Mika Rottenberg
Cosmic Generator
Cosmic Generator, 2017, Mika Rottenberg
Cosmic Generator explores a kaleidoscopic world in which the United States and Mexico are linked by a secret system of tunnels that enable trade among various places and actors. The tunnels lead from the Golden Dragon Restaurant in Mexicali, Mexico, to a 99 Cents Only Store in Calexico, California, each linked to an enormous plastic commodities market in Yiwu, China, in this imaginary network.
Mika Rottenberg, born in Buenos Aires in 1976, lives and works in New York. Through film, architectural installation, and sculpture, she illuminates the connections among seemingly unrelated economies. Collapsing geographies and narratives, Rottenberg weaves documentary elements with fiction into complex allegories about human conditions and global systems. In 2018, Rottenberg is scheduled to present solo shows at the Bregenz Kunsthouse in Austria, the Bass Museum in Miami, and Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art at the University of London.
This work was commissioned by Skulptur Projekte Münster and was produced with generous support from Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Outset, Polyeco forthdensity production, Katrin Altekamp/ 4Dee fabrications, and Andrea Rosen Gallery.
This work is part of the Dimensions of Citizenship Transit Screening Lounge, a rest stop under the US Pavilion rotunda that presents citizenship through a lens of movement: migration, transgression, transmission, travel, and mobility.
This work was presented exclusively in Venice as part of the Biennale Architettura 2018.