"Early in my life I established a deep commitment to divergent acts in hopes of attaining uncommon insight into the nature of reality. I utilize the power of text and compose my findings into an artistic practice as a means of sharing information; philosophical public intervention."
Born SoHo, Manhattan, NYC | Lives and works in New York City
Professional Summary
NYC-based multidisciplinary artist creating philosophical interventions through sculpture, mural, and immersive installation. Themes include time, identity, human nature, and the tension between permanence and ephemerality.
Education
MA, Multicultural Counseling Psychology – AIU, Mexico City, MX (2012)
BA, Media & Cultural Studies – University of California, Riverside, CA (2009)
AA, Communications – Berkeley City College, Berkeley, CA (2007)
Selected Public Works & Installations
Immortal Mind – Roatan, Honduras (2024 & 2025)
Community – Palm Springs, CA (2024)
The Only Other Thing Is Nothing, Urban Variant 1 – Palm Springs, CA (2024–Present)
The Ocean Remains In Bombay – Bombay Beach, CA (2023)
WOW, Pink Sunrise – Palm Springs, CA (2023)
The Only Other Thing Is Nothing, Urban Variant 1 – Burning Man, NV (2022 & 2023)
The Only Other Thing Is Nothing, Urban Variant 1 – Union Square Park, NYC (2021–22)
Moment Movement Change – Palm Springs, CA (2019)
The Only Other Thing Is Nothing, Water Variant 2 – Bombay Beach, CA (2019)
Memory – Bombay Beach, CA (2019)
WOW House – Bombay Beach, CA (2019–24)
The Only Other Thing Is Nothing, Water Variant 1 – Desert Daze, Lake Elsinore, CA (2018)
Immersive Spaces – Desert Daze, Joshua Tree, CA (2017)
The Only Other Thing Is Nothing Variant 1 – Desert Daze, Joshua Tree, CA (2016)
Street Interventions / Unauthorized Works
Deeply Higher – Miami, FL (2022)
Ear of God / Fuck Everyone – Manhattan, NY (2020)
Appetite / Memory – Desert Hot Springs, CA (2018)
Gallery
Mash Gallery – Los Angeles, CA (2019–20)
Residency
Infinita City / Prospera – Roatan, Honduras (2024 & 2025)
MIDABI, a label taken from the first two letters of each name, Michael Daniel Birnberg, was born at home in the second floor corner apartment at 120 Thompson Street, in SoHo, NYC.
Two blocks away lived his grandparents. His grandmother, a painter of female nudes. His grandfather, a Marine Corp veteran.
One block away lived his godfathers and best friends of his grandparents, the co-founders of the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art.
On the day of his birth his parents would take him to hear their teacher, a 15 year old guru from India, speak about inner peace and self knowledge. The next day his father would go back to driving a taxi and continue primal scream therapy to address the effects of a difficult childhood and his service in Vietnam. His mother eventually returned to work as an executive secretary on Wall Street and would continue investigating the esoteric through new age mysticism and philosophy. They would both meditate an hour a day and regularly attend satsang.
At the age of 13 MIDABI began painting the undersides of tablecloths and secondhand furniture. At 15 he was making digital art on his first computer. Soon after he began accessing altered states. On a morning after, he would remark to his friends that he was no longer afraid to dance; an absolution, pivotal. It was around this time that his father handed him a book titled, The Teachings of Don Juan;
A Yaqui Way of Knowledge.
That autumn he and his parents would move to a remote part of upstate New York where he would live for two years at the top of a mountain. During this period, a thrilling and difficult perception of reality would take hold. He would develop an emotional bond with a being residing in a group of stars in the sky, and two UFO’s would come to visit him at his home. He would spend 10 days in Albany County Jail and be incorrectly diagnosed with schizophrenia. In search of a teacher to guide him, he would take a train to El Paso, TX, with $2 left in his pocket, and find himself very alone, and then cared for, with a seeming near miss of his goal.
Not long after he would leave high school early with a GED.
At 19 he moved to Palm Springs, CA, into the former home of his great grandmother; a painter, sculptor, and art educator.
Soon after he began mixing his writings with digital art. Five years later, while living in London, at the Bucks Head, a pub in Camden Town, he would measure the walls; his first attempt at a public display.
MIDABI would go on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Media and Cultural Studies, and a master’s in Multicultural Counseling Psychology.
He would also serve as a commissioner on the Palm Springs city sustainability commission, and have a shortened run for mayor.
After dropping out of the race for mayor, he moved back to NYC. It was there, on a snowy winter's day, gazing out the window of cafe Konditori in Williamsburg, that he was inspired to again combine his philosophical writings with visual art. From that day onward he has committed himself full time to this practice.
Requests for reproduction, licensing, and permissions should be directed to:
ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY | 65 BLEECKER ST, 12th FL | NEW YORK, NY 10012
P: 1.212.420.9160. F: 1.212.420.9286