Artist Biography

Marni Kotak is a Brooklyn-based performance artist who creates multimedia works in which she presents her everyday life as art. Referring to her daily activities, life experiences and personal milestones as Found Performances, she has publicly performed everything from being born, to attending her grandfather’s funeral, to being forced to wear a dunce cap on a third grade field trip, to losing her virginity in a glittery blue Plymouth Acclaim.

Kotak’s recent exhibitions include I have to get on with my life: Marni Kotak’s Found Performances from Birth to Present, held at Alice Chilton Gallery in Brooklyn, NY in January of this year. For this exhibit., Kotak created an installation of a room in the style of her parents’ New England beach house utilizing household items that were altered or imprinted with family photos. On the walls of the space hung photo plaques commemorating the ‘major performances’ conducted for each year of her life from 1974-2010, such as ‘First Day of School,’ ‘Buddhist Wedding,’ and ‘How To French Kiss.’

Kotak’s work has been featured in PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, the New York Times, the Village Voice, NY Arts, New York Press, Art New England, The Brooklyn Rail, Time Out Chicago and more. She has performed and/or exhibited at Alice Chilton Gallery, Artists Space, NY Studio Gallery, Cave Gallery, Fountain Art Fair (Miami & NYC), Holland Tunnel, English Kills Art Gallery, Grace Exhibition Space, Open Realization Contemporary Art Center in Beijing, PERFORMA, and others. She received a BA from Bard College and an MFA from Brooklyn College.

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