Art in NYC: Easypieces by Mika Rottenberg at the New Museum

A solo museum presentation of the surrealist videos and wall installations by a contemporary artist Mika Rottenberg. The exhibition features a world premiere of Spaghetti Blockchain (2019), NoNoseKnows (2015), and other artworks; on view from June 25 – Sept. 15, 2019

Tuvan throat singer from Spaghetti Blockchain, 2019 video — Spaghetti Blockchain, 2019, Single-channel video installation, sound, color; Produced by Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto; Arts at CERN, Geneva, with the support of the Permanent Mission of the United States to the United Nations, Geneva; Sprengel Museum, Hannover, with the support of Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung; and New Museum, New York. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth

Opened in 1977, the New Museum is fully dedicated to exhibiting the works of contemporary art by the living artists. This summer its exhibition galleries are featuring a diverse sample of art coming from various parts of the world. One of the museum’s floors shows videos and wall installations by New York-based, Argentinian-Israeli artist Mika Rottenberg entitle Easypieces.

Taking its title from the Six Easy Pieces, a book by theoretical physicist Richard Feynman, the art on view goes from simple observation of repetitive tasks and bizarre mechanical imitations of innocuous movements to video installations that chain together distant geographical places, exotic sounds, and a visual manifestation of a physiological reaction. In her latest work under a catchy name Spaghetti Blockchain (2019), Rottenberg easily mixes Tuvan throat singing from Siberia with the visuals from the CERN Anti-matter Lab, and the process of potato-farming in Maine. Its a kaleidoscope of forms, colors, and sounds employed in an impossible attempt to explain and control the uncontrollable.

Mika Rottenberg, Finger, 2018. Artificial finger and mechanical system. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth

Her earlier work NoNoseKnows, which premiered at the Venice Biennale in 2015 takes the viewers to a slave-labor-like factory in China where freshwater pearls are manufactured by infecting the life oysters with an irritant. The frames of the arduous work done by women are mixed with the close observation of sneezing from an allergic reaction to a pollutant. Its grotesque and repulsive while at the same time extremely depressing. Yet the process goes on, and on, and on, – exaggerating the absurdity of the modern globalized manufacturing practices.

Come with an open mind and a guest for curiosity.

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Tag: Mika Rottenberg