The Kitchen is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary avant-garde performance and experimental art institution located at 512 West 19th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. As the organization undergoes a multi-year renovation it is currently sited at a satellite loft space in the West Village located at 163B Bank Street, where exhibitions and performances are regularly held. It was founded in Greenwich Village in 1971 by Steina and Woody Vasulka, who were frustrated at the lack of an outlet for video art. The space takes its name from the original location, the kitchen of the Mercer Arts Center which was the only available place for the artists to screen their video pieces.[1] Although first intended as a location for the exhibition of video art, The Kitchen soon expanded its mission to include other forms of art and performance, and incorporated as a not-for-profit arts organization in 1973. In 1974, The Kitchen relocated to a building at the corner of Wooster and Broome Streets in SoHo. In 1987 it moved to its current location in Manhattan, New York City.
Today, The Kitchen focuses on presenting emerging artists, most of whom are local, and is committed to advancing work that is experimental in nature. Its facilities include a 155-seat black box performance space and a gallery space for audio and visual exhibitions. The Kitchen presents interdisciplinary work in music, dance, performance, video, film, visual art, and literature.[2]
Looking for a way to present their work to a public audience, Steina and Woody Vasulka rented the kitchen of the Mercer Arts Center, in the former Broadway Central HotelinGreenwich Village, Manhattan. (The Mercer Arts Center was an important venue for music and theater performance in New York City from 1971 to 1973.)[3] The Vasulkas, with help from Andy Mannik, opened The Kitchen as a presentation space for video artists on June 15, 1971. Later that year, the Vasulkas added music to their programming and named Rhys Chatham the first music director. The Kitchen continued their eclectic programming at the Mercer Arts Center until the summer of 1973 when they began planning to move to 59 Wooster Street. On August 3, 1973, the building that housed the Mercer Arts Center collapsed,[4] making this decision final.
By 1973, the Vasulkas and Rhys Chatham moved on to other projects and hired a talented arts administrator, Robert Stearns, to take over as executive director. The visual artist/composer Jim Burton became the new music director. The 1973–1974 season started in The Kitchen's new location at the corner of Wooster and Broome streets in the former LoGiudice Gallery Building. During its time on 59 Wooster Street The Kitchen emerged as New York's premiere avant-garde and experimental arts center. In addition to a performance space, a gallery and video viewing room were established at this location. At new location, The Kitchen began a program of video distribution, when video was still considered an experimental form.[5]
The Kitchen moved uptown to 512 West 19th Street, a former ice house, to begin the spring 1986 season and subsequently purchased the space in 1987. The inaugural event series in The Kitchen's new home was entitled New Ice Nights. In 1991 The Kitchen held its twentieth anniversary celebration: The Kitchen Turns Twenty with a retrospective mini-music festival entitled Five Generations of Composers, as well as a re-creation of Jean Dupuy’s Soup and Tart, entitled: Burp: Soup and Tart Revisited. The Kitchen remains a space for interdisciplinary and experimental work by focusing its programming on emerging artists.
In fall of 2011, after seven years as the Executive Director and Chief Curator of The Kitchen, Debra Singer handed over the reins to former Artforum Editor-in-Chief Tim Griffin.[6]
In 2012, Hurricane Sandy flooded The Kitchen with four feet of water from the Hudson River, causing damage of about $450,000.[4] With insurance only covering less than half the loss from the storm, the Kitchen received grants from Time Warner and the Art Dealers Association of America, as well as from nonprofit organizations and foundations (like the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts).[4]
In 2021, the Kitchen named Legacy Russell as the institution's next Executive Director and Chief Curator.[7]
In 1971, Hermann Nitsch staged Aktions with bodies of slaughtered animals. Charlie Morrow staged Spirit Voices. chanting as a shaman with Gordon Mumma on saw, Carol Weber on flutes, a tuba ensemble, and high intensity soundscapes.[citation needed]
In May 1975, Steve Reich and Musicians gave a performance of Work in Progress for 21 musicians and singers. Completed and premiered in 1976, the piece became Music for 18 Musicians, now regarded as one of the composer's landmark works.[8]
In 1977, Robert Mapplethorpe presented one of his first photography exhibitions entitled Erotic Photos at The Kitchen.[9]
In 1978, The Kitchen began its dance programming by establishing its Dancing In The Kitchen series curated by Cynthia Hedstrom. The goal of this series was to "stretch the established boundaries of choreographic expression and [explore] new movement vocabularies" by presenting works of dance and movement by both choreographers and non-choreographers.[10]
In 1979, The Kitchen began its Contemporary Music Series with goal of highlighting "connections between different musical genres and styles of composition." Noteworthy composers presented during this series include Anthony Braxton, Philip Glass, and Anthony Davis, among many others. The series was curated by experimental composer and performer Arto Lindsay.[10]
Also in 1979, the venue hosted early performances of 24→24 MusicbyArthur Russell and accompanying musicians.
In 1980, the New Music/New York festival and conference was renamed New Music America and was held in a different city each year until its final iteration in 1990.
In 1981, Julius Eastman's The Holy Presence of Joan d'Arc was premiered at The Kitchen.
On December 12, 1983, the Beastie Boys gave one of their early performances at The Kitchen.[11]
In 1991, a program called Working in The Kitchen brought together a group of choreographers who worked collaboratively over a four-month period to create performances at The Kitchen.
In 1995, in the spirit of Working in The Kitchen, a series was established called Dance and Process, in which a group of emerging choreographers are given a residency to develop their work in a collaborative "workshop" environment with the guidance of an established choreographer as the curator. Past curators have included Sarah Michelson, Dean Moss, Yasuko Yokoshi, and Miguel Gutierrez. Dance and Process is The Kitchen's longest running series.
From 1994 to 1997, the Hybrid Nights performance series was initiated by curator, Kathryn Greene also known as Caterina Verde.
On November 10, 1995, David Hykes' Earth to the Unknown Power was performed here by The Harmonic Choir. The concert was sent live via ISDNtoLe Thoronet Abbey in Southern France, where the exquisite acoustics was recorded and then broadcast back to the audience in New York.[12]
From 2000 to 2005, The Kitchen produced a music series called Kitchen House Blend, in which composers were commissioned to write for its "house band," a 10-piece experimental chamber ensemble whose instrumentation included drums, percussion, keyboard, trumpet, trombone, two multi-instrumentalist wind players, violin, cello, and bass. Conceived by Music Curator John King, the goal for Kitchen House Blend was to combine musicians and composers from various communities to create new works that crossed boundaries of style and performance practice. During the series, The Kitchen commissioned music by a total of 30 composers including Matthew Shipp, Susie Ibarra, Roy Nathanson, Elliott Sharp, Roy Campbell Jr., Zeena Parkins, Evan Ziporyn, Kitty Brazelton, Vijay Iyer, Anthony Coleman, Lee Hyla, David Krakauer, Ikue Mori, Lois V Vierk, and Derek Bermel. The group also performed and toured choreographer Molissa Fenley and composer and pianist Anthony Davis' early 1980s collaborative work Hemispheres.
In 2014, the Getty Research Institute announced its acquisition of The Kitchen’s archives, including 5,410 videotapes and more than 600 audiotapes, as well as photographs and ephemera documenting performances, exhibitions and events staged from 1971 to 1999. Also included in the archive are 246 posters designed by artists like Robert Longo and Christian Marclay.[16]
^Alternative art, New York, 1965-1985 : a cultural politics book for the Social Text Collective. Ault, Julie., Social Text Collective., Drawing Center (New York, N.Y.). New York: Drawing Center. 2002. ISBN0816637938. OCLC50253087.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
^Alternative art, New York, 1965-1985 : a cultural politics book for the Social Text Collective. Ault, Julie., Social Text Collective., Drawing Center (New York, N.Y.). New York: Drawing Center. 2002. ISBN0816637938. OCLC50253087.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
