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An evening with Akashic BooksMonday, March 26 - 7pm Bozidar Brazda: BreadSaturday, April 7 - 7pmFREE  In conjunction with the exhibition "Just Kick It Till It Breaks", the New York-based artist Bozidar Brazda premieres a new mixed-media performance event which suggests both a retrospective banquet for a fictitious filmmaker as well as a courtroom saga in which the filmmaker is being tried for treason. Incorporating video projections, sculpture, food, and clothing, this interactive environment continues Brazda’s exploration of the juxtaposition of the visual and linguistic tropes of Eastern European socialism and Western capitalism.This program is made possible with generous support from Cristina Enriquez-Bocobo, The Greenwall Foundation, The Jerome Foundation, The Peter Norton Family Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. First as Pilgrims, Then as PilotsRoss Cisneros Selected by Dean Daderko  Artist Ross Cisneros premieres a new performance inspired by the plight of the Crimean Tatar people that incorporates video and music composed by Stan Harrison. While he was stationed in Crimea in 1944, Joseph Beuys famously claimed to have been rescued by nomadic Tatars after his plane crashed. Not long after this possibly apocryphal event occurred, Stalin forced the Tatar people into exile from their homeland along the Black Sea to Uzbekistan, where many people perished from harsh conditions. Out of these connected narratives, Cisneros creates an abstract ceremony that combines history and myth, and explores issues of frontier, diaspora, and discovery.This program is made possible with generous support from Cristina Enriquez-Bocobo, The Greenwall Foundation, The Jerome Foundation, The Peter Norton Family Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. The Kitchen is a non-profit, interdisciplinary organization that provides innovative artists working in the media, literary, and performing arts with exhibition and performance opportunities to create and present new work. Using its own extensive history as a resource, the organization identifies, supports, and presents emerging and under-recognized artists who are making significant contributions to their respective fields as well as serves as a safe space for more established artists to take unusual creative risks. The Kitchen has been a powerful force in shaping the cultural landscape of this country for more than three decades. Founded as an artist collective in 1971 by Woody and Steina Vasulka and incorporated as a non-profit two years later, in its infancy The Kitchen was a space where video artists and experimental composers and performers could share their ideas with like-minded colleagues. It thus was among the very first American institutions to embrace the then emergent fields of video and performance art, while also presenting new visionary work within the fields of dance, music, literature, and film. The resulting combination was an environment uniquely conducive to experimentation and cross-disciplinary explorations that helped launch the careers of many artists who have defined the American avant-garde, including Vito Acconci, Constance de Jong, Gary Hill, Kiki Smith, Charles Atlas, Lucinda Childs, Elizabeth Streb, Bill T. Jones, and board members Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, and Meredith Monk. Today, The Kitchen is an internationally acclaimed arts institution still widely known for its commitment to experimental work as it continues to provide instrumental support for the early and mid-career development of the current generation of artists. Currently, The Kitchen is witnessing an exciting period of transition and growth. In August 2004, Debra Singer was appointed Executive Director and Chief Curator. Ms. Singer has come to The Kitchen following a seven-year tenure at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where she organized a wide range of commissioned performances and exhibitions by emerging figures, including co-curating the much-acclaimed 2004 Biennial Exhibition. www.thekitchen.org |
Akashic Books presents an evening of readings and discussion to celebrate the release of three recent publications. Literary legend Amiri Baraka will read excerpts from his new collection of short stories Tales of the Out & the Gone. He is joined by celebrated Mexican-American writer Felicia Luna Lemus reading from her groundbreaking second novel Like Son, and emerging novelist and playwright Aaron Petrovich offers selections from his debut novella The Session. A discussion with the authors will follow the reading. 
