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Microscope Gallery
Marni Kotak stands in the Brooklyn art gallery where she will give birth in front of a live audience.
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What do you think of a performance artist giving birth in an art gallery?
A performance artist named Marni Kotak is planning to give birth before a live audience in a Brooklyn gallery. I guess this shouldn’t be surprising considering some of her other shows have included re-enactments of her own birth and losing her virginity in a blue Plymouth. She’s calling her exhibit “The Birth of Baby X” and although her due date is more than a month off, she’s already made herself a birthing room and according to the gallery website, remnants from the final days of pregnancy and the birth will be added to the exhibition as it progresses. Remnants? Like what, her mucous plug? Her dignity? I’m horrified.
But wait, she's not going to stop after the baby gets here. She plans to keep going with an exhibit called “Raising Baby X,” in which she will put raising her child from birth to college on display. Even in the age of reality TV shows like "Teen Mom" and "Jersey Shore," this is a gross overshare. Marni says, “I have decided to do this because I want to show people that, as in my previous performances, real life is the best performance art.”
Um, Marni? I beg to differ.
Microscope Gallery
Marni Kotak calls her exhibit "The Birth of Baby X" and says it's performance art.
Is it too late to talk you out of this? God I hope not. As a mom of three kids who’s gone through two births, I can tell you there are so many reasons this is a bad idea. But here are my top ten.
1) Pooping yourself in public is not art.
2) Screaming “I will never have sex with you again!” at your husband while you are transitioning should never be followed by applause.
3) Breastfeeding. At three a.m. when you are sleep-deprived and hormonal, propped up on fourteen pillows sobbing while trying to get your baby to “Just latch! Please! Come on, you did it at the hospital! Why won’t you eat now?” you may not want a crowd.
4). The in-laws who aren’t nearly as helpful as you hoped while you were pregnant. They said they’d be there for you, that they’d stay a month and make dinner and babysit. And then a week later they suddenly flew to Vegas for a “vacation.” That’s not art. It’s reality.
5) Those upcoming teenage fights: “You didn’t even want me!! You just wanted PERFORMANCE ART!” *doorslam*
6) Newborns are only interesting to people who are not their parents for a week, tops.
7) Postpartum depression can really bring down an audience.
8) It’s tough enough as a parent to make decisions about your parenting without feeling judged. Trust me when I tell you that the very last thing you need as an unsure new mommy is bad reviews.
9) We all know what happens to child stars.
10) WE DON’T WANT TO SEE IT!
Marni, I sure hope I’ve given you something to think about. But if you insist on going through with this, just know, I warned you.
Stefanie Wilder-Taylor is a writer, mother, comedian and all-around really special person. Her latest book is "I'm Kind of a Big Deal," she blogs at Baby on Bored and she co-hosts The Parent Experiment.
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Leave a Comment:
Giving birth is not an art form. Sorry ladies.
LOL......agreed!
I hope neither the mother nor the child die during this expedition. Watching someone die,”especially a child” scares a person’s mind for a very long time, it did to me. I hope she reconsiders her choice and maybe just films it for study purposes.
Really? I sure as hell wouldn't watch..Some people would do anything to get noticed.
Oh man...I mean WOman.....I apoligize, I just don't get modern 'art' I guess. I guess I am just a neanderthal that doesn't see the 'art' in this. Somebody, PLEASE stop her! I don't want my taxes going for this 'art' next!!!!!
"Performance art" is not art. It is angry, bitter, petty, disgusting and the exact opposite of what art is and should be. Only in New York, LA or San Francisco is this crap not only tolerated, but celebrated. What happens if the child dies due to complications? Anybody wish to guess her political leanings?
bottom line....no pole. art is art to whom art is
YOU may not like it, but its not for you to judge if its art.
Totally agree with you! I would rather view art as a form of birth then of people being murdered in third world countries.
Your reply is contradictory. You agree that art is in the eye of the beholder then (very approptiately so) say that murder isn't an art form.
Some things are just not art. Public child birth and genocide are both excellent examples of non-art.
"Like" or "not like" has nothing to do with it. There is art that I do not like. This, however, is not art. And, yes, I do not like this non-art.
Art is not art to whom art is. That is like saying reality is reality to whom reality is. Poppycock! Art has specific history, purpose and objective criteria.
And it IS for me to judge what those are.
Based on YOUR stated morality, it is not for you to judge what my objective criteria are, and so you must accept the fact that I am right and you are wrong. However, my morality has no such faulty precepts, so I am free to agree with you that you cannot say what art is, but I can.
In any case, performance art is not art.
Taking a crap could be art as well. Not sure it is meant to be watched.
A baby smearing excrement on the wall from an overloaded diaper is more artistic than this idea. Poo-caso.
There should be a JFS worker in the exhibit to take the kid into immediate state custody.
For what, exactly?
It's sad that we live in a time when an obviously self indulgent narcissist can call herself an artist and actually get people to watch her. It baffles me why some people are so interested in the minute details of other's lives. Watching Manet paint wouldn't even be art, only the final product. Watching this fatso give birth is a deplorable side show; at best.
Way to call a pregnant lady fatso, Robert. You win the compassionate male of the year award for sure.
She does look fat... not pregnant. Just pointing out, she's got more pounds on there from just the pregnancy...
one of obama's people i'm sure.
Just another example of something that has not yet been "accepted" by society. Just give it time.
What is WRONG with this woman???????????I don't even want to see sonograms or know how far a woman is dilated, which is already posted all over the internet, especially Facebook. Childbirth is supposed to be a private affair attended by family only. It;s bad enough you can go anywhere on the internet and watch conception happening, why add this also? What's next, cremations and funerals via the internet ??????????? No wonder this world is going to hell.
So what if there's an emergency? Will there be a doctor on staff to perform an emergency c-section and if so, will people watch that take place too? It sounds dangerous, not to mention that the place is probably full of germs and people with viruses in the air, not good to expose a newborn to that.
I totally agree with #8. That should be reason enough. Well, that and #1.
OK Stefanie, you don't get it or think it is a good choice but a lot of what you and others say here is just out right ignorance. I am the mother of the child's father, Jason Robert Bell. Both Marni and he are artists and an art gallery is a sacred place to them. They are going to be amazing parents to a much loved and wanted child. It is a bold, feminist statement. In this age of electronic wizardry, fake "reality" shows, extreme destruction of humanity & the environment, what would make anyone want to criticize this performance. Love and support this family and pray for a safe birth and a healthy baby. i am one in-law that they can count on for love and support. Anyone who does not agree with what they are doing or who would demean it in any way need not concern themselves with it and need to keep their mouths shout. For a better understanding listen to this BBC interview that Jason did - it is at the 39 minute mark
Actually, it's self-indulgent, narcissistic nonsense. I can celebrate a woman's childbirth without having to watch full color closeups of the baby crowning while she pants and screams her head off. And if it's a C-section? I'm a surgeon, have delivered over a hundred babies, and no stranger to blood, but I don't care to watch a live primetime telecast of it. This will attract the morbidly curious and voyeurs, not "art" lovers. I'm sure your son and the pending mother are fine people in many ways, but this is just screwy behavior. If this is "art" and art galleries are sacred to them, why doesn't she deliver there? And any obstetrician who condones this is just as off-kilter as this couple is. What happens when she goes into arrested labor, or the C-section is done to salvage and endangered birth or she has an amniotic fluid embolus, or.....this is too sensitive an issue to treat like a soap opera.
If they don't want to be judged by the world, they shouldn't put themselves out there in public. Duh.
You people are BORING!!!!!
The child can't consent to this. This event will be a horrifying, possibly traumatic part of their life, and they had no choice in it. This isn't just "not art". It's child abuse. I'm sorry. She is not a very smart person, to say the least.
Ugh - what is WRONG with people?! This is sick...just plain sick & disgusting. A baby's birth should be PRIVATE. I don't even want my family in the room...just the father and relevant medical staff. No one else needs to see that, especially strangers with no ties to the baby or the birthing team.
How is this art?! Art inspires people. I highly doubt this crazy lady giving birth, spewing obsenities and blood everywhere will inspire anyone...maybe it will inspire people to NOT have kids...
that is gross, giving birth is not art. you want to see someone giving birth go to the discovery channel. I believe they have child birth shows on there.
Actually you raise a good point, how is this much different than if she was on "A Baby Story" on TLC, other than the fact that TLC can blur out body parts?
Ahhhh, "Performance Art" the cure-all panacea for the talentless.
Of all the things to be offended over in the world I don't believe this is one of them. Many women are stepping outside the boundries of hospital births and delivering in places that are meaningful or more comfortable to them. This, as stated by her mother-in-law above, is a meaningful place to both the mother and father. Giving birth might not be viewed by society as a "beautiful" thing due to the unpleasantries that take place during the actual process, but bringing a life into this world is. We are comfortable with watching animals giving birth on television, or women giving birth in movies or on tv, but can't fathom a woman giving birth in a public display? And as for raising the child in an artistic manner through public display, how many children from celebrities are raised basically in the public eye, the judgement of parents everywhere cast upon them over things as trivial as fashion? Is it really anything new? This woman loves her child, has a supportive family, and the means to care for and raise the child, why should she surrender it to Child Services? Where is this outrage and cry of injustice for cases of children ACTUALLY abused, malnourished and subjected to a life of neglect?