Semiotics of the Kitchen

Copied Martha Rosler, Semiotics of the Kitchen, 1975, single-channel video, black and white, sound; 06:09 minutes, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by the Ford Motor Company, 2008.21.7, © 1975, Martha Rosler. Courtesy Electronic Arts Intermix, NY

Artwork Details

Title
Semiotics of the Kitchen
Artist
Date
1975
Location
Not on view
Copyright
© 1975, Martha Rosler. Courtesy Electronic Arts Intermix, NY
Credit Line
Museum purchase made possible by the Ford Motor Company
Mediums
Mediums Description
single-channel video, black and white, sound; 06:09 minutes
Classifications
Highlights
Keywords
  • Object — other — cookware
Object Number
2008.21.7
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2008.21.7

Artwork Description

In Semiotics of the Kitchen, Martha Rosler performs for the camera as a culinary hostess introducing various kitchen utensils. She progresses through the alphabet, demonstrating a different cooking utensil for each letter. Her physical interaction with the objects is unapologetically sudden and violent. Each display is a thinly veiled gesture of frustration with the language of domesticity as the kitchen becomes grounds for resistance and change. Rosler describes the performance by saying that “as she speaks, she names her own oppression,” identifying a loaded, ordered language as an object to be interrogated. Created in 1975, Semiotics of the Kitchen remains one of the most influential works of both feminist and conceptual art.


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