The Museum of Modern Art presents Adam Pendleton: Who Is Queen?

The Museum of Modern Art presents Adam Pendleton: Who Is Queen? a large-scale installation by conceptual artist Adam Pendleton that will be on view in the Donald B. and Catherine C. Marron Atrium from September 18, 2021, through January 30, 2022. Surrounding the installation are three wooden scaffolds that support paintings, drawings, and sculptures, creating a backdrop for moving image works and a dynamic, multi-layered sound piece.

In Who Is Queen? the U.S.-based Pendleton challenges the traditional notion of museums as repositories and addresses the impact that mass movements-including those of the past decade such as Black Lives Matter and Occupy-might have on exhibition as an art form. Classically, his work uses linguistic, political, and historical material in unusual forms and configurations to explore the relationship between blackness, abstraction, and the avant-garde. Thus, it is not surprising that the monumental installation also draws on the work of diverse figures such as pianist Glenn Gould, political philosopher Michael Hardt, and activist and public theologian Ruby Sales, and operates at the intersection of abstraction and politics.