In an art world that often avoids discussing its less-than-romantic realities, Maia Chao’s decade-long practice stands out for its refreshing candor. In “The Performance of Making Art” (2021), she used her iPhone to document the material and economic conditions of sustaining her practice: her annual income, studio rent, the ramen and canned soup she eats, the grant applications she files, her CV.

For the 2026 Whitney Biennial, Chao presents “Scores for the Museum Visitor” (2026), which instruct viewers to, in a sense, misbehave by touching the museum wall or repeatedly dropping museum brochures. An accompanying performance, “BEING MOVED” (2026), also created with Engelstein, will take place in the Whitney’s seventh-floor permanent collection exhibition “Untitled” (America) on May 14, 16, and 17.