James Benning

Single-channel video installation, 45 min. Without dialogue.

A farm field in Oregon on a very special day.

James Benning, born in 1942 in Milwaukee, USA, began working as an independent filmmaker in 1972, even before studying film at the University of Wisconsin. From 1977 to 1980 he taught at the universities of California and Oklahoma, then moved to New York to continue his work as an independent filmmaker. In 2009 he switched from 16mm to digital filmmaking. Since then his work has included installation and site specific art with many shows in galleries and museums. Besides his current film/art work, Benning has taught at the California Institute of the Arts since 1987. Last year he was a visiting artist at the International Film and TV School (EICTV) in Cuba. Since 1977 Benning has participated in the Forum and Forum Expanded with 16 works, his latest participation being UNTITLED FRAGMENTS (2017) in 2017.

James Benning’s film 11 x 14 (1977) will be presented as part of the Forum program this year.

Production company James Benning (Val Verde, USA). Director James Benning.

Films

1972: Time & A Half (17 min.), Art Hist. 101 (17 min.). 1973: Honeyland Road (11 min.). 1974: 8½ x 11 (33 min.). 1975: Saturday Night (3 min.), The United States of America (25 min.), 9/1/75 (22 min.). 1976: 11 x 14 (83 min., forum 1977). 1977: One Way Boogie Woogie (60 min.). 1979: Grand Opera. An Historical Romance (90 min., forum 1980). 1981: Him and Me (88 min.). 1983: American Dreams (lost and found) (56 min.). 1985: O Panama (28 min., forum 1987). 1986: Landscape Suicide (95 min., forum 1987). 1988: Used Innocence (95 min.). 1991: North on Evers (87 min.). 1995: Deseret (82 min.). 1997: Four Corners (80 min., forum 1998). 1998: Utopia (93 min.). 1999: El Valley Centro (90 min., forum 2002). 2000: Los (90 min., forum 2002). 2002: Sogobi (90 min., forum 2002). 2004: 13 Lakes (133 min., forum 2005), Ten Skies (101 min., forum 2005). 2005: One Way Boogie Woogie / 27 Years Later (120 min., forum 2006). 2007: RR (110 min., forum 2008), Casting a Glance (81 min.). 2009: Ruhr (121 min.). 2010: John Krieg Exiting the Falk Corporation in 1971 (71 min.), Pig Iron (33 min.), Pascal’s Lemma (document) (17 min.), Reforming the Past (60 min.). 2011: Two Cabins (30 min.), Faces (1973) (25 min.), Faces (135 min.), Milwaukee/Duisburg (Installation, forum Expanded 2011), Twenty Cigarettes (99 min., forum 2011), After Warhol (65 min.), Small Roads (103 min.). 2012: Nightfall (98 min.), Stemple Pass (121 min, forum 2013), Easy Rider (95 min.), The War (55 min.), One Way Boogie Woogie 2012 (90 min.), BNSF (194 min.). 2013: US 41 (52 min.). 2014: Natural History (77 min.), Farocki (77 min.), Concord Woods (121 min.). 2015: 52 Films Project (300 min.), American Dreams (85 min.), Fresh Air (46 min.). 2016: Dancing in the Street (6 min.), Ash 01 (20 min.), Fall Equinox (77 min.), Spring Equinox (77 min.), Scorched Earth (61 min.), Red Cloud (61 min.), Measuring Change (61 min.), Time after Time (44 min.). 2017: Untitled Fragments (75 min., videoinstallation, Forum Expanded 2017). 2018: L. Cohen, 11 x 14.