The biennial arrives on March 1. (Courtesy Whitney)

With the opening of the 2012 Whitney Biennial just days away, the exhibition--which just about no one has yet seen--has become a target for protest and parody. Occupy Wall Street's Arts & Labor group has called for the end of the show in 2014, which it argues:

"...perpetuates the myth that art functions like other professional careers and that selection and participation in the exhibition, for which artists themselves are not compensated, will secure a sustainable vocation. This fallacy encourages many young artists to incur debt from which they will never be free and supports a culture industry and financial and cultural institutions that profit from their labors and financial servitude."

The full letter chastises the Whitney for accepting sponsorship money for the biennial from Sotheby's, which locked out its unionized workers last year.

Meanwhile, a press release that at first appeared to be from the Whitney landed in our inbox this morning stating that the museum had returned sponsorship money from Sotheby's and Deutsche Bank. The release linked to the website www.whitney2012.org, which has a few hints that it is not an approved Whitney site (though it looks almost identical to the museum's real site), like the fact that patron Emily Fisher Landau is identified as an "Indian-naming cat lover." The Whitney confirmed it didn't send the email.

The exhibition opens March 1.

When we arrived at the planned meeting place, between 22nd and 23rd Street, Gallerist found only two people there, holding umbrelllas, but they quickly directed us south, to the covered section of the park that crosses 16th Street.

About 100 people had gathered there, and they were holding an assembly, their voices echoing throughout the cavernous space and out onto the largely vacant walkways of the park.

"I went to one of the most expensive art schools in the country," one young man said, stopping every fifth or sixth word, so that the crowd could repeat his phrases in unison. He said that he had dropped out. "Art school is not designed to provide adequate training, " he said. "It is designed to put you in debt." The crowd waved their hands in the air, signaling their approval.

There were artists, teachers, writers and curators, as well as many who fill more than one of those categories in their various jobs. At least one Lower East Side dealer was present, as well as a trombonist, who noted that musicians are frequently compensated with nothing more than tips when playing at city clubs. Shortly after 1 p.m., five police officers arrived, and watched from a distance.

A representative from the W.A.G.E. (Working Artists and the Greater Economy) was there too, and she spoke about the group's upcoming plans with Artists Space, the SoHo-based nonprofit gallery that has agreed to open its books to the group. They plan to hold public discussions about persuading nonprofit galleries to provide artists with fees when they show there. They need the crowds help, she said, to come to the talks, to join the discussions.

An artist spoke of losing his house when the economy tanked, another about the system of un- and low-paid workers that help produce his shows, and that help galleries function. "Galleries have an interest in presenting me as an independent producer of cultural value," he said. "My independence is absolutely dependent on those who hold me up and make me look good."

A handful of organizers circulated throughout the crowd, offering sandwiches packaged in bags affixed with stickers reading 99%. Alison Knowles, we imagined, would have approved. Off to the side of the space there were cardboard signs: "Occupy Bottino's" [sic] one read, referring to the lunch and dinner spot popular with the Chelsea art crowd. Another choice sign: "Art workers might won't kiss ass for health insurance," a revision of a 1969 Art Workers Coalition sign.

College art teachers discussed their low wages and lack of job stability and health insurance. "I have no idea how to make my life work," one adjunct professor said.

A few voices cautioned that hard work lay ahead, that the art group risked marginalization. "It is incumbent on us to identify our interests with the interests of other workers," said one artist. Another emphasized the need to "break up the homogeneity here." The crowd--like New York's art world--was predominantly white and young.

Another artist, in a purple hat, spoke briefly, near the close of the meeting. "I just want to say that OWS has come to the art world," she said. She did not know how the group would change things, she admitted, but she was optimistic. "I think we can figure something out," she said.