The Kitchen Collaborates with Paris-Based Fashion Brand Études Studio to Create New Capsule Collection Launching October 15, 2024

Proceeds Will Help Fund The Kitchen in a Moment of Bold and Momentous Change

The Kitchen, continuing to forge new modes of cross-institutional collaboration and the distribution of its experimental and interdisciplinary vision, has teamed with Paris fashion brand Études Studio on the creation of a capsule collection to be launched on October 15. This Autumn/Winter 2024 release is part of the Études Studio N°24 collection, called Untitled (Sans-Titre). The collaboration explores The Kitchen's artist’s way of moving, evolving, and creating in the world—blending functional, resistant workwear with comfortable pieces, while leaving room for purity of form and Parisian elegance. Proceeds from the collection will support artistic innovation at The Kitchen.

The collaboration’s common thread is the ephemeral art of avant-garde programs throughout the 20th century: juxtaposed text and imagery referencing incandescent performances from The Kitchen’s past recall and reframe those histories and open new interpretations. Insomuch as the project is a fundraiser, The Kitchen’s past evocatively becomes the vehicle for opening possibilities in its future. Works and artists conjured here include a 1989 presentation of three solo pieces by Yasunao Tone alongside the band History of Unheard Music; Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers, brought to The Kitchen by Arthur Russell in 1975; and the coalition of Cecilia Sandoval, Mary Lucier, Shigeko Kubota, and Charlotte Warren called Red, White, Yellow, and Black, brought to The Kitchen in 1972–73. Also featured are Charles Atlas (We Interrupt This Program, 1991), Richard Baim (Watch and Wait, 1982), William Basinski (Life on Mars, 1997), Timothy Buckley (Barn Fever, 1983), Constance DeJong and Tony Oursler (Relatives, 1989), Robert Longo (Surrender, 1979), Mary Overlie (1979), Nam June Paik (Two Moon July, 1986), and more. A blurred snapshot, the frozen image of a video, or the graphic detail of a poster from these events provoke revisitations of a generative era for New York’s avant-garde, and bring it into dialogue with fashion.

The collection, shot by Ulysse Lozano, is worn in a photo series accompanying the launch, featuring artists and members of The Kitchen community Maria Hassabi and Matthew Lutz-Kinoy, and longtime friend of both The Kitchen and Études, Martine Syms, among others. In conjunction with the launch event in Paris, on the evening of October 17, contemporary and archival documentation of The Kitchen works— Filling Station, by Matthew Lutz-Kinoy, and We Interrupt This Program, directed by Charles Atlas, also represented within the collection—will be on view at Études Studio’s flagship store.

The Kitchen Executive Director & Chief Curator Legacy Russell said, “We are grateful for the vision shared in our partnership with Études Studio for this collaboration: an expansive framework for the ways that The Kitchen across decades has catalyzed new directions for, and transformed the lens to, the ‘avant-garde.’”

Aurélien Arbet, Creative Director and Co-Founder of Études Studio, commented, “The Kitchen was always a point of reference for our creative journey. Having started Études Studio in both Paris and New York, we got the chance to visit their space often and see performances, live music, exhibitions. The dialogue between fashion and art is deeply rooted in our operation. For this reason, we are very proud to have worked with The Kitchen—to enter the institution's history and have them be part of ours.’’

About The Kitchen 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. 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.

About Études Studio Études Studio is a Paris-based brand that expresses itself through different types of media, from menswear to book publishing. By collaborating with talents from diverse artistic backgrounds, Études Studio acts as both a driver and a reflection of the contemporary landscape. Its vision is the result of a constantly evolving union of cultures, methods, and references. Initially coined by the creative collaboration between Jérémie Egry and Aurélien Arbet, Études was born at last in 2012 with the arrival of José Lamali. Situated at first in Paris and New York, the founding trio has enriched the brand’s identity ever since its conception by continuously inviting new talents to join along the way — calling into life a transdisciplinary collective.