Video

We practice video at Bennington in the framework of visual art, casting a wide net that encompasses analog and digital, experimental and documentary, critical and poetic approaches to the medium. Students make films, videos, and installations in a dynamic studio environment that includes production facilities, editing and screening rooms, and the breathtaking landscape of the campus itself.

We emphasize formal innovation, conceptual rigor, historical consciousness and the capacity to collaborate as hallmarks of a vibrant moving image practice. Students analyze works from film history alongside contemporary art in order to build a vocabulary to articulate their own perspectives and critique one another’s work. Students learn the fundamentals of form (composition, mise-en-scène, lighting, editing, sound) in harmony with thematic inquiry (politics, race, gender, social justice, the environment) before pursuing advanced independent work. Courses in animation, media studies, music, dance, drama, and across the humanities are crucial to broadening students’ perspective and essential to making work that is significant, relevant, and alive to the possibilities of video today.

---