The Kitchen is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary avant-garde performance art and experimental art institution located at 512 West 19th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. 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 art pieces. 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 an arts not-for-profit organization 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.
The first music director of The Kitchen was composer Rhys Chatham. The venue became known as a place where many no wave artists like Glenn Branca, Lydia Lunch and James Chance performed. Notable Kitchen alumni also include Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Ed Bowes, Rocco Di Pietro, John Moran, Jay Scheib, Karen Finley, Young Jean Lee's Theater Company, Peter Greenaway, Michael Nyman, Steve Reich, Pauline Oliveros, Gordon Mumma, Frederic Rzewski, Ridge Theater, The Future Sound of London, Leisure Class, Elliott Sharp, Brian Eno, Arthur Russell, Meredith Monk, Arleen Schloss, Vito Acconci, Keshavan Maslak, Elaine Summers, Lucinda Childs, Bill T. Jones, David Byrne/Talking Heads, chameckilerner, John Jasperse, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, Dave Soldier, Soldier String Quartet, Komar and Melamid, ETHEL, Chris McIntyre, Sylvie Degiez, Stephen Holman, Wayne Lopes/CosmicLegends, Cindy Sherman, and Swans.
Today, The Kitchen focuses on presenting emerging artists in the areas of music, dance, performance, video, film, visual art, and literature. Its facilities include a 155-seat black box performance space and a gallery space for audio and visual art exhibitions. 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 held.
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History
Mercer Arts Center (1971–1973)
Looking for a way to present their work to the public, Steina and Woody Vasulka rented the kitchen of the Mercer Arts Center, in the former Broadway Central Hotel in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. (The Mercer Arts Center was an important venue for music and theater performance in New York City from 1971 to 1973.) 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 first Director of Video programming was Tom Bowes, who was assisted by his brother, Ed Bowes. 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, making this decision final.
Move to SoHo (1973–1986)
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.
Chelsea location (1986–present)
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.
In 2012, Hurricane Sandy flooded The Kitchen with four feet of water from the Hudson River, causing damage of about $450,000. 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).
In 2021, the Kitchen named Legacy Russell as the institution's next Executive Director and Chief Curator.
Notable series and performances
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.
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.
In 1977, Robert Mapplethorpe presented one of his first photography exhibitions entitled Erotic Photos at The Kitchen.
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.
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.
Also in 1979, The Kitchen hosted the New Music/New York festival and conference, with performances by Laurie Anderson, Robert Ashley, Don Cherry, Tony Conrad, Petr Kotik, Alvin Lucier, Charlemagne Palestine, Steve Reich Ensemble, among others.
Also in 1979, the venue hosted early performances of 24→24 Music by Arthur 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.
Archives
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.
The Vašulka Kitchen Brno Archive is maintained at the Center for New Media Art in Brno Czech Republic.