Questionnaire: Mika Rottenberg
Q: What do you like the look of? A: ‘Soft, squashy stuff.’
Q: What do you like the look of? A: ‘Soft, squashy stuff.’
What images keep you company in the space where you work?
As my studio has been nomadic this past year, they’re mainly digital images in folders and a YouTube channel on my laptop. Recently, I’ve been watching a lot of videos of the theoretical physicist Richard Feynman explaining matter and energy. I don’t understand much of it, but I love it. I’ve also been watching a lot of cake-decorating videos.
What was the first piece of art that really mattered to you?
I don’t remember.
If you could live with only one piece of art what would it be?
Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty (1970), but I’m not sure where I’d put it.
What is your favourite title of an artwork?
Untitled #4.
What do you wish you knew?
Better maths.
What should stay the same?
All and nothing.
What could you imagine doing if you didn’t do what you do?
Starting a revolution, becoming a goat’s cheese farmer, a journalist and a pastry chef – in that order.
What music are you listening to?
Tuvan throat singing.
What are you reading?
Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Bodies and Places (1981), edited by Michele Mancini and Giuseppe Perrella.
What is art for?
Hmm ...
This article first appeared in frieze issue 197 with the headline ‘Questionnaire: Mika Rottenberg’.
