ART CITIES:N.York-Dara Birnbaum

Inspired by her architectural background, Dara Birnbaum holds an enduring interest in the ways in which people live. During the late 1970s, she turned her attention to television and video, which she saw as the architecture of the day, defining ways of life and how people inhabit public and private spaces. At that time, video art was an emerging genre, and Birnbaum was a major contributor to its development.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Marian Goodman Gallery Archive

Dara Birnbaum utilized the facilities of public television stations and developed sophisticated sound and video montages that would become the standard practice for video artists throughout the ‘80s and beyond. “Psalm 29(30)“ (2016), a new six-channel video and sound installation by Dara Birnbaum that is on presentation at Marian Goodman Gallery in New York. Ιn the installation visitors encounter serene images of the foothills of the Italian Alps, shot by the artist in 2011. Viewers then encounter an interior chamber housing a video projection, which portrays aspects of the Syrian Civil War in 2014. Birnbaum places the landscape imagery that she made during a residency in opposition to the ensuing interiorized images based on Syrian war footage sourced from the Internet. This juxtaposition of alternate realities offers a line of historical traces and a meditative space in which to reflect upon them with a sensitivity not often provided by mass media. The genesis of the work dates back to 2014 when, following an extended period of hospitalization, “Psalm 29(30)” provided Birnbaum with a source of inspiration about the possibilities of healing. Birnbaum says: “The Gregorian version of the Psalm meant a lot to me in that it was chanted by the monks of La Grande Chartreuse from Southern France, whom are sworn to silence. They only use their voices for chanting or for prayer”. “Psalm 29(30)“ is edited by Birnbaum in collaboration with filmmaker/musician Michael Saia and incorporates two sound compositions by Neil Benezra unique to this work.  One, ”Psalm 29(30)” as chanted by monks of the Carthusian Order, serves as the primary source material for the harmonious composition in the exterior space. The second, experienced within the interior chamber, is Benezra’s original composition inspired in part by Syrian music. This second sound composition also resonates with a melodious mix of church bells and environmental sounds.

Info: Marian Goodman Gallery, 24 West 57 Street, New York, Duration: 4/5-10/6/17, Days & Hours: Mon-Sat 10:00-18:00, http://mariangoodman.com