The Whitney Museum of American Art's first floor gallery is currently home to Sadie Benning's stop-animation Play Pause. Benning was first shown at the Whitney in 1993 at the biennial, when she was only 20, and once again at the 2000 biennial.
Benning, aside from being a former member and cofounder of the band Le Tigre, is most known for her films. As a young girl growing up in Milwaukee, she was given a gift by her father (experimental filmmaker James Benning) - a Fischer-Price PXL-2000 - the PixelVision. She began recording herself and making short films concerning adolescence and sexual identity. She continued to use the PixelVision at times, even when other cameras became available to her, as her signature style - as it added a sense of authenticity and grittiness to the shots.
Her current show at the Whitney marks her 3rd time at the Whitney, as she returns to the site of her 1st Biennial.
Benning has received grants and fellowships from Guggenheim Foundation, Andrea Frank Foundation, National Endowment of the Arts, and Rockefeller Foundation. Awards include Wexner Center Residency Award in Media Arts, National Alliance for Media Arts & Culture Merit Award, Grande video Kunst Award, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Circle Award. She received her M.F.A. from Bard College. Her videos are distributed by Video Data Bank.
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