“What if there was such a thing as a public kitchen like there is a public library? That is the question the activist design studio DS4SI decided to test out in its Public Kitchen in an 800 foot temporary storefront in Dorchester.”
Click Here to read more of our latest feature at GBH, written by Magdiela Matta.
Photo by Paolo Brandon
545 Columbia Road, Uphams Corner, Dorchester, MA
As public infrastructures--hospitals, water, schools, transportation, etc--are privatized, the Public Kitchen takes a stab at going in the reverse direction. It is an installation designed to help us realize that the ways in which public infrastructures can improve the quality of our lives is still a work in progress. We still have room to imagine the futures we want to create! Doing this takes experimentation and creativity. To spark that, the Public Kitchen is a “productive fiction,” and as such it’s our experimentation with a new, more vibrant social infrastructure that:
Challenges the public’s own feelings that “public” means poor, broken down, poorly run, and “less than” private
Engages communities in claiming public space, the social and food justice
Makes a new case for public infrastructures through creating ones that don’t exist
Inspired by the family kitchen as a gathering place, the Public Kitchen invited Upham's Corner and Dudley Street residents to feast, learn, share, imagine, unite and claim public space. Over 500 community members joined us as the Public Kitchen launched a week of fresh food, cooking classes & competitions, a mobile kitchen and Hub, food-inspired art and much more…
Public Kitchen is an intervention aimed at social and food justice-- an experiment in how more vibrant public infrastructures can improve the quality of our lives. Our art and design team included Chef Nadine Nelson of Global Local Gourmet and the Golden Arrows design collective. Many thanks to our community partners : Upham's Corner Main Street, The Food Project, Shirley Eustis House, Haley House, Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative and City Growers. And to our funders: The Praxis Project's Communities Creating Healthy Environments Initiative, ArtPlace and The Boston Foundation.
PUBLIC KITCHEN in 2024
This season, we invite you to experience and co-design Public Kitchen with us EVERY Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 3-7pm at 545 Columbia Road, from July 19th through October 12th. Come cook, eat, relax, meet a neighbor, learn how to can veggies and make hot sauce, share a recipe, kick a leg up, enjoy fresh food and aguas frescas, and more!
Enjoy some pics from Public Kitchen’s summer/fall 2024 activation…
