in residence September/October, 2023:

Jeffrey Benjamin

^{Reading the landscape, 2023
Deaccessioned book, moss. 27″ x 18″ x 7}

Jeff Benjamin (b. 1966) is an archaeologically inclined artist living and working in the Catskill Mountains of New York state, U.S.A. He recently received a PhD in archaeology from Columbia University, NY, USA, with his dissertation “All inhibitory is dream: An archaeology of anaesthesia.” His research is concerned with the singular nature of the event of industrialization, as purposeful human activity, and the material forms and remnants of its perpetuation through sonic and haptic entrainment; repetition, trance, and habit. His work addresses the specific archaeological traces of early sensory responses to industry, histories of perception, synaesthetic responses to materials and technological processes, ecological/industrial synthesis and heraldic sonic forms. His work draws from disparate traditions – literature, art, philosophy and the everyday – and he seeks to explore (and create) open pathways between archaeological and artistic expression through their shared effort to contend with the challenge of form and formlessness.