Roosevelt University, a national leader in educating socially conscious citizens, is a private, student-centered university with 6,300 students studying at comprehensive campuses in the Chicago Loop and northwest suburban Schaumburg and online. Since its founding in 2002, the Marshall Bennett Institute of Real Estate has grown to become one of the largest graduate real estate programs in the country and one of the most diverse.
The Challenge:
The Marshall Bennett Institute of Real Estate is a school within Roosevelt University and the School of Business. Then-president of the university, Charles Middleton, sought a way to contextualize Marshall Bennett’s contribution to the school and to the real estate industry so that students of the University and the Real Estate Institute could develop a better understanding of their field and to also commemorate the legacy of Marshall Bennett.
The Solution:
Bija partnered with noted video artist Lincoln Schatz to create a generative video portrait of her father, Marshall Bennett— at the time, 92 years old — which features extensive footage of Bennett sharing his expertise and discussing his contribution to the creation of the modern industrial park. The portrait is scored with music from cellist Ken Olsen, of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
The Results:
The piece, titled LIFESCAPE: A Video Portrait of Marshall Bennett, which Bija produced, is now featured at Roosevelt University, the Heller College of Business, as a permanent art installation open to students, faculty and the general public since April 2014.