Monday April 20 – Wednesday April 22, 7:30pm ET
Marni Kotak: Love Masks
Live Online Performance
Free admission
Microscope is very pleased to present “Love Masks”, a live online performance by Marni Kotak. In the performance, which will be streamed from Kotak’s home, the artist is seated in her kitchen listening to the evening news, and sewing masks for her family and others to wear during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“My mother is a retired nurse who taught me how to sew, and recommended that I make a mask for the safety of myself and my family and some to donate to community members. I decided to make a personalized mask that I would like to wear and see others wearing, one that would spread a message of love, rather than add to the fear and hopeless many are feeling right now…” — MK
Each mask, which comes in three variations, features the word “Love” embedded in a lotus flower, which Kotak explains as a reference to the symbol of the lotus in Buddhism, symbolizing the beauty that emerges from the muck, or deepest challenges in life. Two of the images are prints of pastel drawings by the artist and the third is a digital image made by the artist’s 8-year-old son, Ajax.
While the performance was conceived of several weeks ago, coincidentally it is taking place following the recent requirement that every person wear a mask or other face covering in public, beginning on the evening of April 17th.
The three “Love Masks” will be available beginning at the time of the performance, as limited editions of 50. Half of all proceeds will be donated to City Harvest
Admission is free
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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 performances and exhibitions, most notably “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. In “Treehouse” (2017), Kotak — who had just experienced a devastating fire in her home — created a refuge for herself and others to pause from the overwhelming aspects of life. For “Dancing in the Oval Office” (2019), the artist invited the public to join her in her version of the oval office to dance for a more open, inclusive, and peaceful society. 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’s work appears in “The Art of Feminisim: Images that shaped the Fight for Equality”, 1957-2017 by Helena Reckitt (Chronicle Books, 2018) and “Blackwells Companions to Contemporary Art: A Companion to Feminist Art “(2019) among other publications. Her exhibitions have 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, Time Magazine, 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 and the Brooklyn Arts Council among others. Marni Kotak received a BA from Bard College and an MFA from Brooklyn College.
Microscope Gallery Event Series 2020 is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC).