Josh Kline: Project for a New American Century

A deep look at a contemporary artist whose work highlights how the rise of technology and corporate capitalism have disrupted our lives and polarized society

One of the most thought-provoking artists of his generation, Josh Kline (b. 1979) creates installations, sculptures, videos, and photographs that address the ways new technologies affect how people live and work. Engaging with a range of concerns that impact the entire labor force, from essential workers to the creative class, Kline demonstrates how climate change, automation, disease, and politics have shaped our identities. At a time when so many aspects of life are under threat, Kline takes an unflinching look at how we got here and boldly imagines a more equitable and empathetic future. Klines art demonstrates the ways technology has widened and reinforced the gap of inequity in America, while also carrying the potential to make a fairer world. As an artist whos thinking about the consequences of technological innovation, Kline has said, I think theres an obligation to raise questions about who benefits. His ongoing cycle of installations (Freedom, 201416; Unemployment, 201516, Civil War, 201619; Climate Change, 2019 ) that imagine the next hundred years of society are featured in this book, along with his earlier bodies of work, Creative Labor (2009 ) and Blue Collars (2014 ) and production images and concept sketches for his newest works that are published here for the first time.

Distributed for the Whitney Museum of American Art

Exhibition Schedule:

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
(April 19August 13, 2023) See more