The Kitchen (art institution)

About

The Kitchen is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary avant-garde performance art and experimental art institution located at 512 West 19th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was founded in Greenwich Village in 1971 by Steina and Woody Vasulka, who were frustrated at the lack of an outlet for video art.

The space takes its name from the original location, the kitchen of the Mercer Arts Center which was the only available place for the artists to screen their video art pieces. Although first intended as a location for the exhibition of video art, The Kitchen soon expanded its mission to include other forms of art and performance, and incorporated as an arts not-for-profit organization organization in 1973. In 1974, The Kitchen relocated to a building at the corner of Wooster and Broome Streets in SoHo. In 1987 it moved to its current location in Manhattan, New York City.