All Courses

Interstellar is defined as a vast region within galaxies and between stars. How do we as musicians connect to this interstellar region metaphorically, spiritually, or sonically through our music? Many musicians, such as John Coltrane, David Bowie, Sun Ra, Pink Floyd, Kraft Work, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix,

An introduction to 16mm film techniques, students will shoot and edit analog 16mm film, develop by hand and finally transfer film to video. Through screenings, experiments and hands-on workshops students will learn about cinematography and the photochemical process. Taking advantage of the special tactile, tangible nature of analog

This is an introductory course on the theory and practice of analyzing and displaying geo-spatial information. The methods that students will learn have wide-ranging applications in the natural and social sciences. Students will learn how to utilize mapping and spatial geographic information systems software to analyze patterns within spatial datasets and communicate

This course will look at the versatile program of Max/MSP/Jitter, a high-level programming platform for sound and visuals. Our focus will be on the sonic capabilities of the program, though we will dip occasionally into visuals, video, and sensing technologies. Students will develop research and projects based on their interests and abilities and must

This class will focus on historical methods of electronic music composition through a contemporary lens. We will study synthesis in depth, and the development of early analog synthesizers, while learning how these techniques have influenced contemporary software design. While the class will focus

In this introductory course, we will read, examine, discuss, and design in conversation with a selected literature of recorded audio, sound design practice, and history. This course will provide the foundational technical, historical, and contextual/cultural support to your knowledge of working in music and sound design in music, theater,

In 1962, a group of programmers at MIT created Spacewar!, one of the first video games ever made. By the end of this course, you’ll build your own version of it. Along the way, you’ll learn what computer science actually is, which turns out to be less about coding and more about systematic design.

We use Racket, a language designed for

This course explores the broad field of sustainable agriculture. This class consists of a series of field trips, meeting with a cross-section of local producers ranging from organic vegetable farms, mushroom cultivation, livestock, flower farms. Through these field trips, readings, and in class discussion, students will explore pathways to creating sustainable

This course provides its students with a deep and expansive exploration of the field of psychology. As a diverse field of study, psychology is broadly defined as the study of human behavior. Psychology has numerous sub-areas of study that take different research approaches to examine biological, social, and cultural factors and how they influence behavior, mental processes,

This foundational class covers modes of reasoning used in quantitative sciences and mathematics. While learning the art of mathematical modeling, i.e. translating the physical systems/real-life situations into mathematics, we will apply problem solving and practice effective communication of mathematics. This process involves isolating the essential variables and

This course is an introductory level print media and drawing class. Students will learn about relief printmaking through demonstrations of techniques, hands-on experience, and critiques. Techniques include but are not limited to wood cut and linoleum cut. With this simple process, we will be able to explore color printing in depth. This course is also an

This production course introduces students to the fundamentals of working in video and the language of film form. Drawing on the energy, intensity and criticality of avant-garde film and contemporary video art practices, students will complete a series of projects exploring dimensions of cinematography, mise-en-scène, editing and sound design before producing a final self

This course is designed for students with no prior string instrument experience. Admission is on a first come, first served basis. Classes will be one on one, individual lessons.

Daily practice  of 10 to 15 minutes is expected, in order for students to become familiar and comfortable with the basic mechanics of playing viola.

Experience with reading

This high-intermediate Japanese course explores the vibrant world of J-pop as a powerful reflection of Japanese society, identity, and cultural transformation. Far beyond catchy melodies, J-pop serves as a living archive of Japan’s evolving values, youth culture, gender roles, technological advancements, and international influence.

A practicum in playing and hearing the gamelan, the Central Javanese percussion orchestra. Students will learn about court and local traditions of Indonesia while playing classic works of karawitan (loosely translated as “weaving”), the multilayered repertoire of Central Java. Weekly rehearsals will focus on navigating the intricate levels of irama

This course recognizes the essential role that the arts and culture play in a healthy democracy. Arts and culture invite us to experience perspectives and ways of life different from our own; they shape conversations about freedom, equal rights and other values that are at the core of American society; and they help us engage with the world in new and important ways.

"Live forever!" is the chosen mantra of the louche, monied and relentlessly insular group of Classics students at the center of Donna Tartt's now classic literary suspense novel The Secret History. Under the influence of their classics professor Julian Morrow--a "divine" with special status on the campus of Hampden College, a dark mirror-image of our own campus-

In this course, students will examine the building blocks which make up the interlocking systems of language and observe how those systems are enacted and granted layers of meaning through social practice. Beyond developing an understanding of the basic mechanics of sound systems, word-meaning relations, and the expression of grammatical values in languages of the world, we

Students with little or no Spanish will learn the language through an immersion in Latin American painting. While there will be some discussion of standard tactics such as stylistic nuances and artists’ biographies, it is expected that we will rapidly develop sufficient linguistic ability to focus on movements, ranging from the republican art of nation

The class will be both looking at abstraction from quilts, to architectural patterns, to botanical structures as well as more figurative based work. The class will include a mixture of creating assemblages in a variety of means and materials, and using both digital and analogue means. Objects will be cut out digitally as well

Carl Friedrich Gauss wrote: "The study of Euler's works will remain the best school for the different fields of mathematics, and nothing else can replace it." The thesis of this class is that this is still true today. Leonhard Euler's (1707–1783) collected works run to 81 volumes and over 35,000 pages, the publication only having been (mostly) completed in 2022. Most of

This course will feature presentations and conversations with Bennington alumni with the purpose of providing guidance to current students about how to leverage their own experience in designing their education to the next step in their growth: designing a career. The skills and capacities that undergird the Bennington approach to liberal arts are intended to also help

This course will focus on reading and analyzing a variety of autobiographical writing forms as well as perfecting your written French through creative autobiographical writing. Literary readings will offer both a critical perspective on a wide variety of autobiographical genres as well as models for

Together with calculus, linear algebra is one of the foundations of higher-level mathematics and its applications. This is NOT just the algebra you know from high school. There are several perspectives one can take on linear algebra: it is a method for handling large systems of linear equations, it is a theory of linear geometry (including in dimensions larger than three),

This 2-credit course will introduce the use of large format cameras and explore the 4x5 film format to analyze the differences between this format and the smaller ones. Students will be using pinhole cameras, 4x5 field cameras, 4x5 monorail cameras, and some extra tools that the photography area has dedicated for large format photography.