Dara Birnbaum (born 1946
) is an American
video
Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...
and
installation art
Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...
ist. Birnbaum entered the nascent field of video art in the mid-to-late 1970s challenging the gendered biases of the period and television’s ever-growing presence within the American household. Her oeuvre primarily addresses ideological and aesthetic features of
mass media
Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets.
Broadcast media transmit information ...
through the intersection of video art and
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
. She uses video to reconstruct television imagery using materials such as archetypal formats as quizzes,
soap operas
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
, and sports programmes. Her techniques involve the repetition of images and interruption of flow with text and music. She is also well known for forming part of the
feminist art movement
The feminist art movement refers to the efforts and accomplishments of feminists internationally to produce art that reflects women's lives and experiences, as well as to change the foundation for the production and perception of contemporary ar ...
that emerged within
video art
Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting ...
in the mid-1970s. Birnbaum lives and works in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
.
Early life and education
Dara Birnbaum was born in 1946 in New York.
["Birnbaum Biography"](_blank)
Marian Goodman Gallery, Retrieved 31 October 2018. In 1969 she received her BA in architecture at
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
in
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
.
She subsequently worked in the Lawrence Halprin & Associates architectural firm in New York City. Her work with the firm instilled a lifelong consideration of civic space and exploration of the relationship between private and public spheres in mass culture. In 1973 Birnbaum attained a BFA in painting from the
San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...
.
Career and artistic practice
In 1975 Birnbaum moved to Florence for a year and was introduced to video art by the Centro Diffusione Grafica, a gallery that pioneered video art exhibitions. Shortly after her return to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in 1976, Birnbaum met
Dan Graham
Daniel Graham (March 31, 1942 – February 19, 2022) was an American visual artist, writer, and curator in the writer-artist tradition. In addition to his visual works, he published a large array of critical and speculative writing that spanned ...
, an artist/critic who greatly impacted her artistic development. He introduced her to
Screen (journal)
''Screen'' is an academic journal of film and television studies based at the University of Glasgow and published by Oxford University Press. The editors-in-chief are Tim Bergfelder (University of Southampton), Alison Butler (University of Readi ...
, a British film-theory journal, which provided a critical analysis of mainstream cinema during the 1970s. Birnbaum was very interested in the journal’s discussion of an emerging feminist context in the critique of cinema but found
Screen (journal)
''Screen'' is an academic journal of film and television studies based at the University of Glasgow and published by Oxford University Press. The editors-in-chief are Tim Bergfelder (University of Southampton), Alison Butler (University of Readi ...
to be flawed in its failure to consider television—a medium she believed to have replaced film as the dominant force of American mass culture.
During the mid-1970s, the poet
Alan Sondheim
Alan Sondheim is a poet, critic, musician, artist, and theorist of cyberspace from the United States.
Biography
Alan Sondheim was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He holds a B.A. and M.A. in English from Brown University. He lives with his p ...
lent Birnbaum his Sony
Portapak
A Portapak is a battery-powered, self-contained video tape analog recording system. Introduced to the market in 1967, it could be carried and operated by one person.
Earlier television cameras were large and heavy, required a specialized vehicle ...
, which enabled her to create her first experimental video works, such as ''Control Piece'' and ''Mirroring''. These works explored the separation between the body and its representation through the use of mirrors and projected images. The presence of mirrors continued into her late-1970s video works which focused primarily on the appropriation and of television's conventions. Through the fragmentation and repetition of TV conventions, she used borrowed images to examine the medium's technical structures and bodily gestures.
[Demos 2010, p. 11–12.]
These explorations laid a foundation for her most prominent work, the 1978 - 1979
video art
Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting ...
piece ''
Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman''.
In this work she used appropriated images of
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...
to subvert ideological subtexts and meanings embedded in the television series. "Opening with a prolonged salvo of fiery explosions accompanied by the warning cry of a siren, ''Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman'' is supercharged, action-packed, and visually riveting... throughout its nearly six minutes we see several scenes featuring the main character Diana Prince... in which she transforms into the famed superhero." Her citational use of
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...
illustrates the efforts she made into exploring "television on television," which indicates a consciousness of analyzing the television/video medium within its own terms, an exploration of the structural elements of television content, and an attempt to talk back to
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
.
In 1979 she started to make fast-edited video collages from footage appropriated while working for a TV post-production unit. In 1982 Birnbaum created the piece titled PM Magazine/Acid Rock with appropriated video from the nightly T.V. Show, PM Magazine, and a segment of a Wang Computers commercial. Created for Documenta 7 as part of a four channel video installation, PM Magazine/Acid Rock underscores the themes of consumerism, T.V., and feminism in Birnbaum's work through the use of pop images and a recomposed version of "L.A. Woman" by the Doors. She participated in the 1985
Whitney Biennial
The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition in ...
.
In her 1990 single channel video work ''Cannon: Taking to the Street'' the political act of taking to the street is framed through an iconic evocation of the Paris uprising of May 1968, interspersed with amateur footage from a Take Back the Night march held at Princeton University in April, 1987.
Her 1994 six channel video installation ''Hostage'' has as its subject the kidnapping of
Hanns-Martin Schleyer
Hans "Hanns" Martin Schleyer (; 1 May 1915 – 18 October 1977) was a German business executive, and employer and industry representative, who served as President of two powerful commercial organizations, the Confederation of German Employers' A ...
in 1977.
''Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman'' is held in the collection of the
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
. She also has works in the collection of the
National Gallery of Canada
The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...
.
Selected works
Dara Birnbaum works distributed by the
Electronic Arts Intermix
Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI) is a nonprofit arts organization that is a resource for video and media art. An advocate of media art and artists since 1971, EAI's core program is the distribution and preservation of a collection of over 3,500 new ...
include:
*''
Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman'' 1978-79, 5:50 min, color, sound
*''
Kiss The Girls: Make Them Cry'' (1979), 6:50 min, color, sound
*''Local TV News Analysis'' (1980), 61:08 min, color, sound
*''Pop-Pop Video'' (1980), 9 min, color, sound
*''General Hospital/Olympic Women Speed Skating'' (1980), 6 min, color, sound
*''Kojak/Wang'' (1980), 3 min, color, sound
*''Remy/Grand Central: Trains and Boats and Planes'' (1980), 4:18 min, color, sound
*''Fire! Hendrix'' (1982), 3:13 min, color, sound
*''PM Magazine/Acid Rock'' (1982), 4:09 min, color, sound
*''Damnation of Faust: Evocation'' (1983), 10:02 min, color, sound
*''Damnation of Faust: Will-o'-the-Wisp (A Deceitful Goal)'' (1985), 5:46 min, color, sound
*''Artbreak, MTV Networks, Inc.'' (1987), 30 sec, color, sound
*''Damnation of Faust: Charming Landscape'' (1987), 6:30 min, color, sound
*''Canon: Taking to the Streets, Part One: Princeton University - Take Back the Night'' (1990), 10 min, color, sound
*''Transgressions'' (1992), 60 sec, color, sound
Arabesque, Special Limited Edition 2021
Dara Birnbaum is the first artist who participated in the D’ORO D’ART Project, for the creation of books that contain digital art. Birnbaum took on the challenge of specially transforming her four-channel video, Arabesque from 2011, to a single-channel video for the book. In the video, sound and image are integrated, and together retrace the love and artistic relationship of Robert and Clara Schumann. Birnbaum brought together selections from films of performances of Robert Schumann’s Arabesque Opus 18 and from films of Clara Schumann’s Romanze 1, Opus 11. Birnbaum juxtaposed these clips with still images made from footage of the 1947 film about the Schumanns, Song of Love, which tellingly features only Robert Schumann's Arabesque Opus 18. Birnbaum’s Arabesque delicately reflects on the troubled love relationship of Robert and Clara Schumann, a love relationship closely linked to music, as they are both pianists. The video Arabesque, Special Limited Edition 2021 is activated by opening the book in which it is contained. The curators of the project are Barbara London and Valentino Catricalà. The book is produced by the publishing house D'ORO Collection, based in Rome. Arabesque, Special Limited Edition 2021 was post-produced by Michael Saia. The video lasts 6 min. and 29 seconds.
Awards
In 2010 she won a
United States Artists
United States Artists (USA) is a national arts funding organization based in Chicago. USA is dedicated to supporting living artists and cultural practitioners across the United States by granting unrestricted awards.
Mission
The organization' ...
Fellow award.
United States Artists Official Website
Notes
References
*
External links
Dara Birnbaum at the MNCARS
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birnbaum, Dara
1946 births
Living people
Feminist artists
Jewish American artists
American installation artists
American video artists
Postmodern artists
Women video artists
American women installation artists
20th-century American women artists
21st-century American women artists
21st-century American Jews