Interview

Nonprofit performance and exhibition spaces the Kitchen has been around since 1971, and in that time it's helped launch the careers of many an avant-gardist across media and social sets— Vito Acconci, Kiki Smith, Arthur Russell among them. The Kitchen celebrated its spring gala benefit at Capitale last week and the after-dinner performance by musician/artists Sonic Youth, who performed there semi-regularly in the early 80s. Guests like Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Ronson, who probably missed Sonic Youth the first time around, then moved to the after-party, conveniently located in the adjacent room, a voluminous, coffer-heavy space styled like a Baroque version of the Pantheon. DJs were Matt Creed and Nate Lowman, whose hyperbolic physical energy was a show in and of itself, and Gibby Haynes, the lead singer of the Butthole Surfers. In  the majestic hall, hip hop was exactly the kind of perspective manipulation The Kitchen is used to. Business as usual, as it were. (LEFT: PHOTO BY PORTER HOVEY)