Robyn Farrell has been appointed senior curator of New York-based association The Kitchen. Farrell, who will begin her new role on August 1, comes to the organization from the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC), where she was associate curator in the department of modern and contemporary art. She arrives at the kitchen while her longtime home in Chelsea is being renovated, so will begin her tenure at her temporary home in Westbeth, West Village. As Senior Curator, Farrell will be involved in all aspects of kitchen programming.
“It’s wonderful to have Robyn Farrell in the kitchen,” said Legacy Russell, head of the organization. CEO and Chief Curator, in a report. “Robyn shares a dynamic commitment to the institution’s broader mission, values and vision for the future. In her commitment to cutting-edge stories, time-based media and the making of cross-disciplinary exhibitions, she brings an exciting and unique perspective to the field and we look forward to welcoming her as we in the Kitchen community let’s move to new heights.
Farrell, an internationally renowned researcher on the work of German filmmaker and video art pioneer Gerry Schum, joined AIC as a curatorial assistant in 2013, before becoming assistant curator in 2017 and associate curator in 2020 During her time at the Chicago institution, she worked on more than forty exhibitions, including “Kemang Wa Lehulere: In All My Wildest Dreams,” the first American institutional exhibition of the Cape Town native’s work, and “Andy Warhol— From A to B and Back Again”, which traveled from the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Additionally, she has helped curate solo exhibitions of works by Gretchen Bender, Moyra Davey, Cauleen Smith, Martyne Syms, and Hito Steyerl, among others, and worked on AIC iterations of Barbara Kruger’s “THINKING OF YOU.” I MEAN ME. I MEAN YOU.” and “Gregg Bordowitz: I want to be good.”
“I am thrilled to join the kitchen at this juncture in the institution’s history,” Farrell said in a statement, noting that the “unprecedented legacy and adoption of focused media, processes and dialogues on artists aligns with my own commitment to interdisciplinary partnerships that connect discourse and display, and cross notions of time and place. I look forward to advancing the groundbreaking agenda and vital mission of the kitchen which supports urgent contemporary voices, risky experimentation, as well as impactful and inclusive exhibitions, live events and publications.
