“Whitney Biennial 2026” is an enormous show, with works by more than fifty artists filling much of the Whitney Museum of American Art. “New Humans: Memories of the Future,” the opening exhibition at the New Museum’s greatly expanded quarters on the Bowery, is even bigger, with works by more than a hundred artists filling the entire building. The scale of these exhibitions can feel aggressive, even defiant in a period when nearly all cultural institutions are confronting an increasingly distracted public as well as financial challenges that began long before the current administration came to power in Washington. Although the Biennial aims to take the temperature of contemporary art and “New Humans” is a historical show that explores the moral and philosophical impact of the technological advances of the past hundred years, the layouts of the exhibitions are surprisingly similar. In both of them, works that fill entire rooms are juxtaposed, sometimes uneasily, with offerings that are almost miniature, as if the curators had decided there were only two ways for a work of art …