The “2004 Biennial Exhibition” was organized by Whitney Museum of American Art curators Chrissie Iles, Shamim M. Momin and Debra Singer. Together we developed a catalog comprising a more traditional book and a box containing artwork created by each of the 108 featured artists. Each artist worked within one of eight prescribed formats—rectangular poster, square poster, eight-page ’zine, round sticker, bumper sticker, uncoated square card, glossy postcard or filmstrip—to create an original contribution for the box. To complement this eclectic collection, the book became a container of controlled chaos. The three curators’ essays were designed with an array of typefaces within a strict grid system, while commissioned and reprinted texts broke out of those constraints, reflecting their diverse origins. A third entity, the individual artist entries, was uniform in typeface and grid structure as a counterbalance to the varied range of work.

The Biennial, regarded as the signature exhibition of the Whitney Museum, has evolved into an internationally celebrated showcase for the most significant contemporary work by American artists. Heralded for the far-reaching cultural debate it inevitably inspires, the Biennial epitomizes the Whitney’s mission to foster the advancement of new American art.