June 29, 2004, New York, NY-Molly Davies, president of The Kitchen's Board of Directors, is pleased to announce the appointment of Debra Singer as Executive Director and Chief Curator of The Kitchen, effective August 1, 2004. Ms. Singer comes to The Kitchen after a seven-year tenure at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where she is currently Associate Curator of Contemporary Art.

"Electing Debra Singer as Executive Director and Chief Curator is a wonderful development for The Kitchen," said Ms. Davies. "She has an outstanding history of working with a wide range of visual and performing artists, and a profound understanding of the contemporary art world. We are confident in her ability to shape an exciting future for The Kitchen."

Ms. Singer commented, "It is a great honor to have been appointed to lead The Kitchen at this moment in time. I have such admiration for The Kitchen's extraordinary legacy of showing experimental work, and I look forward to building on that unique history. Given today's conservative cultural and political climate, it is more critical than ever to show risk-taking work within a variety of disciplines."

Ms. Singer's expanded position merges the job formerly held by Elise Bernhardt, with the newly created role of Chief Curator. Ms. Bernhardt stepped down as Executive Director on May 31, 2004 to spend more time with her family and work on independent projects. "Elise Bernhardt has been an excellent director," added Ms. Davies. "She helped put The Kitchen back on the map, and we are grateful for her leadership."

"I am proud to have led The Kitchen to its current level of achievement," said Elise Bernhardt. "With the preservation of its archive, the establishment of several model education programs, and the launch of the first National Art & Technology Network, The Kitchen has embraced both its legacy and its future. It has been a special privilege during my tenure to support many extraordinary artists such as Shirin Neshat, Bill T. Jones, ETHEL, and Ben Katchor as they explored new territory. I wish Debra much success and know that she has a dedicated board and staff to help her keep this important institution thriving."

At the Whitney, Ms. Singer most recently co-organized the 2004 Biennial Exhibition, widely considered the most well-received and popular Biennial in years. While at the museum, she organized solo exhibitions of new work and commissioned projects by emerging and under-recognized artists such as Irit Batsry, Joseph Grigely, Arturo Herrera, LOT-EK, Helen Mirra, Paul Pfeiffer, Ben Rubin and Mark Hansen, Shahzia Sikander, Paul Sietsema, and Sarah Sze. She was also responsible for the New York presentation of the nationally touring exhibition The Quilts of Gee's Bend (2003).

Ms. Singer has also been the Whitney's primary performance curator since 1997, when she was hired to manage the museum's midtown branch--the Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria--and produce its Performance on 42nd series. In that role, she curated five performance seasons, including work by choreographers, composers, and performance artists such as Sussan Deyhim, Elevator Repair Service, Goldhuber & Latsky, Koosil-ja Hwang, Christian Marclay, Dean Moss, Dael Orlander Smith, Marina Rosenfeld, Elliott Sharp, Edwin Torres, Yasunao Tone, Muna Tseng, and Stephen Vitiello, among others.

She also selected the sound and performance works for the 2002 Biennial Exhibition, which featured sound installations by Maryanne Amacher, Gregor Asch, Richard Chartier, Miranda July, Meredith Monk, and Tracie Morris, among others, as well as organizing the sound component for BitStreams (2001), a ground-breaking group exhibition of art enabled by digital technologies co-curated with Lawrence Rinder. In 2002, she founded the Whitney's SoundCheck program, a monthly series of music and literary events, which has presented performances by such figures and groups as Antony and the Johnsons, Gogol Bordello, Cynthia Hopkins, Ori Kaplan and Susie Ibarra, Raz Mesinai, Jim O'Rourke, Tracy and the Plastics, and Imani Uzuri.

Outside of the Whitney, Ms. Singer is an active participant on juries and panels nationwide for both the visual and performing arts, including serving as an ongoing member of the Bessie Committee, the nominating body of New York Dance and Performance Awards. She is a frequent guest lecturer at universities and art schools, and is an adjunct associate professor at Columbia University in their Masters program for Museum Studies and Modern Art. A graduate of the Whitney Independent Study Program, Ms. Singer earned her MA in art history from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and her BA in political science from Princeton University.

The Kitchen is an interdisciplinary, nonprofit art space showing experimental work by innovative artists, both emerging and established. Its programs range from dance, music, and theatrical performances to video, film, and digital art installations to literary evenings, artists' talks, lecture series, and other events. Since its inception in 1971, it has been a powerful force in shaping the cultural landscape of this country and has helped launch the careers of many artists who have gone on to worldwide prominence. One of the first institutions nationwide to focus exclusively on cutting-edge, multidisciplinary works engaging new technologies, The Kitchen provides artists with a laboratory where they can explore emerging genres and incubate new collaborations. Serving a global artistic community while acting as a resource in its own neighborhood, The Kitchen continues to identify, support, and present new artists who are making significant contributions to their respective fields and contemporary culture.

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