[2] Birnbaum entered the nascent field of video art in the mid-to-late 1970s challenging the gendered biases of the period and television’s ever-growing presence within the American household.
Her oeuvre primarily addresses ideological and aesthetic features of mass media through the intersection of video art, YouTube[3] and television.
[7] Her work with the firm instilled a lifelong consideration of civic space and exploration of the relationship between private and public spheres in mass culture.
Birnbaum was very interested in the journal’s discussion of an emerging feminist context in the critique of cinema, but found Screen to be flawed in its failure to consider television — a medium she believed to have replaced film as the dominant force of American mass culture.
[9] During the mid-1970s, the poet, writer and theoretician Alan Sondheim lent Birnbaum his Sony Portapak, which enabled her to create her first experimental video works, such as Control Piece and Mirroring.
Through the fragmentation and repetition of TV conventions, she used borrowed images to examine the medium's technical structures and bodily gestures.
[11] "Opening with a prolonged salvo of fiery explosions accompanied by the warning cry of a siren, Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman is supercharged, action-packed, and visually riveting... throughout its nearly six minutes we see several scenes featuring the main character Diana Prince... in which she transforms into the famed superhero.
[15] PM Magazine/Acid Rock underscores the themes of consumerism, TV and feminism in Birnbaum's work through the use of pop images and a recomposed version of "L.A. Woman" by The Doors.
[24] She also has works in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada,[25] the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía,[26] and the S.M.A.K.
In this special book edition, stereo sound and image are integrated, and together retrace the love and artistic relationship of Robert and Clara Schumann.