Museum admission is free
galleries open today until 6PM
Hammer Channel

Watch 1,000+ talks, performances, artist profiles, and more.

Go to Hammer Channel
Collections
Collage of five diverse artworks from the Hammer Museum Collections side by side. From left to right: 1) Contemporary painting of two embracing figures with surreal elements. 2) Post-impressionist style painting of trees with vibrant blues and greens. 3) Black and white illustration of a face with intricate patterns. 4) Japanese woodblock print style image of a figure in a checkered robe. 5) Photograph of a couple dancing, the woman in a black dress and the man in white

See 50,000+ objects, including prints, photographs, paintings, and more.

Go to Hammer Collections

The Hammer Museum and Lulu restaurant will be closed to the public on Tuesday, December 24 and Wednesday, December 25.

Digital Archive Take It or Leave It: Institution, Image, Ideology
Art Dara Birnbaum, PM Magazine
PM Magazine, by Dara Birnbaum, 1982

Dara Birnbaum, Artist
PM Magazine , 1982

Medium
Single-channel video, color, sound; bromide enlargements with speed-rail suspension system, painted wall
Dimensions
71 x 95 x 20 1/8 in. (180.3 x 241.3 x 51.1 cm)
Credit Line
Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Restricted gift of Joseph and Jory Shapiro, Mr. and Mrs. E.A. Bergman, and Mrs. Robert B. Mayer, 1984.7. Installation view at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; photography by Brian Forrest

Using video, sound, appropriated footage from television, and an array of editing and image-processing techniques, Dara Birnbaum has been at the forefront of investigations into the content and conventions of television and mass media since the late 1970s. In PM Magazine, she utilizes imagery from the introduction to the nightly prime-time television program of the same name. Adding a uniquely composed "acid rock" version of the Doors' well-known song "L.A. Woman," the work jarringly explores the ideologies expressed through mass media.