Dara Birnbaum

http://www.ubu.com/film/birnbaum_faust.html

For my artist I chose Dara Birnbaum. I was first attracted to her since she is a female video artist and her work has dealt with women. The piece I found of hers on ubu was very unique. It is a three-part piece calling Damnation of Faust. Each segment was more and more bizarre.

The first segment, titled Evocation, were clips from a playground, and they were supposedly “found” videos from Soho. The music from this piece really jumped out showing it was from the 80’s and the repetition helped to draw me in. I think I enjoyed the clips because I felt they had a journalistic style to them.

The second segment, Wilt-o-the-wisp started to make me feel uncomfortable. Some of the lines that the woman speaks I jotted down and they were very creepy. The third segment then just completely threw me off with out really relating to the other segments at all.

After viewing this video I was left curious about so many things and asking questions that showed me how successful of an artist she was. Some of her editing styles were very unique and felt well in the piece, such as a clip about a swing that swings in and out of the screen.

A lot of Birnhaum’s works involves appropriated video clips, especially from television, that she reconstructs into her pieces. I hope to explore more or work since she is known for forming part of the feminist art movement.