Aug 29, 2016

If we define “analog” as a continuous variable which has no “truth” function, no negative, and no zero, and, “digital” as information composed of discrete values or states, then, moving from analog to digital requires not merely difference, but distinction. One is not equal to zero, human is not equal to machine, and there is nothing in between. Moreover, in so far as language involves digitizing our analog experience, whether we scratch a word on a stone tablet or “process” it with software, we have always been digital. In We Have Never Been Modern , Bruno Latour argues that modern civilization has secularized rituals of purification to create boundaries between “nature” and “culture,” “human” and “thing,” even as we construct hybrid systems that mix politics, art, technology, and bi... Read On

Aug 18, 2016

In the current retrospective of experimental filmmaker Bruce Conner at the Museum of Modern Art, the film A Movie is the first work the viewer encounters. In 1980, during a festival entitled Filmworks , Conner's films were presented at The Kitchen for the first time. As part of this series, Bruce Conner (1933-2008) showed four of his works: A Movie (1958), Report (1963-1967), Mongoloid (1978), and Valse Trieste (1977), among which the first two are currently on view at MoMA. Filmworks introduced the work of nineteen other experimental filmmakers, including David Hazton with Painting Room Lights (1980), Janet Stein with God’s Police (1980), Yvonne Rainer with Kristina Talking Pictures (1976), and Peter Wollen with Riddles of the Sphinx (1976) among many others. The Filmworks series wa... Read On

Jun 8, 2016

Dear Friends, As we celebrate our 45th anniversary, please help us sustain The Kitchen’s legacy of realizing artists’ visions by making a donation today in any amount, whether $5, $50, $500, or $5,000. Your contribution now will help artists develop their projects during the year ahead. And by participating in our new commissions program to celebrate this landmark year, you will also receive special benefits when you contribute at the levels below: $1,000 — Co-billing in the program and 5 seats to the performance or meet the artist $2,500 — Co-billing in the program and 10 seats to the performance or meet the artist $5,000 — Co-underwriter and 10 seats to the performance and meet the artist $10,000 — Co-underwriter and 15 seats to the performance and meet the ... Read On

May 13, 2016

This week The Kitchen presents the world premiere of Mike Iveson's The Tear Drinkers, a suite of sci-fi songs for six performers. It follows four humans who have been abducted by the United States government and brought to an underground holding tank in New Mexico, so that the government can determine which of them is actually an alien from another planet masquerading as an earthling. A beloved fixture in the experimental performance community, Mike mounted his first full-length play with music, Sorry Robot , as part of PS122’s COIL Festival in January 2015. He has composed music for various choreographers and playwrights including Sarah Michelson, Sibyl Kempson, Mia Chung, DANCENOISE, and Kate E. Ryan, and has worked as a performer with companies as varied as Elevator Repair Service, ... Read On

Apr 29, 2016

The Kitchen’s gallery has become a site of presentation and continued propagation for Ed Atkins’ Performance Capture . The audio-visual work derives from a script written by Atkins, which was subsequently performed by 130 participants in a CGI rig at the 2015 Manchester International Festival. Over the duration of its exhibition at The Kitchen, the piece will continue to expand, incorporating sound and video from gallery performances by Okkyung Lee, Ches Smith, Ben Vida, Graham Lambkin, Bob Bellerue, Marcia Bassett, Matthew Regula, C. Spencer Yeh, and Ed Atkins himself. Curatorial intern Nicole Kaack and artist Ed Atkins discussed the original development of the project and its ongoing transformation through performance. Nicole Kaack: Performance Capture seems so based in the ... Read On