Semiotics of the Kitchen: An Audition

Directed by Martha Rosler

In 2003, Rosler announced an open call for a live re-staging of her 1975 video Semiotics of the Kitchen, to be held at the Whitechapel Gallery in London, for A Short History of Performance, Part II. Twenty-six women — actors, artists, curators, and museum staff among them — participated in a rotating performance of the work. On three sets stocked with kitchen utensils, the participants enacted the work in front of an audience, while their performances also appeared on monitors throughout the gallery. At the end of the performance, the three groups of women came together to present the last few gestures of the video — including its final shrug. Semiotics of the Kitchen: An Audition documents the preliminary rehearsals with Rosler and the public event, the “audition.”