born in Madison, Wisconsin in 1973. Benning currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Benning has spent the last thirty years investigating cultural influences, specifically in relation to identity, language and memory. Benning has been creating experimental videos since their youth in the late 1980s and has expanded their rigorous practice in a fusion of painting, sculpture, installation, and photography, formed with both found and original objects. Concurrent layers exist within their almost sculptural paintings as transparencies, analogue photos, digital prints, resin, enamel, and spray paint, coated on wall-based panels.
Recent solo exhibitions pain thing, wexner center for the arts, columbus (2020); Sleep Rock, Camden Art Centre, London (2018); Shared Eye, Kunsthalle Basel, basel (2017); L’oeil de L’esprit, Air de Paris, Paris (2016); Play Pause, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2009); Play Pause, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto.
Benning’s work was included included in various international institutions, including ICA Boston (2023), Boston; 7th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju (2008); Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1993, 2000); Venice Bienniale, Venice (1993). their work has been screened at renowned film festivals including Rotterdam International Film Festival (1998); Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival, Tokyo (1995); Sundance Film Festival, Park City (1992); and the Berlin International Film Festival (1992), among others.
Sadie Benning’s work is in collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Centre georges Pompidou, Paris; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; The Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge; The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; the institute of contemporary art, Miami; the museum of fine arts, boston; Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (macba), barcelona.
underwater, 2025, solo show at kaufmann repetto milan
face on earth, 2022, solo show at kaufmann repetto milan
blow ups, 2020, solo show at kaufmann repetto milan
Excuse Ma’am, 2016, solo show at kaufmann repetto Milan
Sadie Benning (b. 1973, Madison, WIsconsin) Lives and works in New York.
selected solo exhibitions
2025
underwater, kaufmann repetto, milan
2024
The Touch, the Amulet and the Saltation, Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles
2023
Intangible cigarette, Air de Paris, romainville
2022
Face On Earth, kaufmann repetto, Milan
2020
Blow Ups, kaufmann repetto, Milan
Pain Thing 2, Mitchell Ines & Nash, New York
Pain Thing, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus
2018
Sleep rock, Camden Arts Centre, London
2017
Shared Eye, Kunsthalle Basel, basel
Blinded by the Light, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Los Angeles
2016
Shared Eye, The Renaissance Society, Chicago
Excuse Me Ma’am, kaufmann repetto, Milan
L’oeil de l’esprit, Air de Paris, Paris
Green God, Callicoon Fine Arts and Mary Boone, New York
2015
Fuzzy Math, Susanne Vielmetter, Los Angeles
2014
Patterns, Callicoon Fine Arts, New York
2013
War Credits, Callicoon Fine Arts, New York
2011
Transitional Effects, Participant Inc., New York
2009
Play Pause, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
2008
Play Pause, The Power Plant, Toronto
2007
Form of… a Waterfall, Orchard Gallery, New York
Play Pause, Dia Foundation for the Arts, New york
Sadie Benning: Suspended Animation, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus
2005
Sadie Bennings Early Pixelvision Videos, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
2004
Sadie Benning Retrospective Series, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus
selected group exhibitions and screening
2025
The Journey Continues, Anderson Collection at Stanford University, Stanford
A field of bloom and hum, Tang Teaching Museum, New york
Go to the limits of your longing, Ryan Lee, New York
2024
Motion Capture: Recent Acquisitions in Media and Performance, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Composition for the Left Hand. With Works from the Kagge Collection, berge
2023
taylor davis – invisible ground of sympathy, institute of contemporary art, boston
Perpetual Portrait, Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
2022
Plants Now!, Vielmetter Los Angeles, los angeles
2021
Deep Blue, Hall Art Foundation, Reading
2020
100 drawings from now, the drawing center, new york
Don’t let this be easy, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
vent’anni – twenty years, 20th anniversary exhibition, kaufmann repetto, new york
2019
Kiss My Genders, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, London
The Body Electric, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; traveled to Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
surrounds: 11 installations, moma, new york
2018
photography today: private public relations, pinakothek der moderne, munich
2017
women to the front, lumber room, portland
trigger: gender as a tool and a weapon, new museum, new york
press your space face close to mine, the pit, los angeles
Blinded by the light, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Culver City
2016
figurative geometry, collezione maramotti, reggio emilia
cher(e)a ami(e)s: hommage aux donateurs des collections contemporaines, centre pompidou, paris
a shape that stands up, art + practice, los angeles
james cohan gallery, new york
making & unmaking, camden arts centre, london
dropout: regarding lee lozano, site 131, dallas
marta cervera gallery, madrid
2015
painting 2.0: expression in the information age, museum brandhorst, munich
greater new york, moma ps1, ny
watch this! revelations in media art, the smithsonian american art museum, washington
the space between, flag art foundation, ny
the painter of modern life, anton kern gallery, ny
2014
who are who, studio for propositional cinema, düsseldorf
pictures, before and after – an exhibition for douglas crimp, galerie buchholz, berlin
readykeulous by ridykeulous: this is what liberation feels like, contemporary art museum st. Louis, st. louis
2013
macho man, tell it to my heart: the collection of julie ault, artists space, new york
carnegie international, carnegie museum of art, pittsburgh
nyc 1993: experimental jet set, trash and no star, new museum
sadie benning, thomas kovachevich, dona nelson, callicoon fine arts
tell it to my heart: the collection of julie ault, kunstmuseum, basel
2011
dance draw, the institute of contemporary art/boston, boston
paper a-z, sue scott gallery, New York
cinq étranges album de famille, le bal, paris
reflection abstraction, curated by dean daderko, vogt gallery, New York
2010
off series, part ii, center for contemporary art, tel aviv
love on film, parasol unit foundation for contemporary art, london
benning, kobayashi, linzy, centre de cultura contemporania, barcelona
love on film, parasol unit foundation for contemporary art, london
2008
annual report: a year in exhibitions, 7th gwangju biennale, gwangju
2007
animated painting, san diego museum of art, San Diego
2006
moma: american documentary, 1920’s to now, taiwan international documentary festival, taipei, taiwan
2005
sadie benning’s early pixelvision videos, walker art center, minneapolis
bidibidobidiboo, fondazione sandretto re rebaudengo, turin
to die of love (voluntary permanence), museo universitario de ciencias y arte, rome
2004
sadie benning retrospective series, wexner center for the arts, columbus
building identities, tate modern, London
2003
women’s international film festival, seoul
remembrance + the moving image, australian centre for the moving image, melbourne
milwaukee art museum, milwaukee
video viewpoints: a selection from the last decade, museum of modern art, New York
2001
big as life: an american history of 8mm film, museum of modern art, New York francisco cinematheque, san francisco
videonale 9 festival, bonn
2000
whitney biennial, whitney museum of american art, new york
moma 2000: open ends, modern and contemporary art since 1980, museum of modern art, New York
presumed innocent, monsiur le maire de bordeaux, bordeaux
1999
love’s body, tokyo museum of photography, tokyo
videodrome, new museum, new york
1998
new york video festival, film society of lincoln center, nyc message to pretty, threadwaxing space, New York
seoul international gay and lesbian film festival, seoul
rotterdam international film festival, holland
1996
scream and scream again: film in art, museum of modern art, oxford
1994
videotheque: video text, walker arts center, minneapolis
1993
whitney biennial, the whitney museum of american art, new york
venice biennial, venice
walker art center, Minneapolis
Sadie Benning, Film Forum, Los Angeles
1992
sundance film festival, new queer cinema panel, park city
Videorama: A Celebration of International Video Art, New York
Film Festival, New York
Berlin International Film Festival, Berlin
1991
amsterdam international gay & lesbian film festival, amsterdam
sadie benning, randolph street gallery, chicago
sadie benning videos, museum of modern art, new york
screening, hallwalls contemporary arts center, buffalo
Selected collections
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
The Progressive Art Collection
The Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge
The Anderson Collection, Stanford
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens
Castello Di Rivoli, Museu D’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli/Torino
British Film Institute, London
University of Salamanca, Salamanca
Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam
Museum D’art Contemporani, Barcelona
Nagoya Multimedia Institution, Nagoyashi
Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin
Center for Arts, Neuchatel
Assocazione Culturale, Bologna
Fundacio “la Caixa,” Barcelona
Beit Berl College, Beit Berl
Tapies Foundacion, Barcelona
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Projects/NRW Forum, Dusseldorf
RMIT University, Melbourne
Chungmuro Subway Station, Seoul
Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City
Brown University, Providence
Stanford University, Stanford
Yale University, New Haven
Duke University, Durham
New York University, New York
Princeton University, Princeton
University of Chicago, Chicago
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh
Selected Grants and Awards
2005
Guggenheim Fellowship
2003-6
Wexner Center for the Arts, Visiting Artist Residency Award
2000
National Alliance for Media Arts & Culture Merit Award
1999
Andrea Frank Foundation Fellowship
1994
Grande Videokunst Prize, Kahrlsule
1993
Rockefeller Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Film/Video
Midwest Regional Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts
1992
Los Angeles Film Critics Award, Best Indipendent/Experimenta
education
Benning Attended the Milton Avery School of Art at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson (MFA 1997). In 1997, Benning completed their MFA at the Milton Avery School of Art at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. They are currently Co-Chair of Film and Video at the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts.
