JEFFREY BROWN:

The Whitney Biennial, a must-see exhibition for anyone interested in contemporary art, a snapshot of American creativity and sometimes American culture.

Featuring 63 artists, this is a relatively intimate show as these go. It's the first biennial at the Whitney Museum's new Lower Manhattan building, which was designed by architect Renzo Piano and opened in 2015, and the first in 20 years organized during a presidential campaign.

So, what did curators Christopher Lew and Mia Locks find when talking with artists and putting together the exhibition? No surprise, perhaps, a sense of unease and anxiety.

MIA LOCKS, Whitney Museum of American Art: It's been a tumultuous few years. For better or for worse, I think a presidential election can sometimes be a moment when we, as a country and as a kind of society, do ask ourselves pretty hard questions about how we understand ourselves individually and collectively.