"Counternarratives" On View

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC | Bennington College is delighted to present an exhibition by critically acclaimed media artist Alexandra Bell. Bell is known for her “Counternarratives” project of supersized New York Times articles edited to reveal biases and assumptions about race and gender. Usually posted one work at a time around everyday locations in New York City, her “Counternarratives” prints will appear at Bennington as a series of four installed on building exteriors around campus. She will also be giving at lecture at 7:00 PM that evening. As the prints are displayed outside, they will be on view 24/7. 

This event is the first display of Bell’s work by an academic institution and the first to present her radical re-edits as a series. This grouping showcases how the artist disrupts manifestations of bias in reporting on different topics, from police violence to athletic competition, and confounds journalistic conventions of timeliness. Bell resists the forward propulsion of the news cycle by reconsidering events once they cease to be current. Her deliberative process gives agency to a desire to slow down and look back, to locate subjectivity in the “facts” of public record and question how particular narratives become embedded in history. Overall, Bell’s “Counternarratives” project urges us to think more deeply about the circulation and consumption of news and the patterns and politics of information.

“Counternarratives” is organized by Anne Thompson, Director and Curator of the Suzanne Lemberg Usdan Gallery at Bennington College.

Alexandra Bell (b. 1983, Chicago, IL) is a multidisciplinary artist who investigates the complexities of narrative, information consumption, and perception. Utilizing various media, she deconstructs language and imagery to explore the tension between marginal experiences and dominant histories. Through investigative research, she considers the ways media frameworks construct memory and inform discursive practices around race, politics, and culture. Bell holds a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities from the University of Chicago and an M.S. in Print Journalism from Columbia University. She lives and works in Brooklyn.