Mika Rottenberg

Mika Rottenberg’s self-titled solo exhibition at The Bass presents a selection of work created within the past two years. Through a globally influenced practice, not pinned to nationality, identity or location, Rottenberg blends fiction and humor to illuminate tangible contemporary concerns. Her visceral curiosity, particularly around the female body, combined with a personal interest in labor processes, influences the production of her video and sculptural installations.

Her work often focuses on elucidating the mechanics of late-stage, global capitalism by way of absurd and poetic comparisons. Through architecturally constructed sculpture combined with sensory video experiences, Rottenberg creates immersive scenarios that probe connections between alternate universes and visible reality, calling attention to the tenuous closeness between the real and the absurd. Her works highlight the human body’s relationship to capitalist production, often exploring the actual commodification of bodily possessions, and persons themselves. Similarly, Rottenberg’s kinetic works operate as constructed mechanisms that allude to other-worldly scenes, providing enticing vitality to otherwise mundane, common materials.  

The exhibition occupies all galleries comprising the historic building of the museum and features the U.S. debut of several works, including a new variant of the artist’s recent commission for Skulptur Projekte Münster (2017) titled Cosmic Generator (loaded #2). In a parallel gallery, NoNoseKnows (AP) (2015), punctuates the space with a video and sculptural installation that combines fact and fiction, documenting a group of Chinese laborers who harvest pearls from oysters in Zhuji, China, empty high rises near Shanghai, and a fictional set built in the artist’s studio in New York. The work first debuted at the 56th Venice Biennale (2015).

Mika Rottenberg (b. 1976, Buenos Aires, Argentina) lives and works in New York. Rottenberg’s work has been exhibited internationally at: Skulptur Projekte Münster 2017, The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Palais de Tokyo, the Venice Biennale, the Israel Museum  Magasin III , FRAC Languadoc-Roussillon, Nottingham Contemporary , M – Museum Leuven , De Appel Arts Centre, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, La Maison Rouge, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, and MoMA PS1 Contemporary Art Center. Her work was also included in the Taipei Biennial (2014), the 13th Istanbul Biennial (2013), the Whitney Biennial (2008), and the Cuban Biennial (2000). Her works are held in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Magasin 3, Murakami Collection, MoMA, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Met, SFMOMA, and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, among others.

Mika Rottenberg is organized by Leilani Lynch, Assistant Curator, The Bass.

Mika Rottenberg is sponsored in part by Funding Arts Network and Citizens Interested in Arts. Additional support provided by Gander & White and Logic Art Fine Art Services. The exhibition is also presented with the support of the City of Miami Beach, Cultural Affairs Program and Cultural Arts Council, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, the Miami-Dade County Tourist Development Council, and sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.

Ongiong exhibitons at The Bass
Ugo Rondinone: good evening beautiful blue
On view until February 19, 2018

Pascale Marthine Tayou: Beautiful
On view until April 2, 2018

About the Bass
The Bass is Miami Beach’s contemporary art museum, founded in 1964 by the City of Miami Beach and opened in a 1930s Art Deco building designed by Russell Pancoast. With a mission to present contemporary art to excite, challenge, and edutcate, the exhibition program encompasses a wide range of media and artistic points of view, bringing fresh perspectives to the diverse cultural context of Miami Beach. The Bass is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. For more information, please visit www.thebass.org, or follow The Bass on social media on Facebook or Twitter and Instagram @TheBassMoA.