KAJE was formed in the space between two artists’ studios as a dedication to the intermingling of attitudes, imaginations, and artwork. The two founders began inviting artists into this space in 2017 to exchange outlooks on contemporary art-making, and to better understand the parameters of our community’s artistic intentions. Over time, KAJE operations have evolved to achieve greater autonomy as an outright entity, but our mission remains—to support creative impulses that are difficult to define, and in need of participatory testing grounds. KAJE engages an array of creative languages to invoke new styles of audienceship through nontraditional programming, and a spirit of spontaneity. Results range from dance to dinners to installations of drawing; automated sound sculpture, screening series, research and readings and the cultivation of communal discourse. KAJE does not target a singular model for accomplishing our mission. We summon diverse collaborations along many axes, including discipline, career stage, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and ideological perspective. In a climate where the majority of the arts programming in New York City is market driven, KAJE is a place to suspend belief and develop experimental voices beyond the anxieties of that marketplace—specifically, by developing forms of expression the market overlooks, or deems unprofitable.

Photo by Kate Levant, 2022