Dara Birnbaum, Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman

A masterpiece of editing and a key work in the history of video art, Dara Birnbaum’s Technology/Transformation takes on the representation of women, power, and sexuality in mainstream media by appropriating footage from the 1970s television series Wonder Woman. By isolating and repeating the moments when the ordinary woman Diana Prince transforms into the dazzling superhero, Birnbaum uses the very language of television to dismantle and reveal itself. Birnbaum’s pioneering work has influenced a number of artists, including Douglas Gordon, Christian Marclay, and Candice Breitz. (5:45 mins., video)