Marni Kotak

Marni Kotak (born 1974) is an American artist best known for her durational performance/exhibition The Birth of Baby X, in which she gave birth to her son Baby X (aka Baby Ajax) as a live performance at Microscope Gallery in Brooklyn, NY, USA, on October 25, 2011.[1][2][3]

Education

Kotak received her BA from Bard College and her MFA from Brooklyn College in 2006, where she was one of 18 graduating artists whose thesis exhibit was shut down and censored by NYC officials.[4][5][6] The graduating artists sued and eventually settled with the city in exchange for a monetary award and a formal apology from Julius Spiegel, Brooklyn Borough Parks Commissioner.[7]

Performance art

Kotak’s work, in which she presents her everyday life as performance art, includes live re-enactments of her own birth, losing her virginity in a blue Plymouth, and attending her grandfather’s funeral. She is currently working on an on-going performance re-contextualizing the everyday act of raising a child as performance art, called Raising Baby X.[8][9]

In 2014, Kotak announced that she was on psychiatric medication to recover from postpartum depression, and that her next work of performance art would involve gradually going off the medication in public.[10]

Awards and recognition

Kotak is the winner of a 2012-2013 Franklin Furnace Fund award[11] and a grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council. In 2011 she was named one of ARTINFO's 2011 "Women Who Shook Up The Art World."[12]

Personal life

Kotak grew up in North Attleboro, MA and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She is married to and often collaborates with her husband, noted visual artist Jason Robert Bell.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Jed Lipinski (28 October 2011). "For a Gallery at the Edge, Fame is Born Tuesday". New York Times. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  2. ↑ Andrea Canning (4 November 2011). "N.Y. Women 'Performs' Live Birth for Gallery Patrons". ABC News. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  3. ↑ Aylin Zafar (26 October 2011). "Performance Artist Gives Birth to Baby in NYC Gallery". Time. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  4. ↑ Nick Mamatas (16 May 2006). "C is for Censored". The Village Voice. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  5. ↑ Randy Kennedy (12 May 2006). "Students Relocate Shuttered Show". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  6. ↑ Randy Kennedy (6 May 2006). "Park Officials Shut College Show". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  7. ↑ Lawrence Van Gelder (7 June 2007). "City Settles Art Dispute". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  8. ↑ Maura Judkis (26 October 2011). "Live birth performance artist Marni Kotak delivers healthy baby boy". Washington Post. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  9. ↑ Araceli Cruz (6 October 2011). "Marni Kotak, Artist, Will Give Birth at Microscope Gallery, For Real". The Village Voice. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  10. ↑ Why artist Marni Kotak is going off her meds in public view, at Q; published August 13, 2014; retrieved August 15, 2014
  11. ↑ Franklin Furnace (2012). "Franklin Furnace Fund Recipients 2012-13". Franklin Furnace. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  12. ↑ Blouin Artinfo (26 December 2011). "See the Women Who Shook Up the Art World in 2011". Blouin Artinfo International. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
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