Th Whitney Museum of Art presents : THe first sols museum of Coumba Saba

 

WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART PRESENTS THE FIRST SOLO MUSEUM EXHIBITION OF COUMBA SAMBA

A major new commission by the Harlem-born artist transforms the Whitney's Lobby Gallery into an immersive environment examining power, militarism, and the global infrastructures that shape contemporary life.

New York, NY, September 19, 2026 — The Whitney Museum of American Art presents Coumba Samba: Stars and Stripes, opening today. The exhibition marks the first solo museum presentation devoted to New York-based Senegalese American artist Coumba Samba (b. 2000), whose ambitious installations examine the social, political, and economic systems embedded within the built environment. In Stars and Stripes, Samba draws on the geometric forms and bold colors of modernist abstraction to explore the entanglement of resource extraction, militarism, and systems of global power. Sculptures modeled after depleted uranium shells are painted in the colors of the flags of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Namibia, Niger, and the United States. By using elements of national identity—including stripes, colors, and graphic forms—Samba interrogates the histories concealed within these familiar symbols and the systems that have shaped the global military-industrial complex and the development of nuclear weapons. The African nations referenced in the installation were among the world’s principal sources of uranium ore during the Cold War, when many of their mines were operated by foreign companies. Reverberations of these histories run throughout the exhibition. The Shinkolobwe mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, supplied much of the uranium ore used for the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. Decades later, allegations that Iraq had sought five hundred tons of uranium ore from Niger became part of the case presented by the U.S. government for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Samba considers the global nuclear order in relation to a geography of extraction established under colonial rule. While resource-rich African nations have often not received the full economic benefits of their natural resources, their communities and landscapes have borne significant environmental consequences. Through Stars and Stripes, Samba examines the enduring effects of colonial systems on African people, places, resources, and sovereignty.  The exhibition is presented in the Whitney’s Lobby Gallery, organized by Rujeko Hockley, Guest Curator, with Antonia Pocock, Curatorial Assistant.

ABOUT COUMBA SAMBA Born and raised in Harlem, Couma Samba studied at the Rhode Island School of Design before earning her BA from Camberwell College of Arts in London. Working across sculpture, installation, sound, and light, she draws upon the histories of modernist abstraction and minimalism while revealing the structures of power that can be concealed within seemingly neutral forms. Alongside her visual art practice, Samba is also the vocalist for the experimental pop music duo NEW YORK. The exhibition opens at a pivotal moment in Samba’s career, following her recent participation in Greater New York 2026 at MoMA PS1 and Fade at the Studio Museum in Harlem. While her work has been exhibited extensively in Europe, Coumba Samba: Stars and Stripes marks a significant homecoming and milestone of recognition in New York, the city where she was born and raised. ABOUT THE WHITNEY The Whitney Museum of American Art, founded in 1930 by the artist and philanthropist Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), houses the foremost collection of American art from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Mrs. Whitney, an early and ardent supporter of modern American art, nurtured groundbreaking artists when audiences were still largely preoccupied with the Old Masters. From her vision arose the Whitney Museum of American Art, which has been championing the most innovative art of the United States for ninety years. The core of the Whitney’s mission is to collect, preserve, interpret, and exhibit American art of our time and serve a wide variety of audiences in celebration of the complexity and diversity of art and culture in the United States. Through this mission and a steadfast commitment to artists, the Whitney has long been a powerful force in support of modern and contemporary art and continues to help define what is innovative and influential in American art today. Whitney Museum Land Acknowledgment The Whitney is located in Lenapehoking, the ancestral homeland of the Lenape. The name Manhattan comes from their word Mannahatta, meaning “island of many hills.” The Museum’s current site is close to land that was a Lenape fishing and planting site called Sapponckanikan (“tobacco field”). The Whitney acknowledges the displacement of this region’s original inhabitants and the Lenape diaspora that exists today. As a museum of American art in a city with vital and diverse communities of Indigenous people, the Whitney recognizes the historical exclusion of Indigenous artists from its collection and program. The Museum is committed to addressing these erasures and honoring the perspectives of Indigenous artists and communities as we work for a more equitable future. To read more about the Museum’s Land Acknowledgment, visit the Museum’s website. VISITOR INFORMATION The Whitney Museum of American Art is located at 99 Gansevoort Street between Washington and West Streets, New York City. Public hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 10:30 am–6 pm; Friday, 10:30 am–10 pm; and Saturday and Sunday, 10:30 am–6 pm. Closed Tuesday. Visitors twenty-five years and under and Whitney members: FREE. The Museum offers FREE admission and special programming for visitors of all ages every Friday evening from 5–10 pm and on the second Sunday of every month. Whitney Museum of American Art 99 Gansevoort Street New York, NY 10014 whitney.org                                Discover the Whitney’s audio guides and accessible content on Bloomberg Connects.  Image credit: SIERRA Uninhabited Aerial System (UAV plane) in the Ames hangar, 2006, with editing by Coumba Samba, 2026. Source photograph by Tom Trower, courtesy NASA Image and Video Library #whitneymuseumamericanart#fineartmagazineblog.blogspot.com #sunstormfineartmagazine.com#artfunharlem#artfunwhitney#artfunnyc#artfunnow,

Got Kids? Take a look at what the Whitney is offering: WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART RECEIVES A GIFT FOR EDUCATION FROM THE STEVEN & ALEXANDRA COHEN FOUNDATION

WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART RECEIVES A GIFT FOR EDUCATION FROM THE STEVEN & ALEXANDRA COHEN FOUNDATION NEW YORK, July 30, 2015—The Whitney Museum of American Art has received a $2 million gift from the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundationto support its award-winning education programs, Adam D. Weinberg, Alice Pratt Brown Director of the Whitney, announced today. Over the next five years, the Foundation's gift will provide essential support for the Museum’s education programs which serve children, teens, seniors, and the community at large. “The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation’s generous gift recognizes that education is one of the cornerstones of the Whitney’s mission. Visiting the Museum can be a life-changing experience at any age, opening us up to new ideas and ways of thinking, increasing our understanding of the human condition, and showing us how artists perceive the world,” said Mr. Weinberg. “Our education programs deepen and enrich our experience of art and enhance our power to see and to think about what we’ve seen. We are profoundly grateful for Steven and Alexandra Cohen’s ongoing support, which enables us to continue this essential aspect of our work.” “Steven and I were inspired to give more after we saw the amazing impact that art has on children first-hand at the Whitney’s Jeff Koons exhibition last summer,” said Alex Cohen, President of the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation. “Jeff helped the art come alive to the kids and engaged them in a completely different way. We are thrilled that our gift will help the Whitney expand their education programs and reach more people in our community.” The Whitney’s educational programs are designed to make the Museum’s permanent collections and temporary exhibitions accessible and welcoming to a broad range of visitors. The Cohen Foundation’s gift will enable the Museum to offer more free guided visits to students from New York City Schools; to expand public school and community partnerships; to serve a diverse group of teens through its renowned after school programs; and to provide expanded art workshops and open access days for senior citizens and community members. As such, the Museum will become an even more vital resource and cultural anchor in its new downtown community and will help to build and expand an audience for the Whitney’s exhibitions and programs that is as diverse as New York City itself. The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation focuses on children’s health, education, veterans, and the arts. In 2014 the Cohen Foundation co-sponsored the Whitney’s Jeff Koons retrospective, providing support, lending works, and enabling the Whitney to expand the number of New York City public school tours of the exhibition, the Museum’s final offering uptown before moving to the Meatpacking District. In the past, the Cohen Foundation has supported Whitney exhibitions devoted to the work of Christian Marclay and Terence Koh. Kathryn Potts, Associate Director and Helena Rubinstein Chair of Education at the Whitney, commented, “We are enormously grateful to the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation for recognizing the importance of education at the Whitney and for continuing to support the Museum. With the opening of the new Whitney downtown we have been given an unprecedented opportunity to consider what an art museum can be and do for our community. Just as the Whitney’s new building, with its transparency, outdoor spaces, and free first-floor gallery, suggests a receptive relationship between the Museum and the surrounding community, our education programming works to open up the Whitney to New York City’s students, teens, families, artists, schools, seniors, and neighborhood residents. The Whitney’s new downtown home is situated in a diverse neighborhood with a rich artistic and industrial history, and this grant will help the Museum to become a community anchor in this evolving cultural district.” ABOUT WHITNEY EDUCATION PROGRAMS The Whitney’s new building houses the Laurie M. Tisch Education Center, the hub of the Museum’s Education Department. Education programs, one of the central concerns of the Museum, aim to make the Whitney a dynamic platform for audiences to experience art as integral to their own lives and the world around us. Whitney educators work in multifaceted ways as facilitators, translators, advocates, and producers, as well as teachers. They are committed to an approach that privileges research, responsiveness, and reflection. As educators, they create opportunities for visitors with different needs, experiences, and interests to make meaningful connections with art. The Whitney engages the community through a range of programs, reaching out to people at schools, community-based organizations, senior centers, and those living in NYCHA housing. Better understanding of these audiences and collaboration with other organizations that serve them has been central to the Museum’s planning for its new programming. The Whitney has devoted resources and research to understanding the needs and priorities of New York City audiences and has worked to develop long-term relationships with the Whitney’s audiences by fostering their understanding and love of art. School Guided Visits and Educator Programs Students from New York City public schools are welcome to visit the Whitney free of charge. Themed, guided visits to the Museum’s galleries for K–12 students allow them to explore the multifaceted roles artists play in our culture—as experimenters, observers, critics, and storytellers—and forge thoughtful connections between classroom learning and the art on view. The Whitney also offers guided visits and studio workshops in its Hearst Artspace, a space that can be used for making art, where students can experiment with art materials and techniques following their tours of the Museum. Programs for K–12 teachers include special preview events, conferences, and Teacher Exchange, a yearlong program in which participants trade ideas with colleagues, Museum educators, artists, and curators. School Partnerships Long-term, multiyear partnerships with a number of New York City schools include tours when the Museum is closed to the public, work with museum educators in the classroom, hands-on art workshops, professional development workshops, and parent involvement programs. Museum educators work closely with administrators and teachers from partnership schools to design and implement programs that meet their specific needs. Teen Programs Youth Insights is an after-school program that connects New York City high school students to contemporary art and artists, providing opportunities to work collaboratively, discuss art critically, think creatively, and make art inspired by the exchange. Semester-long programs introduce students to the Whitney’s art and artists, while participants in a yearlong Leaders program plan events and tours for their peers. Offered in the summer, Youth Insights Arts Careers introduces teens to careers in the arts and practical job skills, and Youth Insights Introductions provides experiences at the Whitney for high school students who are English Language Learners and recent immigrants. Large-scale and drop-in teen programs, including teen openings, workshops, and artist-led events, reach additional New York City teens. Community Programs Community Programs build sustained connections that go beyond the single museum visit, bringing art, ideas, and dialogue to classrooms, senior centers, and community-based organizations around the city. Community Partnerships offer extended programming tailored to the needs and interests of partner organizations, promoting the Museum as an essential resource. Since 1994, the Whitney has partnered with some of New York’s most vital community-based senior organizations, such as United Neighborhood Houses, to create customized programs that challenge seniors to actively engage with the Whitney’s collection and exhibitions, make art, share ideas, and relate what they learn to their own lives and experiences. Access Programs The Whitney invites visitors of all abilities to experience the richness and complexity of American art in an inclusive, welcoming environment. Access Programs include Whitney Signs, tours in American Sign Language led by expert deaf educators; Verbal Description and Touch Tours that allow visitors to experience the Whitney’s exhibitions with a highly skilled museum educator trained to provide vivid, detailed verbal description of the works on view, while experiencing a selection of objects through touch; and the Vlog Project, the Whitney’s award-winning, open-captioned, online video series in American Sign Language. ABOUT THE STEVEN & ALEXANDRA COHEN FOUNDATION The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation is committed to inspiring philanthropy and community service—with a special interest in children’s health, education, veterans and the arts—by creating awareness, offering guidance and leading by example to show the world what giving can do. ABOUT THE WHITNEY The Whitney Museum of American Art, founded in 1930 by the artist and philanthropist Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875−1942), houses the foremost collection of American art from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Mrs. Whitney, an early and ardent supporter of modern American art, nurtured groundbreaking artists at a time when audiences were still largely preoccupied with the Old Masters. From her vision arose the Whitney Museum of American Art, which has been championing the most innovative art of the United States for more than eighty years. The core of the Whitney’s mission is to collect, preserve, interpret, and exhibit American art of our time and serve a wide variety of audiences in celebration of the complexity and diversity of art and culture in the United States. Through this mission and a steadfast commitment to artists themselves, the Whitney has long been a powerful force in support of modern and contemporary art and continues to help define what is new and influential in American art today. CURRENT AND UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS America Is Hard to See Through September 27, 2015 Mary Heilmann: Sunset Through September 27, 2015 Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist October 2, 2015–January 17, 2016 Jared Madere October 16, 2015–January 3, 2016 Frank Stella October 30, 2015–February 7, 2016 Rachel Rose October 30, 2015–February 7, 2016 Collected by Thea Westreich Wagner and Ethan Wagner November 20, 2015–March 6, 2016 Laura Poitras February 5–May 15, 2016 Sophia Al-Maria Summer 2016 Stuart Davis: In Full Swing Summer/Fall 2016 Carmen Herrera Fall 2016 David Wojnarowicz Fall 2016/Winter 2017 Whitney Biennial Spring 2017 The Whitney is located at 99 Gansevoort Street between Washington and West Streets, New York City. Museum hours are: Monday, Wednesday, and Sunday from 10:30 am to 6 pm, Thursday through Saturday from10:30 am to 10 pm, closed Tuesday. General admission: $22. Full-time students and visitors ages 19–25 and 62 & over: $18. Visitors under 18 and Whitney members: FREE. Admission is pay-what-you-wish on Fridays, 7–10 p.m. For general information, please call (212) 570-3600 or visit whitney.org. #fineartmagazine