David Birkin

{{Infobox person

| name = David Birkin

| birth_name = David Tristan Birkin

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1977|11|df=y|21}}

| birth_place =

| death_date =

| death_place =

| nationality = British
American

| education = University of Oxford (BA)
University College London (MA)
Goldsmiths College London (PhD)

| father = Andrew Birkin

| relatives = Anno Birkin (half-brother)
Jane Birkin (aunt)
Charlotte Gainsbourg (cousin)
Kate Barry (cousin)
Lou Doillon (cousin)

| website = {{Official URL}}

| occupation = Artist

}}

David Tristan Birkin (born 21 November 1977) is a British artist working with photography and performance art. He is a Senior Lecturer at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London.{{Cite web |title=David Birkin |url=https://www.arts.ac.uk/colleges/london-college-of-communication/people/david-birkin |access-date=2023-01-02 |website=London College of Communication |date=4 January 2021 |language=en}} Birkin is the co-founder of Visible Justice, a research platform for artists, activists, writers, journalists, photographers, filmmakers, and human rights lawyers working at the intersection of visual culture and social justice.{{Cite web |title=Biographies |url=https://www.visible-justice.org/biographies |access-date=2023-01-02 |website=Visible Justice |language=en-US}} He has also worked as a motion picture and theatre actor.

Education

Birkin studied human sciences and anthropology at Oxford University (1996–1999). He completed an MA at the Slade School of Fine Art (2009–2011) with a scholarship from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.{{cn|date=April 2019}} He is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths College, University of London.{{Cite web |title=David Birkin |url=https://www.davidbirkin.net/about |access-date=2023-01-02 |website=Davidbirkin.net |language=en-US}}

Birkin was a fellow of the Art and Law Program in New York (2011–2012){{cite web |url=http://www.artlawprogram.com |title=Fellows: 2010–present}} Art + Law Program and the Independent Study Program at the Whitney Museum of American Art (2012–2013).{{cite web |url=http://whitney.org/Research/ISP |title=Whitney Museum Independent Study Program}} Whitney Museum of American Art. He was an artist-in-residence at Yaddo in 2013,{{cite web |url=http://yaddo.org/yaddo/history.shtml |title=History |date=2016-08-23 |website=Yaddo |access-date=16 June 2015 |archive-date=14 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100814081739/http://yaddo.org/yaddo/history.shtml |url-status=dead }} the MacDowell Colony in 2015,{{cite web |url=https://www.macdowell.org/artists/david-birkin |title=David Birkin |website=MacDowell |access-date=2023-01-01}} Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's studios on Governors Island in 2016,{{cite web |url=http://lmcc.net/person/david-birkin/ |title=David Birkin at LMCC}} Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and the Camargo Foundation in 2020.{{Cite web |title=Directory of Past Residents |website=Camargo Foundation |url=https://camargofoundation.org/programs/directory-of-past-residents/ |access-date=2023-01-02}}

Career

=Photography=

Much of Birkin's work relates to war. Projects have included a collaboration with the courtroom sketch artist at the Guantanamo military commissions;{{cite web |url=http://www.a-political.org/projects/david-birkin/mouths-at-the-invisible-event/ |title=Cyclura nubila}} a/political.org a digital photographic transcription of identification numbers from the Iraq War civilian casualties database;{{cite web |url=https://vimeo.com/78742888 |title=The New Alchemists |date=2013-11-06}} Photo50 a photo archive image from Kabul traced to Renaissance lapis lazuli mines in Afghanistan;{{cite web |url=http://www.photomonitor.co.uk/blue-skies-error-screens-david-birkins-documents-new-york-skyline/ |title=Blue Skies and Error Screens in David Birkin's Documents of the New York Skyline |website=Photomonitor|date=29 March 2017 }} an extract of CIA legalese in skywriting above Manhattan;{{cite web |url=http://www.cultureandconflict.org.uk/news/david-birkins-project-severe-clear-2014-skywriting-over-new-york-on-memorial-day-weekend/ |title=David Birkin's project Severe Clear (2014), skywriting over New York on Memorial Day weekend |website=Culture+Conflict}} and a plane circling the Statue of Liberty's torch towing a banner that read "The Shadow of a Doubt".{{cite web |url=https://www.aclu.org/blog/shadow-doubt-circles-libertys-torch |title=The Shadow of a Doubt Circles Liberty's Torch |website=American Civil Liberties Union|date=11 November 2014 }}

Birkin has published photo-essays and articles in Frieze,{{cite journal |url=https://frieze.com/article/how-important-art-form-protest |title=How Important is Art as a Form of Protest? |journal=Frieze|date=31 March 2017 |issue=186 }} Cabinet,{{cite web |url=http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/contributors/birkin_david.php |title=The Iguanas of Guantánamo |website=Cabinet}} Creative Time Reports,{{cite web |url=http://creativetimereports.org/2015/06/01/abdulrahman-al-awlaki/ |title=No Explanation Necessary: A Shroud of Secrecy Surrounds the Drone War's Civilian Casualties |date=June 2015 |website=Creative Time}} Ibraaz,{{cite web |url=http://www.ibraaz.org/essays/150 |title=Sous les Pavés, la Plage: On Assumption and Authority |website=Ibraaz}} Disegno,{{cite web |url=https://www.disegnodaily.com/magazine |title=A Few Chickens and a Parrot |website=Disegno}} The Harvard Advocate,{{cite web |url=https://theharvardadvocate.com/issues |title=Law, War, and Some Terms of Art |website=The Harvard Advocate}} and the American Civil Liberties Union blog,{{cite web |url=https://www.aclu.org/blog/existence-or-nonexistence-cias-linguistic-somersault-takes-sky |title=Existence or Nonexistence: CIA's Linguistic Somersault Takes to the Sky |website=American Civil Liberties Union|date=20 June 2014 }} on subjects ranging from a legally protected species of iguana roaming freely at Guantanamo Bay detention camp{{cite web |url=https://www.davidbirkin.net/art/#/cyclura-nubila/ |title=Cyclura nubila |website=Davidbirkin.net}} to Marilyn Monroe's 1945 photoshoot at an army drone factory in California.{{cite journal |url=https://frieze.com/article/blonde-bombshells |title=Blonde Bombshells: Marilyn Monroe and Drone Warfare |journal=Frieze|date=14 October 2016 |issue=183 |last1=Birkin |first1=David }}

In 2010 his performance photographs won him the €25,000 Sovereign Art Prize at the Barbican Centre in London.{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/photography/7803373/David-Birkin-Compound-Ghosts.html |title=Compound Ghosts: David Birkin's performance photographs have won the €25,000 Sovereign Art Prize |date=2010-06-09 |last1=Davies |first1=Lucy |work=The Telegraph}}

His show "Mouths at the Invisible Event" at The Mosaic Rooms in London in 2015{{cite web |url=http://mosaicrooms.org/event/mouths-at-the-invisible-event/ |title=Exhibition: Mouths At The Invisible Event |website=The Mosaic Rooms}} was described by Hyperallergic as "a methodical examination of the language, aesthetics, and ethos of modern warfare [that] ultimately makes the emotional reality and Kafkaesque lunacy of such a system hit home".{{cite web |url=http://hyperallergic.com/184435/an-exhibition-brings-us-face-to-face-with-the-war-on-terror/ |title=An Exhibition Brings Us Face to Face with the War on Terror |date=2015-02-20 |website=Hyperallergic}}

=Film and theatre=

Birkin has also worked as an actor in film, television and theatre. He appeared in two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation: in the 1990 episode "Family" as René Picard, Captain Jean-Luc Picard's nephew; and the 1992 episode "Rascals", as a young Jean-Luc Picard. His film credits have included roles in The Return of the Musketeers (1989, as Louis XIV), Impromptu (1991), Les Misérables (1998), All the Queen's Men (2001), Charlotte Gray (2001), and Sylvia (2003).{{cn|date=April 2019}} In 2010 he appeared in Ourhouse by Nathaniel Mellors.{{cite web |url=https://www.ica.art/whats-on/nathaniel-mellors-ourhouse |title=Nathaniel Mellors: Ourhouse |website=ICA, London}}