Conversation and Q&A w/ the artist
Multi-media and performance artist Marni Kotak joins us after hours on Monday June 5th to discuss her current exhibit at the gallery “Treehouse”, including her ongoing durational performance installation of the same title and her new “Raising Baby X: Five Years”, recorded from the viewpoint of her son, whom the artist has outfitted with a GoPro camera since the age of three months. Video excerpts of the nearly 6-hour video will also be screened.
As in her previous exhibitions – among others “The Birth of Baby X” in which the artist gave birth to her son Ajax as a performance and “Mad Meds” where she slowly attempted to withdraw from psychiatric medications prescribed for postpartum depression – Kotak continues to use her own life experiences as they are happening – most recently a major fire in the artist’s home – as her work. With “Treehouse” Kotak’s main struggle is to maintain sanity in the aftermath of the fire and in the context of current world events and to prevent stress from damaging her relationships with friends and family, especially her husband and son.
“The idea of self-care and play is a response to the pressures of the capitalist system, where we often feel that our time is not our own but focused on achieving the aims of those in power, or reacting to some perceived crisis. […] In our contemporary society where many of us find our human rights under attack and our livelihoods threatened, it is us, the people, not profits, that matter most. […] Taking the time to enjoy ourselves with family, friends and loved ones is essential…” – Marni Kotak
More info about the exhibition “Treehouse” can be found HERE.
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Marni Kotak is a multimedia and performance artist presenting everyday life being lived. She has received international attention for her durational performance installation / exhibitions including “The Birth of Baby X” (2011) in which she gave birth to her son as a live performance and “Mad Meds” (2014) during which the artist slowly withdrew from psychiatric medications prescribed for postpartum depression. Kotak’s works have also appeared at the Santiago Museum of Contemporary Art, Santiago, Chile, Artists Space, Exit Art, Momenta Art, English Kills Gallery, Grace Exhibition Space, among others. She has performed extensively in the US and abroad. Kotak has been featured in ArtFCity, Artforum, Blouin Artinfo, Art Pulse, The Huffington Post, Hyperallergic, Los Angeles Times, Studio International, The Brooklyn Rail, The New York Times, The Village Voice, Washington Post, among many others. She has also appeared on Good Morning America (ABC), CBC Radio, NPR, and other broadcasts. Grants include Franklin Furnace Fund Award (2012-13) and the Brooklyn Arts Council among others. She received a BA from Bard College and an MFA from Brooklyn College.