Whitney Museum to remain open continuously for final 36 hours of Koons exhibition

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'Our moment, for better or worse, could not be more perfectly realized than it is by "Jeff Koons: A Retrospective", the final exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Madison Avenue location, which surveys four decades with 150 works.' (Tom Huhn, Cassone, August 2014)

To celebrate the final days of ‘Jeff Koons: A Retrospective’ and the culmination of the Whitney’s uptown exhibition programme prior to the opening of its new building downtown, the Museum has announced that it will stay open continuously for 36 hours, from 11a.m. Saturday, 18 October through 11p.m. Sunday, 19 October. The marathon viewing will provide additional hours to visit the acclaimed and immensely popular retrospective, which has been among the most well attended exhibitions in the Museum's history, attracting more than 250,000 visitors to date. The Whitney will open its new building in the Meatpacking District in spring 2015.

In addition to scheduled programming, the Museum has organized numerous late night and early morning events and activities during the extended hours, including:

– a late-night talk by Scott Rothkopf, curator of 'Jeff Koons: A Retrospective'
– early bird family activities from 8a.m. to noon on Sunday for children of all ages
– hourly docent tours from 8p.m. to 11p.m., as well as at 10a.m.
– light refreshments available for purchase throughout the evening in Untitled, the Museum’s restaurant
– new products featuring Jeff Koons’s artwork for sale in the Whitney Shop while the Museum is open.

‘Lucid, challenging, brilliantly installed', according to The New York Times, ‘Jeff Koons: A Retrospective’ is the most comprehensive exhibition ever devoted to the artist’s groundbreaking work. By reconstituting all of his most iconic pieces and significant series in a chronological narrative, the retrospective allows visitors to understand Koons’ remarkably diverse output as a multifaceted whole. This also marks the artist’s first major museum presentation in New York, and the first time nearly the entirety of the Whitney’s Marcel Breuer building has been filled with a single artist’s work.

Additionally, three exhibitions featuring the Museum’s permanent collection are currently on view in the fifth floor and fifth-floor mezzanine galleries.
‘Shaping A Collection: Five Decades of Gifts’ honours benefactors who were instrumental in expanding the Whitney’s collection and includes works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Agnes Martin, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol.
‘Edward Hopper and Photography’ pairs Hopper paintings from the Whitney’s collection with works by six contemporary photographers: Gregory Crewdson, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, William Eggleston, Steve Fitch, Todd Hido, and Stephen Shore.
‘Collecting Calder’ presents a selection of Alexander Calder sculptures and drawings.

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street
New York, NY 10021

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