CV

Michael Benson

List of Works

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Planetfall, 56 framed prints, AAAS Art Gallery, 12^th and H Streets NW, Washington DC, 3/27/2013-6/28/2013

Planetfall, 18 framed prints, Hasted-Kraeutler Gallery, 537 West 24th Street, NYC, 1/24/2013-3/9/2013

Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes, 59 framed prints in 40 frames, Stauth Memorial Museum, Montezuma, Kansas, 10/8/2011 – 12/4/2011

Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes, 55 duratrans prints mounted in light boxes, Dulles Airport Gateway Gallery, 9/30/2010 – 3/31/2011

Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes, 59 framed prints, College of Central Florida, The Webber Center Gallery, Ocala, Florida, 7/23/2011 – 9/18/2011

Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes, 59 framed prints, The Petaluma Museum, Petaluma, California, 5/7/2011- 7/4/2011

Jenseit des Blauen Planeten (Beyond the Blue Planet), ), 42 framed prints, Astronomie Wien – Planetarium, Kuffner- und Urania Sternwarte, Vienna, Austria, 5/6/2011 – 6/6/2011

Beyond, 15 framed prints, Hasted-Kraeutler Gallery, 537 West 24th Street, NYC, 2/3/2011-3/19/2011

Beyond: Visions of Our Solar System. 148 framed prints in seven rooms, Art Gallery, The Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC, 5/26/2010 – 5/2/2011

Da draussen – Planetenaufnahmen aus dem All (Beyond – Planet Recordings from Space), Natur-Musuem Luzern (Natural History Museum of Luzern), 42 framed prints, Switzerland, 11/12/2010 – 5/1/2011

Images from Beyond: Visions of Our Solar System. 22 framed photographs, Long View Gallery, Washington DC, 9/16/10-10/24/2010

Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes. 59 framed prints, California University of Pennsylvania, California, PA, 12/4/2010 – 4/17/2011

Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes. 59 framed prints, Daura Gallery, Lynchburg College, Lynchburg, VA, 9/18/2010-11/14/2010

Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes. 59 framed prints, Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, 4/17/2010 – 8/29/2010

Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes. 59 framed prints, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara, CA, 11/13/2009 – 3/28/2010

Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes, 42 framed prints, Palazzo della Borza, Genoa, Italy, 10/23/2009 – 11/1/2009

Planeter i sikte (Planets in Sight), 118 framed prints, NRM Naturhistorisk Riksmuseet (Swedish Museum of Natural History),  Stockholm, Sweden, 6/16/2009 – 11/29/2009

Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes, 42 framed prints, Fondazione Cini, Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, Italy, 9/23/2009 – 9/28/2009

Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes, 59 framed prints, Duluth Art Institute, Duluth, MN, 6/13/2009-8/9/2009

Beyond: Visions of the Interplanetary Probes, 20 framed prints, Minorite Monastery of St. Francis, Piran, Slovenia, 6/16/2009 – 11/29/2009

Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes, 59 framed prints, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts, 3/28/2009-5/24/2009

Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes, 59 framed prints, Museum of Arts and Science, Macon, Georgia, 1/10/2009- 3/8/2009

Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes, 59 framed prints, The ETSU Natural History Museum, Gray, Tennessee,10/25/2008-12/21/2008

Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes, 59 framed prints, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland, Ohio, 8/9/2008-10/5/2008

Visions of the Interplanetary Probes, 90 framed prints, Gliptoteka Museum, Zagreb, Croatia, 7/16/2008 – 8/21/2008

Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes, 59 framed prints, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson, Arizona, 5/24/2008 – 7/20/2008

Beyond: Visions of Planetary Landscapes, 59 framed prints, Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, New Jersey, 3/8/08 – 5/4/08

Beyond: Voyages to Venus, Mars, Europa & Io, 49 framed prints, American Museum of Natural History, NYC, 4/14/07 – 4/14/08

 

Selected Group Shows

Lunar Attraction, Peabody Essex Museum, East India Square, 161 Essex Street, Salem, MA 01970-3783 USA, 10/15/2016-11/4/2016

Touch the Sky, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Bates College, 124 Raymond Ave., Poughkeepsie, NY, 4/29/16-8/21/16

Starstruck: The Fine Art of Astrophotography, Bates College Museum of Art, Olin Arts Center, Lewiston, Maine, 6/8/2012-12/15/2012

PATHS: Charting, Navigating, & Bridging, Simons Center Art Gallery, SUNY Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY, 5/6/2013-6/28/2013

Skydreamers, The Autry Museum, Los Angeles, CA, 4/29/2011-8/21/2011

 

Public Collections

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri

Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts

 

Corporate Collections

PharmaSwiss SA, Zug, Switzerland

 

Gallery Representation

Michael Benson’s photographic work is represented in the United Kingdom by Flowers Gallery, 82 Kingsland Road, London E2 8DP

 

Agency Representation

Signed by Corbis Photo Agency (Fall 2006 to present), now Getty Images

 

Books

Otherworlds: Visions of Our Solar System, Michael Benson  (Natural History Museum, London; 160 pages, 10” x 10”). (January 2016)

Planetfall: New Solar System Visions, Michael Benson  (Abrams Books, New York; 208 pages, 15” x 12”). (October 2012)

Far Out: A Space-Time Chronicle, Michael Benson  (Abrams Books, New York; 320 pages, 11.5” x 11.5”). Companion volume to Beyond: Visions of the Interplanetary Probes (see below). Also published in Japanese. (October 2009)

Beyond: Visions of the Interplanetary Probes, Michael Benson (Harry N. Abrams, New York, October 2003; 320 pages, 11.5” x 11.5”; paperback 2008). Also published in French, German, Spanish, and Japanese. Foreword by Arthur C. Clarke, Afterword by Lawrence Weschler. (October 2003; Paperback April 2008)

Beyond: A Solar System Journey, Michael Benson (Abrams Books for Young Readers, New York, March 2009; 128 pages), children’s book based on the above. Also published in Korean.

Recognition:

Beyond: Visions of the Interplanetary Probes received First Prize for Design, Special Trade General Books Category at the 2004 New York Book Fair

 

Other Publications

Selected Articles/Essays

Feature stories and editorials for The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Smithsonian, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune, Rolling Stone, The Nation, The Village Voice, Interview, Artforum, Sight and Sound (UK), Leonardo (an MIT Press on-line journal), Colors, Astrobiology Magazine (an on-line journal), The Ganzfeld, Omnivore, and a broad spectrum of other publications, including European and world media outlets (German, French, Belgian, Dutch, South Korean, Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian, etc), from daily papers to magazines to book-format compilations. Subjects include robotic space exploration, the break-up of Yugoslavia, Russian rock music and underground culture, art and ideology, Slovenian and ex-Yugoslav culture, etc. (1980’s to present).

Selected Photographs

Photographs published in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Smithsonian, Rolling Stone, Interview, The Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune, The Village Voice, Believer, McSweeney’s, Filmmaker, Sky & Telescope, New Scientist (UK), The Times Magazine (UK), Geo (Germany), and many other publications. Cover or front page photographs in Smithsonian, The Village Voice, The International Herald Tribune, Andere Sinema (Belgium), etc. (1980’s to present).

 

Films

Director/Producer/Cinematographer/Writer

More Places Forever

“A Global Documentary Road Movie” (2008)

150 minutes; 16 mm color film and digital video

Co-production between ZDF-Arte (German and French television) and Kinetikon Pictures (Michael Benson’s production company)

Broadcast on ZDF/Arte (German and French satellite and cable television) in November 2008

 

Director/Writer/Producer

Predictions of Fire

“A Film about Art, Politics and War” (1995)

Co-production between TV Slovenia and Kinetikon Pictures

94 minutes; 16 mm color film

Recognition:

Best Documentary Feature Award, National Film Board of Canada, 1996 Vancouver International Film Festival

“Predictions of Fire is intellectual dynamite. Out of the shattered history of Slovenia, this film constructs a new way of looking at art, politics and religion.”

– Jury statement, National Film Board of Canada

Golden Minotaur (First Prize), Documentary Category

1996 “Message to Man” St. Petersburg International Film Festival (Russia)

Theatrical run, Film Forum, NYC Oct 2-15 1996

Official Selection, 1996 Sundance, Berlin and Sydney international film festivals

Top Ten List, 1996 Sydney International Film Festival (based on audience poll)

Finalist, Independent Feature Project Open Palm Award, NYC, 1996

Predictions of Fire received a grant from the NY State Council on the Arts and was distributed theatrically across the US. It screened theatrically in France, Germany, India, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Hong Kong, the Czech Republic, Austria, Holland, Denmark, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Hungary, and Finland. It received national TV broadcasts in eight countries and was widely and positively reviewed in major American media, including the NY Times, LA Times, Variety, etc.

 

Director/Writer/Producer

Fragrant Harbor/UKàPRC/Pass the Glass

“A Colony in Transition” (1997)

Co-production between TV Slovenia and Kinetikon Pictures focusing on hand-over of Hong Kong from the UK to China.

55 minutes; digital video transferred to Beta. (Completed and broadcast by the TV Slovenia Documentary Program June 1997)

 

Selected Lectures/Presentations

Cosmigraphics lecture, New Scientist Live, ExCeL Center, One Western Gateway Royal Victoria Dock, London E16 1XL, 9/23/16

Cosmigraphics lecture, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Bates College, 124 Raymond Ave., Poughkeepsie, NY, 4/29/16

Cosmigraphics lecture, The New York Public Library’s Mid-Manhattan Library, 455 5th Avenue NY NY, 1/15/15

Lecture, Worcester Art Museum, 55 Salisbury Street, Worcester, Massachusetts, 12/1/2013

Lecture, Arts Letters and Numbers Workshop, Averill Park, NY, 7/16/2013

“Images of Our Solar System: Science Meets Art,” presentation at American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington DC, 3/27/2013

“The Periphery of Perception,” EMPAC, RPI, Rensselaer, NY, round-table discussion on the work of the Oakes twins, 4/18/12

“Tarkovsky Interruptus,” The New School’s Tishman Auditorium?66 West 12th Street, NYC, a New York Institute for the Humanities-sponsored screening and discussion of Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1979 film Stalker; discussion with Geoff Dyer, Walter Murch,?Philip Lopate, Francine Prose,?and Dana Stevens, 3/10/12

“Talk: Color Effects,” Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, RI: individual presentations and round table discussion with artist Spencer Finch, marine biologist Dr. Christopher Deacutis, and RISD professor Christopher Rose, on the subject of the use of color, 3/1/2012

“Science and Beauty, Dialogues Between Scientists and Artists,” Sala d’Arme, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence Italy: discussion between Michael Benson and Carl Schoonover, part of the NYU Villa La Pietra summer season, 6/18/2011

Lecture, The Petaluma Museum, Petaluma, California, 5/21/2011

TEDx talk, Hotel Beacon, 2130 Broadway, NYC, 5/10/11

“An Outer Versus Inner Space Slapdown,” NYU’s Cantor Film Center, East 8th Street, NYC, between Michael Benson and Carl Schoonover, part of the All Day Springtime Wonder Cabinet, 4/16/2011

“On Space and Time,” lecture, California University of Pennsylvania, California, PA, 4/15/2011

Keynote talk on solar system photography, art and science, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, RI: at the STEM-to-STEAM workshop, 1/20/2011

“Far Out: A Space-Time Chronicle.” Lecture sponsored by the New York Hall of Science, National Arts Club, Gramercy Park, NYC: 11/11/2009

“Far Out: A Space-Time Chronicle,” NYU’s Cantor Film Center, East 8th Street, NYC, a presentation at The New York Institute for the Humanities “Halloween Wonder Cabinet,” 10/31/2009

Joint appearance and discussion with Ann Druyan, Loyola University, Rubloff Auditorium, Chicago Humanities Festival: 11/11/2007

The Amelia and Robert H. Haley Memorial Lecture, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts: 12/12/2004

“The Wonder of the Cosmos” panel discussion moderated by Tom Curwin, The Ninth Annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, 4/25/2004

“Far Out: The Sublime Photographic Legacy of the Interplanetary Space Probes,” a symposium inspired by Beyond: Visions of the Interplanetary Probes co-sponsored by The Hayden Planetarium and The New York Institute for the Humanities at NYU, Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History, West 79^th Street, NYC: 10/20/2003

 

Memberships

Michael Benson is a Fellow of the New York Institute of the Humanities, an Advocate for Curiosity at the Weizmann Institute, and a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Bits and Atoms at the MIT Media Lab