view additional image 1
View in a Room ArtworkView in a Room Background
102 Views
0

VIEW IN MY ROOM

'The Shadow of a Doubt' from the project SEVERE CLEAR, 2014 Photograph

David Birkin

United States

Photography, C-type on Aluminium

Size: 40 W x 23 H x 0.1 D in

This artwork is not for sale.
Primary imagePrimary imagePrimary imagePrimary imagePrimary image Trustpilot Score
102 Views
0

About The Artwork

In 2014, David Birkin staged a pair of public performances relating to the US government's use of unmanned aerial vehicles (commonly referred to as 'drones') for the purposes of targeted assassination. The first entailed skywriting the words 'EXISTENCE OR NONEXISTENCE' above New York City on Memorial Day weekend. The second, on Veterans Day, involved a plane circling the Statue of Liberty's torch towing a banner that read 'THE SHADOW OF A DOUBT'. These interventions were prompted by a letter that the CIA sent the American Civil Liberties Union rejecting their Freedom of Information Act request for documents pertaining to its classified, yet widely-reported, programme.The letter states that the agency can 'neither confirm nor deny the existence or nonexistence' of any records pursuant to the request. Online, the response was rapid, with people from across the city posting images to social media, including tweets from the ACLU and the actor and political activist Stephen Fry to his 12 million followers. Then, about a week later, in what seemed an unlikely coincidence, the CIA officially joined Twitter with its maiden message: 'We can neither confirm nor deny that this is our first tweet.'

Details & Dimensions

Photography:C-type on Aluminium

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:40 W x 23 H x 0.1 D in

Shipping & Returns

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.

David Birkin is a British-born artist based in New York and London. He studied at Oxford University, the Slade School of Fine Art, and was a fellow on the Whitney Museum's Independent Study Program. Past projects have included a collaboration with the courtroom sketch artist at Guantanamo, a visual rendering of identification numbers from the Iraqi civilian casualty database, and skywriting an extract of CIA legalese above Manhattan. Birkin has written for publications including Creative Time Reports, Cabinet Magazine, Ibraaz, the ACLU, and the Harvard Advocate, and was an artist-in-residence at Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, the Art & Law Program, and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's studios on Governors Island. He has exhibited internationally at the Courtauld Institute, Photographers’ Gallery, Saatchi Gallery, HotShoe, Cøpperfield, and Trolly Books, London; Baibakov Art Projects and the Solyanka State Gallery, Moscow; Photomonth, Krakow; the Kunstihoone, Tallinn; the Benaki Museum, Athens; Centre d'Art et Photographie, Lectoure; MUDAM Museum of Modern Art, Luxembourg; FotoFest, Houston; and the Whitney ISP, New York. His solo exhibition Mouths at the Invisible Event opened in 2015 at The Mosaic Rooms, London. Birkin was the recipient of a 2009 National Media Museum bursary, the 2010 Sovereign European Art Prize (Barbican, London), an AHRC scholarship in 2011, and the 2012 Celeste Art Prize (Museo Centrale Montemartini, Rome). He has performed in films by Nathaniel Mellors for the ICA, Tate Triennial, British Art Show, Hayward Gallery, Venice Biennale and Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, and narrated the English translation of Chris Marker and Alan Resnais"˜ 1953 film Les statues meurent aussi at the French Institute in London. He was talks coordinator for the London based non-profit Speakers' Society, and previously photographed reportage assignments on issues ranging from the founding of Afghan Film and the training of female journalists in Kabul to conscientious objectors during the Israel-Lebanon War.

Thousands Of Five-Star Reviews

We deliver world-class customer service to all of our art buyers.

globe

Global Selection

Explore an unparalleled artwork selection by artists from around the world.

Satisfaction Guaranteed

Our 14-day satisfaction guarantee allows you to buy with confidence.

Support An Artist With Every Purchase

We pay our artists more on every sale than other galleries.

Need More Help?

Enjoy Complimentary Art Advisory Contact Customer Support