Whitney banner heralding upcoming Biennial, photo: Lindsay Pollock

The Whitney Museum invited a group of reporters for a breakfast this week with Gary Carrion-Murayari and Francesco Bonami, curators of the upcoming Feb. 25-March 30 Biennial, innocuously titled “2010.”

The show will be the 75th biennial or annual presented by the museum since 1932, two years after its founding. There is no particular theme this year, but curator Bonami predicts it will be “less imperial, less heroic and less macho.”

Artists at Whitney Biennial breakfast, seated in front of Schnabel painting. Left to right: Rashaad Newsome, Sharon Haye, Nina Berman, Theaster Gates

A smaller than usual field of artists have been selected for the show, 55 names, about half the recent number. The exhibit is billed as a survey of the latest in American art.

Eleven of the artists have shown in previous biennials including: George Condo, James Casabere, Suzan Frecon, Hannah Greely, Robert Grosvenor, Martin Kersels, Jim Lutes, Ari Marcopoulous, Josephine Meckseper, Charles Ray and Ellen Gallagher.

The breakfast included appearances by four selected artists, none of whom wield a paintbrush: photojournalist Nina Berman; installation and performance artist Theaster Gates; performance, video and installation artist Sharon Hayes; and video, performance, photography, sculpture and paper collagist Rashaad Newsome.

Whitney Museum elevator signage

Theaster Gate's installation underway in Whitney courtyard. Photo: Lindsay Pollock

Chicago artist Theaster Gates. Photo: Lindsay Pollock