Matthew Lutz-Kinoy's FILLING STATION to be Presented at The Kitchen This Fall

 The Kitchen will present the world premiere of Filling Station, a newly commissioned project by Paris, France-based American multidisciplinary artist Matthew Lutz-Kinoy. Filling Station (2023) comprises three dance performances directed by Lutz-Kinoy, at Horatio Street Gas Station (September 14 & 15) and Dia Beacon (September 23, co-presented with Dia Art Foundation), and an exhibition of a new series of paintings, archival materials, audiovisual elements, and ephemera by the artist, at The Kitchen’s satellite loft space at Westbeth in the West Village (September 14–November 3). 

Matthew Lutz-Kinoy: Filling Station is organized by Legacy Russell, Executive Director & Chief Curator, and Angelique Rosales Salgado, Curatorial Assistant, The Kitchen. The performance at Dia Beacon is co-presented with Dia Art Foundation and organized by Legacy Russell, Angelique Rosales Salgado, and Jordan Carter, Curator, Dia Art Foundation. 

For this project, Lutz-Kinoy reinterprets the one-act ballet “Filling Station," originally staged by the short-lived troupe Ballet Caravan—initially co-founded by Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine as the American Ballet, and touted as the first professional ballet company in the United States—as part of a presentation titled A Sunday in Town, which debuted in Hartford, Connecticut, on January 6, 1938. The original performance featured music by composer Virgil Thomson, choreography by Lew Christensen (known for his direction of the San Francisco Ballet from 1952 to 1984), and set and costumes by artist Paul Cadmus. 

This ballet is credited as the first ballet directed by an American choreographer, danced by an American company, and based on an American theme, with music and designs by American artists. A response to—and refusal of—a Eurocentric canon of classical ballet, this work brought to the fore a group of collaborators that shone light on questions of American industry, capital, class, and gender roles. It also put new language to an idea of the “American pastoral,” a renegotiation of city and country in a period where much of the material of American suburbanism was in the process of being built, deeply defined by the mobility of Americans via car transport. 

Lutz-Kinoy’s restaging views this 1938 work of American dance through a contemporary lens, creating a dynamic and queered space for a reflection on race, class, and gender. This is the artist’s first performance in New York since Rotting Wood, the Dripping Word: Shūji Terayama's Kegawa no Marii (2016) at MoMA PS1. The project features new choreography by Niall Jones(Lead Choreographer) and Raymond Pinto (Consulting Choreographer); a new music score made by American artist James Ferraro; a set design by Lutz-Kinoy; and costumes by Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta of fashion label Eckhaus Latta. The seven-member ensemble of dancers includes Bria Bacon, Cemiyon Barber, Ayano Elson, Maxfield Haynes, Niala, Mina Nishimura, and Raymond Pinto.

Filling Station begins an ongoing cross-institutional collaboration between The Kitchen and Dia Art Foundation, furthering the path-breaking energy that has defined both institutions over the past 50 years. As responsive, artist-centered organizations, Dia and The Kitchen will continue to work together across media and genres to blur boundaries, propose collective exhibition and performance models, and cultivate experiences that unfold through multiple temporalities and platforms, both embodied and virtual. Artists will have the opportunity to draw upon both institutions’ deep histories of experimentation, engaging with the ephemeral practices cultivated and indexed by The Kitchen and its archive, while being in dialogue with questions of duration and permanence posed by Dia’s sites, collection, and program.

About the Artists

Matthew Lutz-Kinoy (he/him, 1984, New York City, New York) lives and works in Paris, France.

Embracing the spirit of collaboration as a means to expand knowledge and skills, the breadth of techniques and references used across Lutz-Kinoy’s practice are the result of many collaborative ventures. Where his ceramics are influenced by working with artists in Europe and Brazil, his large-scale paintings often installed like backdrops, tapestries, wall panels or suspended ceilings assert matters of pleasure, color, intimacy, motion, as fundamental. Lutz-Kinoy’s work looks through a history of representation from the rococo to orientalism to abstract expressionism; challenging what constitutes the inside and the outside of the arts, the social and the self. At the core of Lutz-Kinoy’s practice is performance. Influenced by histories of queer and collaborative practice as well as his background in theatre and choreography, his live work explores the interplay of narratives that are created and constructed between individuals and social spaces.
 

His recent solo shows include Plate is Bed Plate is Sun Plate is Circle Plate is Cycle, Mennour, Paris (2022), Link Room Project, Cranford Collection, London (2022), Manikin, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo (2022); Window to the Clouds, Museum Frieder Burda | Salon Berlin, Berlin (2021); Two Hands on Earth, Mendes Wood DM, Brussels (2019); Sea Spray, Vleeshal, Middelburg (2018); The Meadow, Le Centre d’édition Contemporaine, Geneva (2018); Southern Garden of the Château Bellevue, Consortium Museum, Dijon (2018); Fooding, Fitzpatrick Gallery, Paris (2018).

His recent performance work includes Soap Bubbles with Jan Vorisek, Art Basel Parcours, Basel (2022), Scalable Skeletal Escalator by Isabel Lewis, Kunsthalle Zurich (2020); Screaming Compost with Jan Vorisek, Galerie Francesca Pia, Zürich (2019); Sharjah Biennial 14: Leaving the Echo Chamber by Isabel Lewis, Sharjah (2019); Rotting Wood, the Dripping Word: Shūji Terayama’s Kegawa no Marii, MoMA PS1, New York (2016).

James Ferraro (he/him) is an American experimental musician, producer, composer, and artist. He has been credited as a pioneer of the 21st-century genres hypnagogic pop and vaporwave, with his work exploring themes related to hyperreality and consumer culture. His music has drawn on diverse styles such as 1980s electronic music, easy listening, drone, lo-fi, sound collage, and R&B. Ferraro began his career in the early 2000s as a member of the Californian noise duo The Skaters, after which he began recording solo work under his name and a wide variety of aliases. He released projects on labels such as Hippos in Tanks and New Age Tapes. Ferraro received wider recognition when his polarizing 2011 album Far Side Virtual was chosen as Album of the Year by The Wire.

Niall Jones (he/him) is an artist working and living in New York City. Jones constructs, inhabits, and explores the theater as a mode and location of instabilities. Working through an ongoing fascination with labor, temporality, and fantasy, Jones creates immersive, liminal sites for practicing incompleteness and refusal. Jones received a Bessie Award nomination for Outstanding Emerging Choreographer in 2017 and, more recently, a 2021 Grants-To-Artists Award from the Foundation for Contemporary Art. Recent works include: A Work for Others at The Kitchen OnScreen (2021); Fantasies in Low Fade at Chocolate Factory Theater, New York City (2019); Sis Minor: The Preliminary Studies at Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin (2018); Sis Minor, in Fall at Abrons Arts Center, New York City (2018), and Splendor #3 at Gibney Dance: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center, New York City (2017). Jones received a BFA from the Virginia Commonwealth University and an MFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He teaches at the University of the Arts, School of Dance in Philadelphia, where he is also producer and co-curator of The School for Temporary Liveness (Vol. 1 & 2).

Raymond Pinto (he/they) is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice moves in and through performance. A graduate of the Juilliard School with a BFA in Dance and an MA from NYU-Performance Studies, their process of constructing performances often leans into the reconciliation of time as medium to situate experimental performance. Their works have been presented at the Amsterdam Fringe Festival, CUE Art Foundation, Participant, inc., the Venice Biennale, Art Cake, Chez Bushwick. Raymond is inspired by the recovery of the arts, and is looking forward to future opportunities to continue to create experimental performances. 

Mike Eckhaus (he/him) and Zoe Latta (she/her) are the founders of Eckhaus Latta, a New York– and Los Angeles–based label that distinguishes itself from its peers with gender-neutral designs and has built a reputation for casting models of all genders, ages, shapes, and sizes in its runway shows and campaigns. Eckhaus and Latta met at Rhode Island School of Design, where Latta studied textile design and Eckhaus studied sculpture. After graduating in 2010, the duo cut their teeth working for a number of brands and institutions: Eckhaus worked as an accessories designer at Marc by Marc Jacobs, while Latta was a knitwear designer at Opening Ceremony and also ran a textile company that supplied fabric to Calvin Klein and Proenza Schouler. In 2011, the two came together to launch Eckhaus Latta and showed their first collection in New York for Spring/Summer 2013. The designers are also known for using unconventional fabrics like plastics and fishing lines. Eckhaus and Latta started working with European fabric mills for the first time in 2017, although the designers still use deadstock materials—a key element of their early collections. In 2016, the label opened its first store in front of its studio space in Los Angeles. The brand is stocked in 55 locations around the world, including Nordstrom, Ssense, and Opening Ceremony, and was one of the finalists for the LVMH Prize in 2018.

Bria Bacon (she/her) is a 20-something, queer, performing artist. Although she is predominantly trained in movement art (dance), she holds passions and gifts in writing, sound-making, and theater. Bacon is currently occupying Munsee-Lenape lands in Brooklyn, as well as growing relationships abroad. She has worked with Sally Silvers Dance, Donna Uchizono Company, Kyle Marshall Choreography, Stephen Petronio Company, as well as Beth Gill and Rachel Comey in NYFW. Her current collaborations include Company Christoph Winkler, Stacy Spence, Johnnie Cruise Mercer, and Reggie Wilson/Fist and Heel Performance Group. Bacon is originally from Munsee-Lenape lands in central New Jersey.

Cemiyon Barber (he/him), born in Jackson, Mississippi, began his formal dance training at The Academic and Performing Arts Complex (APAC), an afterschool program affiliated with Jackson’s Public Schools. Barber was then given a scholarship to study at Idyllwild Arts Academy summer program in California and later received a scholarship to continue studying at the year-round boarding school. He also studied at Ballet Austin’s summer program. Barber graduated with his High School Diploma, Arts Degree, and a full academic scholarship to the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase, where he later earned his BFA. While at SUNY Purchase, Barber received the Adopt-A-Dancer Scholarship and performed works by Azure Barton, Jonathan Ridel, Brian Eno, Norbert De La Cruz, Nejla Yatkin, Keerati Jinakunwiphat, as well as George Balanchine’s 4 Temperaments and Concerto Barocco. While freelancing in NYC, Barber has had the pleasure of working professionally with Bill T. Jones, Kyle Abraham, Christopher Williams, Austin Mccormick, Liz Gerring, Megan Williams, Staycee Pearl, and Vladimir Varnava. Cemiyon also participated in Merce Cunningham’s night of 100 solos in California 2019, and has completed many workshops with the Merce Cunningham Trust. He has been featured in fashion editorials for Vogue Russia and Numero Berlin, while also making guest appearances on TV networks PBS Social and MTV. Cemiyon was mentioned in The New York Times twice in 2021, as well as The New Yorker in 2017 and 2021.

Ayano Elson (she/her) is an Okinawan-American choreographer and dancer based in New York. She was born in Okinawa, a small island colonized by Japan in 1879 and occupied by the United States from 1945–1972. Elson’s choreography investigates roles of labor and power in contemporary American artmaking. Her choreography has been presented by AUNTS, the Chocolate Factory, Center for Performance Research, Gibney Dance, ISSUE Project Room, Knockdown Center, Movement Research, and Roulette, among others. She has received funding support from Dance/NYC, Foundation for Contemporary Arts and Mertz Gilmore Foundation. She has been an artist in residence at Abrons Arts Center, ArtCake, Center for Performance Research, Gibney Dance, Lower Manhattan Cultural Center, and Movement Research’s Van Lier Emerging Artist of Color Fellowship. She has performed in works by Laurie Berg, Kim Brandt, Jesi Cook, Milka Djordjevich, Simone Forti, Kyli Kleven, Abigail Levine, and Haegue Yang at Danspace, the Guggenheim, MoMA, MoMA PS1, MCA Chicago, New Museum, New York Live Arts, Pioneer Works, REDCAT, Roulette, SculptureCenter, and the Shed. Elson is currently working on a record with music collaborator Matt Evans and will be presenting new choreography at PAGEANT in October 2023. 

Maxfield Haynes (they/he/she) is a multidisciplinary artist, dancer, and teacher living in NYC. They started their training at age 12 at the University of Louisville Dance Academy under Chuck Bronson and Cynthia Bronner, and continued their dance education with the Louisville Ballet, San Francisco Ballet School, Houston Ballet Academy, Dance Theatre of Harlem School, and HAMU Performing Arts University in Prague. They received a B.F.A. in Dance from NYU Tisch in 2018. Maxfield has toured extensively as a soloist with both Complexions Contemporary Ballet and Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. They are a frequent collaborator with Ballez, as well as Dance Heginbotham and Isaac Mizrahi for their yearly productions of Peter and the Wolf and Third Bird presented through the Guggenheim Works and Process. Most recently they started working for the Metropolitan Opera House as their first nonbinary soloist ballerina portraying the White Bird in Julie Taymor’s the Magic Flute. Their rep includes works by Marius Petipa, Peter Anastos, Paul Taylor, Bill T. Jones, Raja Featherkelly, Crystal Pite, Dwight Rhoden, Katy Pyle, John Heginbotham, Mark Dendy, Abdurrahim Jackson, Tislarm Bouie, and Durante Verzola. 

Niala (she/they) is a Harlem-based black trans artist whose practice is centered around exploring the realms of music, movement, and acting. As a voguer in New York City’s ballroom scene, she implements her style of dancing into performances spaces throughout the city. Her recent collaborations include dancing for Honey Dijon at Ladyland Fest, and being a commissioned performer for The Shed’s second edition of Open Call and for The Studio Museum’s artist in residence program. Her artistry aims to contextualize and expound upon the black trans experience, while carrying on the legacy of the many iconic, legendary trans pioneers that have come before her.

Mina Nishimura (she/they), originally from Tokyo, was introduced to butoh and improvisational dance practice through Kota Yamazaki and studied at Merce Cunnigham Studio in NYC. Carrying Buddhism-influenced philosophies across her somatic, performance, choreographic, and art practices, Nishimura attempts to access and converse with invisible, marginalized, forgotten, abandoned or unknown beings, senses and realms. She has been performing and collaborating with a number of groundbreaking artists such as John Jasperse, Dean Moss, Kota Yamazaki, Neil Greenburg, Vicky Shick, Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener, Yasuko Yokoshi, Yoshiko Chuma, Nami Yamamoto, DD Dorvillier, Ursula Eagly, Moriah Evans, Cori Olinghouse, and SIA for her Saturday Night Live performances. Commissioners of her recent works include NYU Skirball Center, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Danspace Project, Gibney, Mount Tremper Arts Center, Whitman College, and Sarah Lawrence College. Nishimura is a recipient of Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award 2019, and was a cover and featured artist in the May 2021 issue of Dance Magazine. Nishimura was the Renewal Residency Artist of 2021-22 at Danspace Project where her new work, Mapping a Forest while Searching for an Opposite Term of Exorcist, premiered in November 2022. She completed the MFA Fellowship in 2021 at Bennington College in 2021, where she currently teaches. 

Funding Support and Credits

The Kitchen’s programs are made possible through generous support from annual grants from Bloomberg Philanthropies, Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Simons Foundation, Ruth Foundation for the Arts, and Teiger Foundation; and in part by public funds from New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

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.

Website: thekitchen.org

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