M E D I A   I N S T A L L A T I O N

The Kitchen Art Gallery

May 8-29, extended through June 10
Open Tue-Sat, 2-6pm Free
Opening Reception: May 8 (Sat) 6pm Free
Digital Happy Hour (Live Media, served cocktail-style): May 12 (Wed) 6pm $8

Little NO is a non-linear allegory with a circular structure, inspired by the Tibetan Buddhist Wheel of Life. In a psychedelic, animated, animal-filled world, a young girl enacts the Wheel's emotional states of selfhood, through her physical gestures and surreal circumstance. A series of looping narratives are housed in seven video monitors configured in a circle on an eight foot high branching structure. On the floor is a second circular set of discs that the viewer may walk on to trigger and change the animations, making connections between body, emotion and the projected imagination. Music: Lem Jay Ignacio; Technology: Julian Bleecker; Installation Design: Palmer Moss and Marina Zurkow; Add'l Tech: Clint Bagwell Consulting. For more information and images, go to http://www.channel.creative-capital.org/project_163.html

Simultaneously screened in The Kitchen Art Gallery is the DVD version of Braingirl. Completed in 2003, this nine-episode animated series chronicles the experimental saga of a mutant-cute girl and her sidekick Bagboy, who live in a world of externalized emotions where little is hidden, yet nothing is what it appears to be. With original stylization, and the aesthetics of clip art, interfaces, and instruction manuals, Braingirl explores how cartoons manifest our secret fears and desires upon the body-the instantaneous delight of accident and recovery available only in an animated world, where anything is physically possible. Music and Sound Design by: Lem Jay Ignacio.
http://www.thebraingirl.com

Little NO is a project of Creative Capital, with generous support from Creative Capital, the Jerome Foundation, and the Media Arts Fellowship (supported by The Rockefeller Foundation).

L I T E R A T U R E / M U S I C

May 11 (Tue) 7pm $10

Curated by Boo Froebel

Virgil's Aeneid is transplanted to the cunning and venomous cliques of today's high society in The Last of Manhattan-an opera in progress by poet Ernest Hilbert, whose work veers on the edge between formalism and stream-of-consciousness, and Daniel Felsenfeld, the composer of "large, generous works, mediating between Honky-tonk and high art" -Boston Globe. In this tragic satire, love between a high-powered real estate broker and a newspaper magnate is a source of peril and mystery before acting as a safeguard against a world that threatens to devastate all that is private and vulnerable.

O P E N   K I T C H E N : F A M I L Y   E V E N T S

May 15 (Sat) 2pm $10
20% discount for families of four or more

What does it take to sing the blues? "New blues chanteuse" Pyeng Threadgill journeys through the music of legendary Robert Johnson, just as her album of covers of the celebrated songman hits the stores. Join in a call and response session, move to a "ring shout," and let your body groove along as you learn about the blues and the main man behind them. Featuring cellist Dana Leong, guitarist Ryan Scott, drummer Qasim Natvi, and trumpeter Kevin Louis.

M U S I C

May 21 & 22 (Fri & Sat) 8pm $15
Lunch-break performance: May 21 (Fri) Noon $10

With piping-hot experimentation and cross-cultural exploration, our ten-piece resident band continues its on-going series of commissioned premieres by three composers from equally far-flung backgrounds. On the program are Susie Ibarra, one of the most explosive, avant-jazz percussionists on the NY downtown scene; virtuoso pipa player Min Xiao-Fen, who contemporized the ancient Chinese instrument; and acclaimed Lee Hyla, whose work deftly blends influences from Eliott Carter to Cecil Taylor to punk rock. "Kitchen House Blend has the experience and expedience to jolt us with the stops and starts of pure experimentation." -Time Out

Kitchen House Blend is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.

D A N C E

May 27 & 28 (Thu & Fri) 8pm $12

The Kitchen's longest-running program features four emerging choreographers showcasing innovation in dance. The evening performances are the culmination of a two-month long laboratory of creating work and incorporating feedback.