{"data":{"id":"11158","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":11158,"topgoose_id":2851,"tms_id":11158,"display_name":"Dara Birnbaum","sort_name":"Birnbaum Dara","display_date":"1946–2025","begin_date":"1946","end_date":"2025","biography":"\u003cp\u003eDara Birnbaum’s video art consists of\nsophisticated deconstructions of American\nmedia, especially those of broadcast\ntelevision. Utilizing appropriated imagery\nand sound, her works are both formal\ncompositions as well as politicized\ncommentaries on how gender, sexuality, and\nother social norms are perpetuated through\nthe codes of mainstream media culture.\nBirnbaum’s understanding of the aesthetic\nunderpinnings of social systems grew\nout of her studies in architecture and urban\nplanning at Carnegie Mellon University\nand then in painting at the San Francisco Art\nInstitute. She turned to video as a political\nand aesthetic tool in the mid-1970s.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne of the earliest video works\nto appropriate broadcast footage,\nBirnbaum’s \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/33073\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eTechnology/Transformation:\nWonder Woman\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e is a subversive analysis of\nthe popular 1970s television program.\nBy looping scenes of the title character\ntransforming repeatedly from anonymous\nsecretary into superheroine, the artist\nvividly exposes an instance of female\nobjectification and gender hierarchies:\n“This is the image of a woman made\nby men. . . . I did not want to undo the\npleasure [of the image], but it was brought\nto a very strong visceral level. My hope\nwas that . . . it would empty the signification\nof it.” Further articulating the construction\nof this female archetype, Birnbaum\nconcludes the video with the song “Wonder\nWoman in Discoland”—its suggestive\nlyrics scrolling on the screen. In addition\nto its presentation at the Kitchen and\non a monitor in a hair salon window, the\nvideo aired in 1979 as a public-access\ncable program opposite a CBS broadcast\nof the real \u003cem\u003eWonder Woman \u003c/em\u003eshow.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500034772","wikidata_id":"Q3702470","created_at":"2017-08-30T17:37:40.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-03-31T07:01:07.527-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/11158/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/11158/exhibitions"}}}}