Tim Griffin, director and chief curator of the Kitchen, a nonprofit experimental art space in New York, will step down from his position at the end of the year. Griffin joined the Kitchen in 2011, after a tenure as the editor-in-chief and later editor-at-large of Artforum.
“I can’t imagine a more inspiring or humbling experience among artists than what The Kitchen, and its dedicated staff and board, has offered me over the years,” Griffin said in a statement. “Few places have such a history, decade after decade, of presenting the unexpected. Even fewer have people so deeply committed every day to supporting artists’ innovative work, and who, time and again, manage to pull it off whatever the challenges.”
While at the helm, Griffin oversaw significant projects by artists including Chantal Akerman, Charles Atlas, and Gretchen Bender, in addition to thematic exhibitions such as “From Minimalism into Algorithm” (2015–16). Griffin also oversaw the development of new programs at the Kitchen such as The Kitchen L.A.B., an interdisciplinary discussion series and “The Kitchen Broadcast,” a livestream performance series launched during the Covid-19 crisis. Griffin will continue as an advisor to aid the transition while assuming a position as visiting associate professor in the art history and English departments at Ohio State University in Columbus. (His wife, Johanna Burton, currently serves as director of the university’s Wexner Center for the Arts.)
Greg Feldman, chair of the board at the Kitchen, said in a statement, “All of us at The Kitchen express our gratitude to Tim for his remarkable leadership during the past decade as both a visionary curator and fundraiser, and at a key point in The Kitchen’s history.”