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Josh Kline in “Human Nature”
Descriptive audio version available here.
Populating the galleries of the Whitney Museum of American Art with 3D printed sculptures of office workers wrapped in plastic and neon-orange temporary housing tents filled with emergency supplies, artist Josh Kline offers prophetic warnings of our possible future. This documentary short captures the artist as he investigates the rapid technological advancement, impending climate disaster, and worsening labor conditions that characterize the twenty-first century, highlighting the urgent need for change. “My work, it’s a form of speculation about where we might go–as individuals, as a society, as a species,” says Kline. “At the core of it is a series of questions: Is this the future that we want to live in? If not, what kind of future do we wanna live in?”
Credits
Director: Ian Forster. Executive Producer: Tina Kukielski. Series Producer: Nick Ravich. Producer: Andrea Yu-Chieh Chung. Editor: Sebastián Díaz. Director of Photography: Jane Macedo Yang. Associate Curator: Jurrell Lewis. Design & Animation: Momentist, Inc. Composer: Andrew Orkin.
Additional Cinematography: Mariam Dwedar, Michelle Hanks, Sean Hanley, Travis LaBella. Location Sound: Nick Carignan, Billy Mantani, Fivel Rothberg, Teresa-Esmeralda Sanchez.
Additional Art21 Staff: Makda Amdetsyon, Lauren Barnett, Hannah DeGarmo, Lolita Fierro, Grace LeCates, Emma Nordin, Jessica Svenson, Noor Tamari, Nora Wimmer.
Interns: Candice Cirilo, Emma Kanne, Billie Lam, Asante Marie Owusu-Brafi, Aarya Silwal, Maria Syville, Emilia Copeland Titus.
Video Post-Production Service: Cut + Measure. Video Post-Production Producer: Alex Laviola. Colorist: Chris Ramey. Online & Conform: David Gauff. Post-Production Coordinator: Mary Grace Duffy. Audio Post-Production Service: Post Romantic. Re-Recording Mixer & Sound Editor: Gisela Fullà-Silvestre. Assistant Sound Editor: Dan Weisselberg. Audio Description & Captions: Sasha Hecht & Andre Kelman. Quality Control: Adam Stout. Narration: Louise Eliasof. Additional Music: Trey Toy. Additional Video Editor: Regina Spurlock. Additional Animation: Christian Mroczka. Assistant Editors: Isabella Morelli Avilán, Stephanie Cen, Sarah Yi Fineman, Michelle Hanks. Legal Counsel: Donaldson Callif Perez.
Artwork Courtesy: Josh Kline & Lisson Gallery.
Special Thanks: The Art21 Board of Trustees, Frank Benson, Andrew Cannon.
Filming Locations Provided By: LaGuardia Studio 3D Scanning & 3D Printing, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, NYCAP3D,Sandy Smith Studio, Whitney Museum of American Art.
Series Created By: Susan Dowling & Susan Sollins.
Original Production Funding Provided By: The Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, Lambent Foundation, Agnes Gund, Melony and Adam Lewis, National Endowment for the Arts, Teiger Foundation, Sarah Arison, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Dealer Tire, Arts, Equity, & Education Fund™, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Elyse and Lawrence B. Benenson, Stephanie and Tim Ingrassia, Tim and Lauren Schrager Family Foundation.
This program is a production of Art21, Inc. which is solely responsible for its content.
© 2026 Art21, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Closed captionsAvailable in English, German, Romanian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Italian
Through the Art21 Translation Project, multilingual audiences from around the globe can contribute translations, making Art21 films more accessible worldwide.
Interested in showing this film in an exhibition or public screening? To license this video please visit Licensing & Reproduction.
Josh Kline was born in 1979 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and currently lives in New York City, New York. The artist received his BA from Temple University in 2002. From sculptures of 3D-printed portraits wrapped in recycling bags to videos advocating for Universal Basic Income to installations of temporary housing in the aftermath of a flood, Kline explores the impact of emergent technologies, widening class divides, and the looming threat of climate disaster on contemporary life. His works often present dystopic visions of the near future, where the consequences of political instability, the automation of human labor, and natural disasters have transformed life as we know it, engaging audiences in the project of imagining something better.
“My work, it’s a form of speculation about where we might go–as individuals, as a society, as a species. At the core of it is a series of questions: Is this the future that we want to live in? If not, what kind of future do we wanna live in?”
Josh Kline