Leighton Pierce uses film, video, and sound to create experiences in transformative time. He creates multi-channel site-specific installations as well as single channel works that have been exhibited in major art museums and film festivals throughout the world including The Whitney Bienniale , Sundance, San Francisco, New York, Tribeca, Ann Arbor, and Rotterdam Film Festivals , the Exploratorium in San Francisco, Montreal Museé d’art contemporaine, and The Sheldon Art Museum. Retrospectives of his works have been presented at venues such as, The New Zealand Film Festival, Lincoln Center, The Cinémathèque française, Festival Nemo, and Pompidou Center in Paris, and at The Lisbon Biennale. Pierce has received fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, The Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Creative Capital.
Pierce studied ceramics and music composition, particularly jazz and electronic music, before making films. It is a continuation of this early interest in music and the related process of constructing embodied emotional experiences in time that continue to guide his work. Pierce executes all aspects of his works himself including the conception, cinematography, editing, and of course, the sound design and composition.
Pierce was head of the Program in Film and Video Production at the University of Iowa from 2001-2011 where he also taught classes in all aspects of film and video making with a special emphasis on the conceptual and practical development of sound and image relationships in film, video, and installation. After leading the FilmVideo Department at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and then serving as Acting Dean of the School of Art and Design at Pratt, Pierce moved to Los Angeles to become the current Dean of the School of Film/Video at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).
10 MOVIES IN DISTRIBUTION
|
LODESTAR
2023 / Mobile phone / color / sound / single screen / 13' 43 / 59 € distribution: Digital file on server |
|
EVERYTHING'S GONNA BE OK #36 - South Los Angeles Street
2022 / Mobile phone / color / sound / single screen / 4' 54 / 37 € distribution: Digital file on server |
|
EVERYTHING'S GONNA BE OK #21
2021 / Mobile phone / color / sound / single screen / 6' 31 / 42 € distribution: Digital file on server |
|
DECK
2019 / 4K / color / sound / single screen / 25' 34 / 102 € distribution: Digital file on server |
|
WHITE ASH
2014 / HD / color-b&w / sound / single screen / 30' 00 / 100 € distribution: Digital file on server |
|
RETROGRADE PREMONITION
2010 / HD / color-b&w / sound / single screen / 4' 50 / 27 € distribution: DCP on server or Digital file on server |
|
THE BACK STEPS
2001 / Mini DV / color / sound / single screen / 5' 21 / 39 € distribution: Digital file on server |
|
GLASS - Memories of Water #29
1998 / 16mm / color / sound / single screen / 7' 00 / 42 € distribution: Digital file on server |
|
50 FEET OF STRING
1995 / 16mm / color / sound / single screen / 51' 00 / 177 € distribution: Digital file on server |
|
RED SHOVEL
1992 / 16mm / color / sound / single screen / 8' 00 / 40 € distribution: Digital file on server |