Kitchen139 Press release

A cooperation between W139 and Casco (Utrecht), in the context of 'The Grand Domestic Revolution – User’s Manual'.

“…housekeeping and all matters pertaining formerly to the private sphere of the family have become a “collective” concern.” Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition (1958)

More than half a century ago, Hannah Arendt stated that in the modern world two spheres of life – the private and the public –are no longer separate and the economy is actually very much about how to keep a household. However, how much do we know about our economy? Over a century ago, American feminists started building communal kitchens in order to socialise their isolated work as well as save time for other activities such as involvement in the suffrage movement. What would we gain from such a communal kitchen today? And who is this “we”?

W139 cooperates with Casco on ‘Kitchen139’, a ten-day open kitchen and activity series. We invite all for those occupied with multiple deadlines and appointments towards the end of year, to join a collective house management where cooking, eating, talking, thinking, cleaning are all coming together. Inspiring or even more fatiguing, or possibly both?

Each evening meal will be prepared by a diversity of social and cultural initiatives, including Artists in Occupy Amsterdam, Amsterdam Dinner Movement, The Living Room(s), who will express their current works through the hospitality of cooking and serving. Each cooking process will be moderated by a host and broadcasted daily from 19.00 to 20.30 on Red Light Radio through which listeners can learn not only of the original recipes but also the materials of thoughts behind them. Parallel to the cooking sessions will be a series of daily lectures by Amsterdam based economist Claus Peter Pfeffer on his alternative economic theory ‘Plutopia - Policies for Globally Sustainable Common Wealth, aka Pfeifferism’.

Kitchen139 has been co-developed by W139 and Casco in the context of the current project exhibition The Grand Domestic Revolution – User’s Manual (GDR). In GDR exhibition, on view through 26 February 2012 at Casco in Utrecht, the private status of domestic space is questioned and new forms of life in common are searched for. Kitchen139 is conceived out of an observation of what one may call a resurgence of interest in domesticity and social change embodied by movements such as Occupy Amsterdam, who are making common domestic matters public on the Beursplein. Only 200 metres away, Kitchen139 could be considered as a differentiated, extended tent of Occupy Amsterdam and a voice in the continuous call for a grand domestic revolution today.