NEW YORK, NY (REUTERS).- New York’s Whitney Museum unveiled a smaller, more intimate biennial show on Tuesday partly in response to the impact of the economic downturn in the United States. The museum, which focuses on American art, has helped discover some of the 20th Century’s great artists through its shows, which have become one of the art world’s gauges for current trends and future stars. Curators Francesco Bonami and Gary Carrion-Murayari avoided a specific theme and deliberately reduced the number of artists to 55 to allow closer audience interaction with the art. The last biennial, in 2008, came at the peak of “a very distinct bubble in the art market,” said Michael Plummer of Artvest Partners, an art investment advisory