A pregnant artist is keen on delivering her baby in an art gallery, as a part of her performance called ‘The Birth of Baby X’.
Marni Kotak (36), a Brooklyn performance artist, wants to give birth to the baby in front of the audience and has decided that she will stay put at the Microscope gallery in Bushwick, New York, for the next five weeks till her baby is born.
Visitors to the performance have already been warned about the birth of the baby.
Kotak took the decision as she considers giving birth to be the highest form of art.
“I hope that people will see that human life is the most profound work of art, and that therefore giving birth, the greatest expression of life is the highest form of art,” the New York Post quoted her as saying.
“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,” she said.
“I wouldn’t say that I am scared to do this, because I have a good support team: my midwife, doula and wonderful husband,” she added.
Expressing her anxiousness, she said, “Of course, I am a bit nervous about the whole process of giving birth and having a child, and like every mother, I am hoping that everything goes smoothly.”
“But I am no more worried than I would be if I were having the baby at home or in a hospital.”
This will be Kotak’s first baby and the artist will be as surprised as anyone else, since she is unsure about the sex of the baby.
As per the gallery, Kotak has previously staged re-enactments of other real life incidents like her own birth, attending her grandfather’s funeral and losing her virginity in a blue plymouth as part of her performances.
Her next performance will be titled ‘Raising Baby X’ where she will ‘re-contextualize the everday act of raising a child’.