51³ÉÈËÁÔÆæ

Course Description

Summary

This intermediate moving image production course challenges students to realize new works in film and video that participate in the lively and varied art historical tradition of representing the natural world and humankind’s place within it. Drawing on the technical capacities of time-based media and the rich environmental surroundings of Bennington’s campus, students will produce three substantial works: a hand-processed and hand-edited black and white 16mm film; a color HD video for a flatscreen; and a site-specific projection in either medium. Historical precedents in painting (Bosch; Giorgione; Turner; Friedrich; Cezanne; Ofili), film (Griffith; Snow; Straub/Huillet; Kiarostami; Sensory Ethnography Lab) and video art (Holt/Smithson; Thater; Lockhart; Huyghe) will be considered in the context of readings exploring concepts such as Romanticism, the sublime and figure/ground relationships. In addition to investigating how time-based media extends, upends and creates new possibilities for conventions of the genre, a crucial question for students will be: How does the materiality of film and video relate to organic matter? The environment, economics, race, gender and sexuality will provide other lenses through which we will refract the landscape and our struggle to represent it. Required screenings will be held weekly in Kinoteca on Wednesdays from 7:00pm-10:00pm starting first week: Wednesday, September 2nd.  Please note that this course will require additional materials to be purchased by the student.