The Kitchen

One of New York City’s oldest nonprofit alternative art centers, The Kitchen is dedicated to offering artists opportunities to create and present new work within, and across, the disciplines of dance, film, literature, music, theater, video, and visual art. The institution fosters a community of artists and audiences, offering artists the opportunity to create—and for audiences to engage with—work that pushes the boundaries of artistic disciplines and strengthens meaningful dialogues between the arts and larger culture.

The Kitchen was founded as an artist collective in 1971, by Woody and Steina Vasulka, and was formalized as a 501c3 in 1973. It has, from its infancy, been a space where experimental artists share progressive ideas with like-minded colleagues. It was among the very first American institutions to embrace the emerging fields of video and performance, while presenting visionary new work in established disciplines such as dance, music, literature, and film. This unique combination generated an environment immediately conducive to groundbreaking and cross-disciplinary exploration, helping to launch the careers of many artists who have defined the global avant-garde.

Among the artists who have presented significant work at The Kitchen are Muhal Richard Abrams, Laurie Anderson, ANOHNI, Robert Ashley, Charles Atlas, Kevin Beasley, Beastie Boys, Gretchen Bender, Dara Birnbaum, Anthony Braxton, John Cage, Lucinda Childs, Julius Eastman, Philip Glass, Leslie Hewitt, Darius James, Joan Jonas, Bill T. Jones, Devin Kenny, Simone Leigh, Ralph Lemon, George Lewis, Robert Longo, Robert Mapplethorpe, Sarah Michelson, Tere O’Connor, Okwui Okpokwasili, Nam June Paik, Charlemagne Palestine, Sondra Perry, Vernon Reid, Arthur Russell, Cindy Sherman, Laurie Spiegel, Talking Heads, Greg Tate, Cecil Taylor, Urban Bush Women, Danh Vō, Lawrence Weiner, Anicka Yi, and many more. (2023)

In August 2004, Debra Singer was appointed executive director and chief curator, after her seven-year tenure at the Whitney Museum of American Art. From September 2011, The Kitchen was directed by Tim Griffin, former editor-in-chief of Artforum (2003-2010).

Publications

• The Kitchen Turns Twenty: A Retrospective Anthology, ed. Lee Morrissey, New York: The Kitchen, 1992.

Literature

See also The Vasulkas bibliography.

• Nathan Lee, "Interview with Debra Singer, Executive Director and Chief Curator, The Kitchen", Art Spaces Archives Project, Aug 2010.
• Miloš Vojtěchovský, "The Kitchen jako fermentační kotel elektronického umění", Artalk.cz, 12 Mar 2021. (Czech)
• https://onscreen.thekitchen.org/media/category/From+the+Archives

Links

• http://www.thekitchen.org/
• The Kitchen OnScreen, a home for The Kitchen’s online program offerings
• http://archive.thekitchen.org/
• http://www.vasulka.org/Kitchen/ (1971-1973)
• The Kitchen Archive, Getty, 1971–1999
• EAI resource on The Kitchen
• The Kitchen videos and records, Getty Archives