The new DREAMLANDS exhibition at the Whitney is just littered with curious, multi-faceted video work, but is also a little cluttered because of it. The scope, thematically and physically, of the pieces varies dramatically, which was a lot of fun at times. I loved how Ben Coonley’s 3-D 360-degree video “Trading Futures” was experienced, as […]
Author Archives: j.benson
Death Ballerina / A Statement
“Death Ballerina” combines the refined elegance of ballet with the gratuitous nature of horror films. Using classic troupes of the horror genre in tandem with the suspense of a ghost story thriller, I take an iteration of ballet’s infamous “Death of the White Swan” and present it in an afterlife context. Silly, scary and beautiful […]
Death Ballerina / Project 4
Messing around with After Effects, appropriation and a deadly dead dancer. Also, attempting to create my own “slender man” phenomenon.
Posted in Project 4 - FINAL PROJECT, Projects
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Bloody Ballerina / A Project 4 Vision Statement
[ Click annaproposal to See Image ] My vision for the final project, at this point in time, is to explore tragedy while retaining my signature surreal, perhaps humorous, whimsy. I am currently interested in doing a piece based on the real-life murder of a ballerina named Anna Gardie, who died in 1798 New York City at […]
Posted in Project Statements, Projects, Uncategorized
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“Immi-Go” Statement
By employing nationalist-centric cartoons with dramatizations of a new pretend phone application, “Immi-Go” pokes fun at the dangerous rhetoric of USA’s new president-elect.
Posted in Project 3 Statement, Uncategorized
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“Immi-Go” A New App for Trump Supporters
Posted in Project 3, Projects, Uncategorized
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Tech + Nature + Whimsy = Pipilotti Rist
I was decidedly more delighted with the Pipilotti Rist exhibit at the New Museum than Dreamlands at the Whitney. Let’s figure out why as I type. Well, certainly, Rist is pairing the human form with that of nature, as in wilderness- ok pretty obvious, let’s move on. But within that she also touches on time […]
Posted in HW Blog 04, HW Blog 05
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Capturing Attention
There were a few passages that caught my attention in the Rhizome conversation between Hito Steryl and Daniel Rourke, within the questions posed, answers given, and even in the reference points made by the two. The first point of intrigue was within a question posed by Rourke. In the title of your collection of essays, […]
Posted in HW Blog 03
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Sex and Sports / A Response to Matthew Barney’s DECLINE
The re-representation of Matthew Barney’s 1991 exhibition Facility of DECLINE at the Gladstone Gallery invokes bizarro sexual tendencies, a creep-factor, and a maleness of sorts, upon first viewing. Barney offers items I might expect to find in a locker room, or in association with football players, but covers them in petroleum jelly, among other materials, and […]
Posted in HW Blog 02
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“Time Travel Tambourine” Experiments
Enter at your own risk… EXPERIMENT #1: EXPERIMENT #2:
Posted in Project 2
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