Mika Rottenberg

Biography

Mika Rottenberg was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1976. She immigrated to Israel with her family in 1977. In 1998, she graduated from Hamidrasha, Bait Berl College of Arts, Israel. In 2000, Rottenberg moved to New York to continue her education, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in 2000 and a Master of Fines Arts from Columbia University in 2004. She is currently represented by Andrea Rosen Gallery in New York.

Significant works

Rottenberg's video works feature women with various physical eccentricities, such as being very tall, large-bodied, or muscular, performing physical acts that serve as an allegory for the human condition in post-modern times. Her videos are inspired by stories where women have an unusual characteristic about their bodies that makes them a commodity. Mary's Cherries (2004), which shows a woman's red fingernails being grown, clipped, and transformed into maraschino cherries, was influenced by a story about a woman with a rare blood type who quit her job to sell her blood. In Cheese (2007), she shows women with very long hair milking cows and making cheese using a machine powered by the movement of the women's hair. Rottenberg's work was showcased at the Whitney Biennial 2008.

In 2011, Rottenberg collaborated with artist Jon Kessler on SEVEN, a performance and installation created for Performa 11 in New York City, performed at Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery. According to the Performa website, SEVEN "collapse[d] film time and real time to create an intricate laboratory that channels body fluids and colors into a spectacle on the African savannah. In New York, a “Chakra Juicer” will capture sweat from seven performers engaging in ritualistic athletic activity."

In 2013 Rottenberg held a solo exhibition at the Israel Museum, in Jerusalem.

In addition to video, Rottenberg has also exhibited paintings and photographs. She is represented by Galerie Laurent-Godin.

Awards and prizes