If there's anyone left who still doubts that we're living at the end of the American empire, they can find confirmation for this state of affairs at the current Whitney Biennial, the latest edition of the museum's oft-maligned survey of contemporary American art. Is this a matter for regret? Not entirely. One might feel nostalgia for a not-so-distant past when our nation's art seemed in the vanguard, formally or politically—when peripatetic art-world types, wandering through the Biennial's three floors on opening day, didn't moan about "no longer being able to afford the London art scene," or speculate that "Berlin [meaning the Biennale, opening April... More >>>