‘GHOST KITCHEN’ by Soft Baroque
20-26 April, 2026
Via Leone Pancaldo 12
20129 Milano
‘The Frankfurt Kitchen, designed by Margarete
Schütte-Lihotzky in 1926 for the New Frankfurt social
housing project, is considered the first streamlined,
standardised, built-in kitchen. It marked a departure from the series of individual, scattered, furniture-like items that previously formed the vernacular European kitchen.
Like most modernist innovations, it has now been taken
to extremes: a great homogenisation and standardisation has occurred.
White melamine chipboard is king; 60 cm units suit standardised appliances, a consistent depth both
metaphorically and practically. Countertops conform to
a series of letter-based pseudonyms, and many deserted islands.
Ghost Kitchen is a reactionary installation, an attempt
to inject energy, de-serialise and fantasise about the
standard chipboard material. It exists with a foot in
both worlds: embracing the 60 cm module gospel while
decorating it with carved reliefs. A series of new pieces
by Soft Baroque populate this space around the kitchen
table, built-in modules, and fire pit, a return to a version
of primitive cooking and living, realised through high-tech and advanced materials.
The space is a strangely proportioned room; one enters a pit, descending a set of stairs. There is a feeling of a subterranean working environment, something not supposed to be public-facing, but perpetually back-of-house. Like the ghost kitchens set up to appear as normal walk-in restaurants, yet catering only to food delivery customers, considering the disparity between outward appearance and real everyday life.
Our practice sometimes feels like a ghost kitchen: making things and sending them off from
our studio, accompanied by a curated online presence.’
Opening 20 Apr at 17:00
Open 21–26 Apr, 12:00–18:00
Via Leone Pancaldo 12
20129 Milano
[email protected]
📍undergroundintention.com
