Ben Coonley



Born 1976, Boston, MA
Lives & works in Brooklyn, NY


Education

Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts, Bard College, Film/Video, MFA, 2003
Brown University, Providence, RI, Art-Semiotics, B.A., 1998
Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, 1994-95



Solo Exhibitions

Winter Games, Microscope Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2019
Ben Coonley as part of “Flat is Beautiful: The Strange Case of Pixelvision”, Lincoln Center, New York, NY, 2018
Moonley, Microscope Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2016


Selected Group Exhibitions

3D: Double Vision, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, 2018-2019
Not Quite Under_Ground, organized by Michael Smith, Skulptur Projekte, Münster, Germany, 2017
The Electronic Arts Library, curated by Paul Theriault, Artspace, New Haven, CT, 2017
Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art, 1905-2016, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2016-2017
Dance with flARmingos, 2016 Queens International, Queens Museum of Art, Queens, NY
DB TV (online exhibition), curated by Leo Goldsmith and Rachael Rakes, 2015
Internet Yami-ichi (Internet Black Market), Knockdown Center, New York, NY, 2015
Dance with FlARmingos, Protocol Gallery, Gainesville, Florida, 2015
Animating Transit, NY Transit Museum, Brooklyn, NY, 2015
In That Weird Age, CTM Festival, Berlin, Germany, 2013
Project12: This is not a love song, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne, Australia, 2012
Spirit of the Signal, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York, NY, 2011
Video Recycle, Phantom Galleries, Long Beach, CA, 2011
Real Nonfiction, BRIC Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2010
Zumba & Goliath, Next Wave Festival, Melbourne, Australia, 2010
I Like Winners, Sheppard Gallery of Art, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, 2009
Mirror Mirror: Contemporary Portraits & the Fugitive Self, Brigham Young University Museum of Art, Provo, UT, 2009
USA: American Video Art at the Beginning of the 3rd Millennium, Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia, 2007
Everybody Dance Now, EFA Gallery, New York, NY, 2006
Good Words and Credentials…, Leroy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, New York, NY, 2003
Video Rodeo, CANADA Gallery, New York, NY, 2003


Selected Solo Screenings and Performances

Paul Chan, Artist’s Choice: Ben Coonley, Schaulager Basel, Basel, Switzerland, 2014
Experimental Philosophy in 3D, NYU, New York, NY, 2013
“Poke Your Eye Out” for Pretty Conceptual, Present Co., Brooklyn, NY, 2013
“Artist Statement” for The Future Has Two Faces, Triple Canopy Benefit, New York, NY, 2012
An Evening with Ben Coonley, PDX Film Festival, Portland, OR, 2009
Ben Coonley, Fifth Annual Stan Brakhage Symposium, Boulder, CO, 2009
Talking Points and Talking Ponies – Ben Coonley, Images Festival, Toronto, Ontario, CA, 2009
“Kindred Spirits” for Continuing Education for Dead Adults, New Museum, New York, NY, 2008
Cowboys, Cliches, Codes, and Conspiracies, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2006
Flaherty Film Seminar, Poughkeepsie, NY, 2006
An Evening with Ben Coonley, Sanctuary for Independent Media, Troy, NY, 2006
Wavelength 3D and a Trick Pony, Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA , 2004


Selected Two Person Screenings and Performances

Avant-Cinema 2.5: No Drinks In Screening Room (w/Kevin Bewersdorf), Austin Film Society, Austin, TX, 2009
Coonley/Fotopolous (w/ James Fotopoulos), CANADA Gallery, New York, NY, 2009
Paul and the Badger + Ben (w/ Paul Tarrago), New York Underground Film Festival, New York, NY, 2007
The Ben and Marisa Show (w/ Marisa Olson), Monkeytown, Brooklyn, NY, 2006


Selected Group Screenings and Performances

Flat Is Beautiful: The Strange Case of Pixelvision, Film Society of Lincoln Center, New York, 2018
Crashed Net Aesthetics, HeK (House of Electronic Arts) Basel, Switzerland, 2016
3D in the 21st Century, BAM Rose Cinemas, Brooklyn, NY, 2015
Intersections I, Microscope Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2015
Film Program In Which There Appear Colour Bars, Greek Pop Songs, Didactic Eye Makeup, Etc., Images Festival, Toronto, CA, 2014
Video Art in the Internet Era, Channels Festival, Melbourne, Australia, 2013
Transmissions, Speakeasy Cinema, Melbourne, Australia, 2013
Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA, 2012
Flaherty Film Seminar NYC, Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY, 2011
Someplace I Don’t Belong, Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles, CA, 2011
Greater New York: Cinema, MoMA PS1, Queens, NY, 2010
Regina Rex Gallery, Queens, NY, 2010
No Soul For Sale, X Initiative, New York, NY, 2009
New Sound Scaryoke, Monkeytown, Brooklyn, NY, 2009
Lone Star Video, Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel, 2007
Rooftop Shorts, Rooftop Films, Brooklyn, NY, 2007
Cowboys, Cliches, Codes, and Conspiracies, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2006
Free To Be… You and Me Invitational, Ocularis at Galapagos Art Space, Brooklyn, NY, 2006
New York Underground Film Festival, New York, NY, 2006
Cinematexas Film Festival, Austin, TX , 2006
International Film Festival Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2005
VideoEx Festival, Zurich, Switzerland, 2005
Stuttgarter Filmwinter Festival for Expanded Media, Stuttgart, Germany, 2005
New York Underground Film Festival, New York, NY, 2003-2005
Cinematexas Film Festival, Austin, TX , 2003-2005
Chicago Underground Film Festival, Chicago, IL, 2003-2005
Athens International Film Festival, Athens, GA, 2005
Images Festival, Toronto, Ontario, CA, 2004
Signal & Noise Festival of Video and Sound, Vancouver, BC, 2004
Exploding Cinema, Glasgow, Scotland, 2004
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 2003
L’Alternativa Festival of Independent Cinema, Barcelona, Spain, 2003


Public Collections

Permanent Art Collection, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York


Catalogs

“3D: Double Vision”, by by Britt Salvesen, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2018
“Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art, 1905-2016”, by Chrissie Iles, Whitney Museum of American Art, 2016
“Greater New York: Cinema,” K. Biesenbach, W. Neville, C. Butler, Greater New York 2010, MoMA PS1, 2010.
PDX Film Fest 2009, Gretchen Hogue, Portland: PDX Film Festival, 2009.
Images Festival , Scott Miller Berry and Pablo de Ocampo, Toronto: Images Festival, 2009.
“Ben Coonley,” by L. Hilderbran and K. Horsfield, “In Feedback: The VDB Catalog of Video Art and Artist”
Interviews, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2006.


Guest Lectures and Talks

Guest Lecturer, University of Massachusetts – Boston, Boston, MA, 2016
Video presentation, Yale University, Cognitive Science Graduate Seminar, New Haven, CT, 2012
Contributor to “On Photography and Humor,” a storytelling event organized by Tim Davis for Blind Spot Magazine, Brooklyn, NY, 2012
Guest Lecture, Hunter College, Department of Film and Media Studies, New York, NY, 2010
Guest Lecture, Parsons the New School for Design, School of Art, Media, and Technology, New York, NY, 2010
Guest Lecture, Pratt Institute, Department of Film/Video and Photography, Brooklyn, NY, 2009
Guest Lecture (Skype), Northwestern University, Department of Communications, Evanston, IL, 2009
Guest Workshop, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR, 2009
Conversation with Ben Coonley and Paul Chan, presented by Light Industry, X Initiative, New York, NY, 2009
Guest Lecture, Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, School of Art and Design, Champaign, IL, 2008
Guest Lecture, Hampshire College, Department of Film Photography, and Video, Amherst, MA, 2006
Guest Lecture, University of Texas at Austin, Department of Studio Art, Austuin, TX, 2006
Guest Lecture, Bard College, Department of Film and Electronic Arts, Annadale-On-Hudson, NY, 2005
Guest Lecture, University of Texas at Austin, Department of Radio-TV-Film, Austin, TX, 2004
Guest Lecture, University of Texas at Austin, Department of Radio-TV-Film, Austin, TX, 2002