The Kitchen Announces Winter 2018 Season

The Kitchen, founded in 1971, has continued to serve as an important catalyst for a broad community of groundbreaking artists working across disciplines. In today's landscape, where contemporary artists and arts institutions are collaborating in new ways and generating new contexts for the continuing evolution of multi-disciplinary art, The Kitchen, as a nimble, smaller-scale organization, plays an especially vital role. It provides emerging and established artists a hot-house environment for the presentation and discussion of their work, supporting and seeking to foster a vibrant, living dialogue among artists from every field and area of culture. The Kitchen's Winter 2017 season, January 9-March 31, demonstrates the fervor and dynamism with which the organization inhabits this unique role.

The institution's nurturing of experimentation and the careers of boundary-eluding artists is particularly visible in the catalogue of the late minimalist Julius Eastman, for whom The Kitchen was both an artistic testing ground and a refuge. The composer, five-octave-spanning baritone singer, jazz pianist, and choreographer not only pushed the envelope sonically like his minimalist peers, but persistently broke ground confronting race and sexuality within a musical genre that otherwise largely confronted questions of musical form and perception. The Kitchen presents "Julius Eastman: That Which Is Fundamental," an interdisciplinary festival of performances and a two-part exhibition, curated by artist Tiona Nekkia McCloden and Bowerbird founder Dustin Hurt, that comprises the most expansive demonstration yet of Julius Eastman's rousing creative output, January 18-February 10, 2018.

The Kitchen's Winter 2018 season features numerous other works from creators who have stretched and subverted accepted forms, probing pressing contemporary and historical ideas through eclectic means. Jim Findlay's multimedia rock opera, Electric Lucifer, based on the 1970s concept albums of the late Canadian electronic music pioneer Bruce Haack, kicks off the season (January 9-13). Taking musical, thematic, and atmospheric inspiration from Haack's pair of 1970s concept albums-The Electric Lucifer (1970) and The Electric Lucifer, Book II (1978)-and following Haack's optimistic approach to technology as a creative well, Findlay repositions the central redemption narrative of the albums' titular character as "firmly contemporary to us." Another multimedia performance, the revival of Constance DeJong and Tony Oursler's performance, Relatives, likewise harnesses technology as a collaborator, in a genealogical storytelling duet between a television and a live performer (March 23-24).

Marianna Ellenberg's Pawel & Ebola(February 22-24) delves into much older science-a study whose misogynist leanings and vocabulary of understanding have coursed through the last two centuries, and unsettlingly reflect today's world. In this electro-acoustic music-scored, fractured narrative of a play, Ellenberg imagines the adult offspring of 19th century doctor Jean-Martin Charcot (best known for his gendered ideas of hysteria) as siblings in a dysfunctional relationship, full of oedipal trauma and survivor guilt. She re-contextualizes 19th century science on mental health through its parallels it to the contemporary maladies of liberal capitalism, corporate feminism, and consumer apathy.

This season's music programming is equally expansive in its themes and technical approaches. Camae Ayewa, aka time-transcending Afrofuturist musical experimenter Moor Mother (who also performs in the Eastman project) visualizes the creative process of her upcoming album, Analog Fluids of Sonic Black Holes, both through multimedia performances (March 6-7), and through an exhibition that will fill The Kitchen's gallery space from February 21-March 17. Earlier this year, Moor Mother became the first recipient of The Kitchen's $20,000 Emerging Artist Award inaugurated by Laurie Anderson and supported by STARCK, which funded the development of this project. Ayewa said at the time, "With this award, I will be able to record more of what has been stored up inside me for so long." Moor Mother's name denotes the desire to, as described in The Guardian, reclaim "a pre-modern black identity," but her musical project likewise plunges through racialized time into the present, and a black-utopic future. Referring to a "DIY Time Travel" workshop she gives, she told the publication, "That's the first part of the solution: how do we learn from our past, to envision the future we want?"

Claire Chase's PAN pushes the boundaries of virtuosity and the concert experience. While Chase plays a 90-minute flute solo, she is accompanied by a large ensemble from the community (March 2-3). They perform parts composed by Marcos Balter to provoke precision and complexity from non-musicians, in a musical exploration of the life of the flute-affiliated Greek deity Pan-one of two Greek mythological gods ever to be killed. Concluding the season, live electronic music pioneers Composers Inside Electronics celebrate the 40th anniversary of their first performance at The Kitchen with three new concerts demonstrating the performer/composers' use of everything from self-built analog instruments to the most recent digital technologies (March 29-31).

More information on The Kitchen's Winter 2018 programming is below. Tickets are available online at thekitchen.org; by phone at 212.255.5793 x11; and in person at The Kitchen (512 West 19th Street), Tuesdays-Saturdays, 2:00-6:00 P.M.

THE KITCHEN WINTER 2017 PROGRAMMING

[OPERA]
Jim Findlay
Electric Lucifer
January 9-13, 8pm
Tickets: $25 General, $20 Members

An electronic rock opera about suffering and redemption based on the 1970s concept albums of the late Canadian electronic music pioneer Bruce Haack. Having dreamed of creating a live show based on Haack's work since he first encountered the recordings in the 1990s, Findlay brings together a stellar team of performers and designers for a dizzying, outlandish, and satisfying wild religious fantasia.

[MUSIC/EXHIBITION]
"Julius Eastman: That Which Is Fundamental"
January 19-February 10

A large-scaleand interdisciplinary project that explores the life, work, and resurgent influence of Julius Eastman, a gay, African-American composer and performer who was active internationally in the 1970s and '80s but who died homeless at the age of 49, leaving an incomplete but compelling collection of scores and recordings. This project brings more than four years of research by curators Tiona Nekkia McClodden and Dustin Hurt to The Kitchen, an early supporter of Eastman's work, with contributions from Katy Dammers, Tim Griffin, Matthew Lyons, and Christopher McIntyre. "Julius Eastman: That Which Is Fundamental" includes a performance series and a two-part exhibition including both archival material and contemporary works. Presented in conjunction with the Eastman Estate and Bowerbird.

Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste
Evil Nigger
January 19, 8pm; January 20, 12am, 11:30am, 3pm, 6:30pm
Tickets: $5
Co-presented with ISSUE Project Room as part of Toussaint-Baptiste's ISSUE residency in collaboration with interdisciplinary artist LaMont Hamilton.

Femenine and Joy Boy
with the SEM Ensemble
January 25, 8pm
Tickets: $25 General, $20 Members

Thruway
plus Gerry Eastman and Moor Mother
with the Arcana New Music Ensemble
January 27, 8pm
Tickets: $25 General, $20 Members

Evil Nigger, Gay Guerrilla
January 28, 4pm
Tickets: $25 General, $20 Members
Co-presented with and at Knockdown Center

Crazy Nigger
January 28, 6pm
Tickets: $25 General, $20 Members
Co-presented with and at Knockdown Center

Molissa Fenley: Geologic Moments
January 30, 8pm
Tickets: $25 General, $20 Members

Joan d'Arc, Macle, Trumpet
with ACME, Ekmeles, and TILT Brass
February 3, 8pm
Tickets: $25 General, $20 Members

A Recollection. Predicated.
Exhibitions
January 19-February 10

A Recollection. maps Eastman's archival matter as a way of inviting viewers to discover new pieces and forge relationships between ephemera held by different informal archivists and approaches a historical exploration and remembrance of Julius Eastman as a master of artifice. Predicated., a group exhibition in conversation with the work of Eastman, explores notions of absence, trace presence, duration, and the politics of exhaustion, featuring works by Ash Arder, Beau Rhee, Carolyn Lazard, Chloë Bass, Courtney Bryan, James Maurelle, Jonathan Gardenhire, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Raúl Romero, Shawné Michaelain Holloway, Sondra Perry, Texas Isaiah, Wayson Jones, and Yulan Grant.

[THEATER]

Marianna Ellenberg
Pawel & Ebola
February 22-24, 8pm
Tickets: $20 General / $15 Members

Pawel & Ebola follows a dysfunctional brother and sister duo-the fictional offspring of infamous French neurologist and hysteria clinician Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot-whose world is disrupted by the arrival of a bizarre cult named "The Method." A hybrid language and fragmented narrative convey a world torn between the precarity of global capitalism and the sexual repression and institutionalized misogyny of the 19th century. Organized by Lumi Tan.

[MUSIC/EXHIBITION]
Camae Ayewa/Moor Mother
Exhibit: February 21-March 17
Performances: March 6-7, 8pm
Performance Tickets: $25 General, $20 Members

Winner of The Kitchen's inaugural Emerging Artist Award supported by STARCK, Camae Ayewa/Moor Mother presents an exhibition and performances showcasing the creative process of her second solo album, Analog Fluids of Sonic Black Holes, and its instrumental accompaniment, Sublime Methods of Spiritual Machines, using soundscape installation, film, collage, and poetry. Investigating the idea that every shadow has a history, the artist speaks about ancestral temporality and the embodiment of what remains and lingers: what takes shape and holds in The Shadows of the physical world. Organized by Tim Griffin and Lumi Tan.

[MUSIC]
Claire Chase
PAN
March 2-3
Tickets: $25 General, $20 Members

PAN is a 90-minute performance for flutist, electronics, and mass community participation in the form of a large ensemble of non-professional or trained players/collaborators. Composed by Marcos Balter, directed by Douglas Fitch, and produced by Jane M. Saks and Project&, the piece uses seven tableaux exploring the life of the god Pan, one of only two Greek deities said to have been put to death. It marshals myth to articulate and explore the tensions of our contemporary lives and world. The experience and creative participation attempt to demonstrate, rather than speculate, how music-making allows for societies and communities to create together, shape space, question, reflect, re-visit, re-order, and arrive in new and re-imagined locations again and again. Curated by Matthew Lyons.

[PERFORMANCE]
Constance DeJong & Tony Oursler
Relatives
March 23-24, 8pm
Tickets: $20 General, $15 Members

Long-time collaborators DeJong and Oursler return to The Kitchen to restage Relatives after a hiatus of more than twenty years. Originally commissioned by the ICA Boston in 1988 and performed at The Kitchen in 1989, Relatives combines spoken text and video in a duet between a television and a performer. Two worlds of storytelling, electronic and oral, deliver a genealogy of family members who belong to a visible yet overlooked group: history's bit players; their collective story is traced through a succession of appearances in painting, photography, the movies, television, and video games. Organized by Matthew Lyons.

Composers Inside Electronics
March 29-31, 8pm
Tickets: $20 General / $15 Members

Composers Inside Electronics (CIE) returns to The Kitchen to mark the 40th anniversary of their first appearance here with three evenings of new and early works. CIE pioneered the development of a music that evolved from an ethos of home-built electronic circuitry, resonance, software and the discovery of its musical potentials. Committed to the ongoing creation, performance, and installation of collaborative electronic works, the performer-composers made up of original members and new collaborators will present works spanning the range from self-built analog instruments to the most recent digital technologies. Organized by Matthew Lyons.

FUNDING AND CREDITING

Jim Findlay: Electric Lucifer is a Creative Capital project. It is funded in part by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, PS122, and the Nancy Quinn Fund. Electric Lucifer was developed in residencies at Mount Tremper Arts, MacDowell Colony, and the Collapsable Hole. Produced by Collapsable Giraffe and Joel Bassin.

"Julius Eastman: That Which Is Fundamental" is made possible with the generous support of the Robert D. Bielecki Foundation. Research and development of That Which is Fundamental was funded by the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage.

The Kitchen Emerging Artist Award 2017 sponsored by STARCK.

Annual program support provided by The Amphion Foundation, Inc., The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc., Cowles Charitable Trust, Joseph and Joan Cullman Foundation for the Arts, Howard Gilman Foundation, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, Marta Heflin Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Lambent Foundation Fund of Tides Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, The Jerome Robbins Foundation, and The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation; and in part by public funds from New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and National Endowment for the Arts.

The Kitchen thanks the following foundations and businesses for their support: 47 Canal; 303 Gallery; Ace Hotel New York; Alvarez & Marsal Holdings, LLC; The Amphion Foundation, Inc.; Marianne Boesky Gallery; Gavin Brown's enterprise; Calvin Klein, Inc.; Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust; Christie's; James Cohan Gallery; Contemporary Art Partners; Paula Cooper Gallery; The Aaron Copland Fund for Music; The Cowles Charitable Trust; Joseph and Joan Cullman Foundation for the Arts, Inc.; Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York; Debevoise & Plimpton LLP; The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation; The Durst Organization; Martin and Rebecca Eisenberg Foundation; FACE Contemporary Theater Fund; Foundation for Contemporary Arts; Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver, and Jacobson LLP; Galeria Franco Noero; Galerie Gisela Capitain; Galerie Perrotin; Galerie Eva Presenhuber; Howard Gilman Foundation; Goethe-Institut New York; Goldman Sachs; Marian Goodman Gallery; Greene Naftali; Hand, Baldachin and Amburgey LLP; The Harkness Foundation for Dance; Hauser & Wirth; Marta Heflin Foundation; Hannah Hoffman Gallery; HSBC Private Bank, a division of HSBC Bank USA, N.A.; IAC; Jerome Foundation; Mayer and Morris Kaplan Family Foundation; Lagunitas Brewing Company; Lambent Foundation Fund of Tides Foundation; Dorothea L. Leonhardt Foundation; David Lewis Gallery; Lisson Gallery; The Margaret and Daniel Loeb-Third Point Foundation; Luhring Augustine Gallery; LUMA Foundation; The MAP Fund; Grace R. and Allen D. Marcus Foundation; Matthew Marks Gallery; The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Mertz Gilmore Foundation; Metro Pictures; J.P. Morgan; J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation; Morgan Stanley; New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project; New England Foundation for the Arts' National Theater Project; New Music USA; New York Community Trust; Orentreich Family Foundation; The Overbrook Foundation; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, and Garrison, LLP; Petzel, New York; Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council; The Jerome Robbins Foundation; The James E. Robison Foundation; The Rolex Initiative; Andrea Rosen Gallery; May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation; The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation; Jennifer and Jonathan Allan Soros Foundation; Reena Spaulings Fine Art; Team Gallery; Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund; Tumblr; UBS Financial Services; Van Doren Waxter; VIA Art Fund; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; and David Zwirner, New York/London.

About The Kitchen

The Kitchen is one of New York City's most forward-looking nonprofit spaces, showing innovative work by emerging and established artists across disciplines. Our programs range from dance, music, performance, and theater to video, film, and art, in addition to literary events, artists' talks, and lecture series. Since its inception in 1971, The Kitchen has been a powerful force in shaping the cultural landscape of this country, and has helped launch the careers of many artists who have gone on to worldwide prominence.

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