Founded in 1971 as an artist-driven collective, The Kitchen today reaffirms and expands upon its originating vision as a dynamic cultural institution that centers artists, prioritizes people, and puts process first. Programming in a kunsthalle model that brings together live performances, exhibition-making, and public programming under one roof, The Kitchen empowers its audiences and communities to think creatively and radically about what it means to shape a multivalent and sustainable future in art. The Kitchen seeks to cultivate and hold space for wild thought, risky play, and innovative and experimental making, encouraging artists and cultural workers alike to defy boundaries and sending them into the world to remake art history and catalyze creative change.
The Kitchen
Kris Lee, Maxfield Haynes, Mina Nishimura, Niala, and Bria Bacon in Matthew Lutz-Kinoy: Filling Station, The Kitchen at Westbeth, New York, September 14–November 3, 2023. Photo by Rob Kulisek.
HxH (Lester St. Louis and Chris Williams) in The Extra Dimension of Reinvention, featuring fields
harrington with Melvin Gibbs, Howard Mandel, Katherine McKittrick, and HxH (Lester St. Louis and Chris Williams). Organized by fields harrington as part of The Kitchen L.A.B. Research Residency x Simons Foundation x School for Poetic Computation. Program view, The Kitchen at Westbeth, August 2, 2023. Photo by Maria Baranova.
Oxana Chi and Layla Zami in Song Book: The Quotient of Desire, featuring Romi Ron Morrison, Kumi James (BAE BAE), and Oxana Chi & Layla Zami. Organized by Romi Ron Morrison and presented by The Kitchen at Collapsable Hole as part of The Kitchen L.A.B. Research Residency x Simons Foundation x School for Poetic Computation. Program view, Collapsable Hole, September 27, 2023. Photo by Walter Wlodarczyk.
Leslie Cuyjet in Leslie Cuyjet: With Marion, The Kitchen at Westbeth, New York, November 29–December 2, 2023. Photo by Walter Wlodarczyk.
“The terrific range of project proposals we receive each year speaks to the mobile and porous disciplinary boundaries of contemporary art practice, and to the rich and inventive ways writers approach art today. They are alert to the urgent need to expand the conventions of art history and criticism with ideas from other discourses, such as black studies, transnational and diaspora studies, gender and women’s studies, and LGBT studies. The work of lesser known and overlooked artists and art communities continues to be mined, with writers articulating new ways to counter the striking imbalances of race, class and gender that continue to affect the arts and the culture industry.”