Biography

In the 1950's a group of artists emerged that were working in different media and who frequently dealt with new combinations of sensory experiences. Particularly John Cage, David Tudor, Nam June Paik, Robert Rauschenberg, Alan Kaprow, Merce Cunningham and Yvonne Rainer all worked with combinations of performance experiences, which lead to a different integration of the senses and of various art forms. What these explorations had in common was a concern with time-chance, randomness, boredom, duration, etc. The experimentation of most Pop artists with Happenings in the late 50s and early 60s grew out of these explorations, as did a variety of work in dance, music, theater, film, video, and audiotape. By the late 60s enough artists were working in the area that began to be called "Performance" and became widely recognized. The availability of inexpensive video equipment and an interest in integrating a new image- making process resulted in video art. During the late 60s, early 70s there were no schools for performance and video art. There was hesitancy on the part of museums and collectors to sponsor such activities so there was a need for alternate means of presenting the work of these artists to an audience. Performance and video art were thought best seen outside the context of museums, galleries, concert halls or theaters because these spaces are waited with baggage. The artists who founded The Kitchen were frustrated that museums and commercial galleries provided no outlet for video art. A group of artists, among them Steina and Woody Vesulka, began screening their video pieces in the only available space at the Mercer Arts Center: the kitchen. By 1973 they were incorporated. The Kitchen is the sum of effort from many artists. It is a non-profit organization, operating as the corporation Haleakala, Inc. The Kitchen was unique during this time because it provided space, publicity, equipment and technological assistance for the presentation of works. The range of performance and video activity which has occurred at the Kitchen and the public response to that activity underline both the quality of art being produced in these areas and the quality of this means of bringing the public and artist together.

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