NEW YORK CITY — The Whitney Museum of American Art announced that the 2017 Whitney Biennial will be co-curated by Christopher Y. Lew and Mia Locks. This will be the 78th in the museum’s series of annual and biennial exhibitions inaugurated in 1932 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney.

The museum’s signature survey of contemporary art in the United States, the Biennial goes on view in spring 2017. It will be the first Biennial presented in the Whitney’s new building in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District.

Scott Rothkopf, the Whitney’s Deputy Director for Programs and Nancy and Steve Crown Family Chief Curator, said, “With the opening of the new building, we’re rededicating ourselves to the Whitney’s longstanding commitment to emerging artists. Chris’s keen eye has been critical to this renewed focus in our program, which just launched with his presentations of Jared Madere, Rachel Rose, and New Theater. Mia’s interest in both historical figures and new tendencies, as well her years on the West Coast will add important perspective to the Biennial. The two of them have great intellectual chemistry, and it’s exciting to see the first Biennial in our new home in the hands of such talented young curators.”

The Whitney’s Alice Pratt Brown Director Adam D. Weinberg, says, “Every Whitney Biennial is a galvanizing process for the museum, a tradition that goes back to the institution’s roots while retaining its freshness and immediacy. Endeavoring to gauge the state of art in America today, the Biennial demands curators who are attuned to the art of the current moment and there is no question that Chris Lew and Mia Locks have their fingers on the pulse. The expanded spaces and possibilities offered by our new downtown building will make this Biennial particularly lively and groundbreaking.”

Lew is Associate Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where he has organized the first US solo exhibitions for Rachel Rose and Jared Madere. From 2013 until recently, Locks was assistant curator at MoMA PS1, where she organized many exhibitions. She is currently publishing a book on the work of Samara Golden, forthcoming in December.

The Whitney is at 99 Gansevoort Street. For general information, 212-570-3600 or www.whitney.org.