Leighton Pierce
Advisory Committee Member (2026–2027)
Visiting Professor, Film and Media Studies, Yale University
With over 60 awards from national and international festivals, Leighton Pierce's work has long been an influence in the experimental film and video world. Recently moving out of that world into the realm of the art museum and gallery, his work has been presented at the 2002 Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Centre Pompidou, and the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art.
Pierce is also the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships including from the Rockefeller Foundation, the NEA, the Camargo Foundation, and the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrospectives and programs of his recent work have appeared at Lincoln Center, Cinémathèque Française, the Montreal Film Festival, Festival Nemo in Paris, Centre Pompidou, and the Lisbon Biennial of Contemporary Art. Most recently, he has produced video installations that have been exhibited at The Exploratorium in San Francisco, the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, and as part of several group shows.
Pierce studied ceramics and music composition, especially jazz and electronic music, before making films. In fact, his first move into filmmaking came about from his frustration with the lack of a visual component to taped music. It is a continuation of this early interest in music and the construction of emotional experiences in time that continue to guide his work. He has made over 40 short films, videos, audio compostions, and installations.