In memoriam: Dara Birnbaum, visionary who transformed TV footage into radical art
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Sunday, May 4, 2025


In memoriam: Dara Birnbaum, visionary who transformed TV footage into radical art
Portrait of Dara Birnbaum at Fondazione Prada. Photo: Francesca D’Amico.



NEW YORK, NY.- Marian Goodman Gallery announced the passing of Dara Birnbaum (1946–2025), a trailblazing figure in video and media art. Her groundbreaking practice has had a profound influence on contemporary art and visual culture. Over the past five decades, Birnbaum’s work critically examined the ideological and aesthetic constructs of mass media, challenging historical memory, public address, and the transmutability of images.

Her seminal works, including Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman (1978–1979), Kiss the Girls: Make Them Cry (1979), Transmission Tower: Sentinel (1992), Arabesque (2011) and Journey: Shadow of the American Dream (2022) are widely recognized as foundational to the history of media art and have been exhibited internationally at institutions such as the Fondazione Prada Osservatorio, Milan (2023); Museum of Modern Art, New York (2023; also 2008), Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-On-Hudson, New York (2022); Miller Institute of Contemporary Art, Pittsburgh (2022), MoMA PS1, New York (2019); National Portrait Gallery, London (2018); Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio (2018), among many others.

Major retrospectives and surveys of her work have been presented at Belvedere Palace, Vienna (2024); Prada Aoyama, Tokyo (2023); Fondazione Prada Osservatorio, Milan (2023); Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-On-Hudson, New York (2022); Miller Institute of Contemporary Art, Pittsburgh (2022); Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto, Portugal (2010) and S.M.A.K. Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Gent, Belgium (2009). Her work was exhibited in Documenta 7, 8, and 9.

The New York Times wrote of her work at the Hessel Museum of Art in 2022:
“Visitors could see how groundbreaking her video art has been, particularly her appropriation and editing of footage from TV, film, and the internet to raise questions about gender and politics; her most famous work, from the 1970s, isolates and repeats clips of the actress Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman to create a wry critique.”

Birnbaum’s practice continues to resonate, particularly in a media-saturated world, and her legacy remains an inspiration and influence for new generations of artists, scholars, and cultural thinkers worldwide.










Today's News

May 4, 2025

Chris Friday creates sanctuaries of nostalgia and rest from the modern world in mixed media exhibition

The National Gallery acquires large 16th-century mystery altarpiece not exhibited in public for over sixty years

Merci! John Giorno: Paris salutes the poet-provocateur 10 years after "I ♥ John Giorno"

Highlights at Firsts London 2025: Books in Bloom at the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea, London from 15 to 18 May 2025

In memoriam: Dara Birnbaum, visionary who transformed TV footage into radical art

New exhibition celebrates three generations of street photographers

"Floating World" immersive environments at the MFAH will fuse the forces of technology and nature

Hinako Miyabayashi explores materiality and metaphor in first German solo show

Marco A. Castillo maps Cuba's modernist legacy in NYC debut

MoMA debuts North America's first full-scale retrospective of revolutionary filmmaker Sarah Maldoror

"Con lo zucchero in bocca" unveils the bittersweet truth behind sweetness and extraction

Lisa Milroy's ultramarine universe unfolds at Kate MacGarry

Derek Eller Gallery unveils Santa Monica pop-up with Jameson Green's West Coast debut

Laurel Gitlen opens Domestic (1): A Shaggy Dog

Bennington Museum unveils Vermont girls' samplers exhibit spanning two centuries

Lyman Allyn presents word-based paintings by John Boone

Edinburgh photographer's new exhibition focuses on traditional bathing in Japan

Lenbachhaus presents Voices Unbound: Artists in Conversation with SERAFINE1369, Jimmy Robert, Julien Creuzet

The Academy Museum announces Judd Apatow as guest curator of new comedy film exhibition

Letter by Letter: Agnès Thurnauer turns language into luminous sculptures and paintings

Pace Berlin debuts at Die Tankstelle with "Reverse Alchemy"

MoMA Design Store Soho to undergo renovation, reopening in fall 2025

"Curiosity, Courage and Adventure" illuminates a century of women's travel photography

Barbara Kruger launches a new installation on a Ukrainian Intercity Train




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
(52 8110667640)

Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful