Visiting Professor of Art History Scott MacDonald's "Testing Your Patience: An Interview with James Benning" has been published in the September issue of Artforum. MacDonald briefly reviews Benning's long career, then talks with Benning about several recent films including 13 Lakes (2004), which Benning presented during last spring's F.I.L.M. Series at Hamilton; Ten Skies (2004), RR (as in "railroad," 2007) and casting a glance (2007), Benning's newest film, about Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty.
Benning's films "test your patience" by slowing the film-viewing experience down. 13 Lakes, for instance, is made up of 13 10-minute shots, each of a different American lake; once one becomes accustomed to the film's unusual rhythm, details of the image and sound become more apparent, and the film provides a new, implicitly environmentalist film experience, one that asks that we look and listen more carefully to the world around us. Casting a glance will be shown during the spring 2008 F.I.L.M. Series, when MacDonald returns to campus. He is on leave this semester teaching at Harvard University in the visual and environmental studies department.
Benning's films "test your patience" by slowing the film-viewing experience down. 13 Lakes, for instance, is made up of 13 10-minute shots, each of a different American lake; once one becomes accustomed to the film's unusual rhythm, details of the image and sound become more apparent, and the film provides a new, implicitly environmentalist film experience, one that asks that we look and listen more carefully to the world around us. Casting a glance will be shown during the spring 2008 F.I.L.M. Series, when MacDonald returns to campus. He is on leave this semester teaching at Harvard University in the visual and environmental studies department.
