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(1) Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman, 1978; (2) Kiss the Girls: Make Them Cry, 1979; (3) Pop-Pop Video: General Hospital/Olympic Speed Skating, 1980; (4) Pop-Pop Video: Kojak/Wang, 1980.
(1) Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman, 1978; (2) Kiss the Girls: Make Them Cry, 1979; (3) Pop-Pop Video: General Hospital/Olympic Speed Skating, 1980; (4) Pop-Pop Video: Kojak/Wang, 1980.

(1) Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman, 1978; (2) Kiss the Girls: Make Them Cry, 1979; (3) Pop-Pop Video: General Hospital/Olympic Speed Skating, 1980; (4) Pop-Pop Video: Kojak/Wang, 1980.

Artist/Maker (American, b. 1946)
Date1978–80
Medium3/4 inch color stereo videocassette tape
DimensionsDuration: 24 minutes
Credit LineSpecial Exhibitions Fund
Object number1984.35
Status
Not on view
Copyright© Dara BirnbaumMore Information
As televisions became increasingly common in American living rooms in the 1970s, Birnbaum was among the earliest artists to use television content as source material. Altering, glitching, cutting, and splicing it without seeking legal permission, she claimed she was manipulating “a medium which is itself highly manipulative.”

Here, Birnbaum isolates and repeats ad nauseum passages from the show Wonder Woman in which secretary Diana Prince transforms into a superhero. Highlighting the deceptive portrayal of women as either heroic or trivial, Birnbaum stated, “the in-between is the reality we need to live in.”
Exhibition History
New Voices 4: Women and the Media, New Video
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (April 18, 1984 - May 27, 1984 )
Femme 'n isms, Part I: Bodies are Fluid
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (January 3, 2023 - August 6, 2023 )
Video Space: Dara Birnbaum and Kalup Linzy
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (September 24, 2024 - December 21, 2024 )
Collections
  • Modern & Contemporary