CV
Michael Benson
Selected Museum Shows
Planetfall, 34 framed prints, The Image Centre at Toronto Metropolitan University, 1/22/2025-4/5/2025
Otherworlds, 41 framed prints, Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, 5/17/2019-9/2/19
Otherworlds, 77 framed prints, Scientific and Technical Museum, Shanghai, 10/26/2019-2/2/2020
Otherworlds, 77 framed prints, Musee National d’Histoire Naturelle Luxembourg, 10/13/2018-1/6/2019
Otherworlds, 77 framed prints, Eden Project, Cornwall, UK, 7/21/2018-9/2/18
Otherworlds, 77 framed prints, CosmoCaixa Museum, Barcelona, 3/18/2018-6/10/18
Otherworlds, 77 framed prints, Queensland Museum, Brisbane, 3/4/2017-1/14/2018
Otherworlds, 77 framed prints, Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna, 2/6/2016-9/26/16
Otherworlds, 77 framed prints, Jerwood Gallery, Natural History Museum, London, 1/22/2016-15/5/16
Carina Nebula, single large print in dedicated “Jeppson Idea Lab” gallery, Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts, 12/1/2013-6/22/2014
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 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: Visions of Our Solar System. 148 framed prints, 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
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 Solo Gallery Shows
Atmospheres, 10 framed prints, Flowers Gallery, Cork Street, London, 11/9/2016-12/3/2016
Planetfall, 56 framed prints, AAAS Art Gallery, 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, 15 framed prints, Hasted-Kraeutler Gallery, 537 West 24th Street, NYC, 2/3/2011-3/26/2011
Images from Beyond: Visions of Our Solar System. 22 framed prints, Long View Gallery, Washington DC, 9/16/10-10/24/2010
Selected Group Shows
Meltdown: A Visualization of Climate Change: KühlhausBerlin, Berlin, Germany, 2/17/23-3/5/23; Jakopič Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 1/18/22-5/1/22; Horniman Museum, London, 11/23/2019-1/12/20; Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna 6/4/2019-9/8/19
Small is Beautiful XXXVII, Flowers Gallery, Cork Street, London, 12/1/2020-1/9/2021
Lunar Attraction, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, 10/15/2016-9/4/2017
Out of Obscurity, Flowers Gallery, Kingsland Road, London, 7/2/2016-9/3/2016
Outer Space, Faszination Weltraum (Outer Space, Fascination Space), Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany (The Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany), 10/3/2014-2/22/2015
PATHS: Charting, Navigating, & Bridging, Simons Center Art Gallery, SUNY Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY, 5/6/2013-6/28/2013
Starstruck: The Fine Art of Astrophotography, Bates College Museum of Art, Olin Arts Center, Lewiston, Maine, 6/8/2012-12/15/2012
Skydreamers, The Autry Museum, Los Angeles, CA, 4/29/2011-8/21/2011
Gallery Representation
Michael Benson’s work is represented in the United Kingdom by Flowers Gallery, London
Michael Benson’s photographic work was represented in the United States by the Hasted-Kraeutler gallery, 537 West 24th Street, NYC (2010-2015)
Public Collections
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts
Corporate Collections
PharmaSwiss SA, Zug, Switzerland
Swixx Biopharma AG, Baar, Switzerland
Memberships
Michael Benson is a Fellow of the New York Institute of the Humanities
Selected Books
Nanocosmos: Journeys in Electron Space, Michael Benson (Abrams, 2025)
Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece, Michael Benson (Simon & Schuster, 450 pages, 9.5” x 6.5”) Also published in Chinese, Japanese and Portuguese. (April, 2018)
Otherworlds, Michael Benson (Natural History Museum, London; 160 pages, 10” x 10”) (January, 2016; also released by Abrams Books in 2017.)
Cosmigraphics: Picturing Space Through Time, Michael Benson (Abrams Books, New York; 320 pages, 19” x 12”). Also published in Chinese and Japanese. October 2014)
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:
Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece was listed as one of The Economist’s Books of the Year, The Economist magazine, 12/1/2018
Cosmigraphics: Picturing Space Through Time was a finalist for the 2015 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books Prize in the Science and Technology category—the first time an illustrated book earned such a distinction
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, Harper's, 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).
Reviews
Reviews of exhibitions, solo shows, and books were published or broadcast in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, ArtNews, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Guardian, The Economist, Art Quarterly, The Financial Times Magazine, Aesthetica Magazine, Maclean’s, WNYC, NPR, Slate, The Daily Beast, NBC, ABC, etc. (2003-present. See michael-benson.com).
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/UKPRC/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. (Completed and broadcast by the TV Slovenia Documentary Program June 1997)
Selected Lectures and Presentations
“Nanocosmos, Journeys in Electron Space,” keynote talk at the Cambridge Forum, Cambridge, England, 9/3/2025
"From Reverie to Reality: The Impact of Science Fiction on Spaceflight," keynote talk at the AstroBio2023 conference at the Green Bank Observatory, Green Bank, West Virginia, 5/5/23
"From Reverie to Reality: The Impact of Science Fiction on Spaceflight," lecture at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY, 9/22/22
"An Architectonic Technological Sublimity," discussion between Michael Benson and NASA Chief Scientist James Green, as part of the Arts Letters & Numbers curated contribution to the Italian Virtual Pavilion at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale, 9/9/21
"Paradoxing, Futuring, & Architecture of Scale," three discussions between Michael Benson, Chris Rose (RISD), and Andreas Mershin (MIT Media Lab), as part of the Arts Letters & Numbers curated contribution to the Italian Virtual Pavilion at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale, 8/11,12,13/2021
“2001: A Space Odyssey,” a dozen talks during book tour for Space Odyssey (Simon & Schuster, 2018), NYC, Washington D.C., LA, Chicago, etc. April-May 2018
“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
“The Aesthetics of Astronomy: A Subjective look at Cosmigraphical Representation Through Time,” talk, part of the NYU Villa La Pietra Dialogues series, 4/30/2014
Artist's Talk, Worcester Art Museum, 55 Salisbury Street, Worcester. Massachusetts, 2/9/2014
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
“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 79th Street, NYC: 10/20/2003
Website
www.michael-benson.com