Winokur begin their collaborative journey toward the 2028 exhibition, the art world will be watching closely to see how their unique synthesis of visual art and performance programming reshapes America’s premier contemporary art platform.
