Luce Marinetti Barbi, All Manifesto Show, 6/1/1986, installation view.
History
Franklin Furnace was founded in 1976 to serve artists who chose publishing as a primary, “democratic” artistic medium, and were not being supported by existing arts organizations. From its inception, Franklin Furnace’s energies have been focused on three aspects of “time-based” programming: a collection of artists’ books; a performance art program for emerging artists; and exhibitions of time-based arts, both site-specific works by contemporary artists, and historical and contemporary exhibitions of artists’ books and other time-based, ephemeral arts.
During the last 45 years, Franklin Furnace has gained a national and international reputation for identifying artists who have changed the terms by which contemporary art is discussed; mounted scholarly exhibitions that have embodied the history of 20th-century avant-garde activity; and stood up for the right of the artists to freedom of expression as guaranteed under the First Amendment.
Among those artists who were given the opportunity to mount their first New York shows at Franklin Furnace are Ida Applebroog, Guillaume Bijl, Dara Birnbaum, Willie Cole, James Coleman, Jenny Holzer, Tehching Hsieh, Barbara Kruger, Matt Mullican, Shirin Neshat, and Krysztof Wodiczko. Among the performance artists who got their start at Franklin Furnace are Eric Bogosian, David Cale, Guillermo Gomez-Peña, Karen Finley, Robbie McCauley, Theodora Skipitares, Michael Smith, and Paul Zaloom. Additionally, Franklin Furnace’s performance art program has enabled more established artists like Vito Acconci, Laurie Anderson, Jennifer Bartlett, Lee Breuer, Richard Foreman, Joan Jonas, Pope.L, and William Wegman to experiment in ways that would be inappropriate for mainstream venues which attract larger audiences. Franklin Furnace’s exhibition program has included many historically notable exhibitions of time-based art of an ephemeral nature. Critically-celebrated exhibitions on Cubist books and prints, Fluxus, and Russian Samizdat art have contributed to international art historical scholarship.
In November, 1993, Franklin Furnace and the Museum of Modern Art signed an agreement to merge Franklin Furnace’s collection of artists’ books published internationally after 1960, the largest repository of this nature in the United States, with that of MOMA, forming a resource of unparalleled value: the Museum of Modern Art / Franklin Furnace / Artist Book Collection.
Franklin Furnace’s basement performance space was closed by the New York City Fire Department in 1990 in response to an anonymous caller. Since that time Franklin Furnace has been presenting performance art to new audiences throughout the City by developing strategic partnerships with institutions large and small, from The New School for Social Research to Dixon Place. Between 1998 and 1999, Franklin Furnace presented new temporal art to worldwide audiences through a pioneering online collaboration with Pseudo Programs, Inc.
In 1996-1997, during its 20th anniversary season, Franklin Furnace reinvented itself as a “virtual institution,” not identified with its real estate but rather with its resources, made accessible by electronic and other means. No longer providing a venue for performance art projects, the organization concentrated on awarding grants to artists via the Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art and the Future of the Present programs. In the spring of 2008, Franklin Furnace combined the Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art and the Future of the Present programs into a single program entitled the Franklin Furnace Fund.
In December, 2014, Franklin Furnace relocated to Pratt Institute’s Brooklyn campus under an organization-in-residence agreement. The decision to “nest” within Pratt Institute coincided with their announcement of a new Master of Fine Arts program in Performance + Performance Studies.
In March 2020, Franklin Furnace’s SEQuential ART for KIDS program continued working in NYC public schools despite the pandemic. Teaching artist Naimah Hassan was the first to continue transcending tradition by shifting to online teaching and publishing There’s No Place Like Home, an illustrated book created with and for her 4th grade students at PS 20, The Clinton Hill School, Brooklyn.
In mid-2020 in response to the global pandemic, Franklin Furnace pivoted to continue its services for avant-garde artists and their aficionados. Our Internship program went virtual and is now working on mutually-benefical remote projects with more university students than ever before, and we launched The Loft, our new digital online presenting platform – by Autumn 2021, The Loft presented the work of 100+ FF artists in 21 free public programs.
by Martha Wilson, Franklin Furnace Founding Director, 1998.
This essay is the first of a two-part series entitled: “The Whys and Hows of Deinstitutionalization,” concerning Franklin Furnace and the decisions made in the process of going virtual. The first part on the “Whys” was written by Martha Wilson, Founding Director of Franklin Furnace. The “Hows” are explored by Michael Katchen, Archivist of Franklin Furnace.
by Michael Katchen, Franklin Furnace Senior Archivist, 1998.
This essay is the second of a two part series titled: ” The Whys and Hows of Deinstitutionalization,” concerning Franklin Furnace and the decisions made in the process of going virtual. The first part on the “Whys” was written by Martha Wilson, Founding Director of Franklin Furnace. The “Hows” are explored by Michael Katchen, Archivist of Franklin Furnace.
Find Toni Sant’s Book on Franklin Furnace here.
TDR Magazine Spring 2005
T185 contains an Introduction by Mariellen R. Sandford and articles by C. Carr, Jacki Apple, Toni Sant, Clive Phillpot, Alan Moore and Debra Wacks and Martha Wilson which discuss the history of Franklin Furnace from its humble beginnings in 1976 to “going virtual,” tracing a quarter century of making the world safe for avant-garde art. The articles are in PDF format.
by Mariellen R. Sandford
by C. Carr
by Jacki Apple
by Alan Moore with Debra Wacks
An interview by Toni Sant
Below is the article “Franklin Furnace and Martha Wilson: On a Mission to Make the World Safe for Avantgarde Art” split into four parts:
You can download a PDF version of the Vocabulary Project here.
CAA Art Journal
Martha Wilson was the Guest Editor for College Art Association’s Art Journal Winter 1997 issue on Performance Art, Performance Art: (Some) Theory and (Selected) Practice at the End of This Century. A call for papers brought in a grand flood of materials. This on-line version includes articles which were not published in the paper version.
The statements listed below were all written by artist members of the College Art Association (CAA), and cover diverse aspects of the theory and practice of art in performance. They were originally brought together for a special ‘performance art’ edition of Art Journal (Winter edition, 1997 Vol. 56, No.4), which was guest edited by Martha Wilson. Franklin Furnace is proud to be able to present these statements here, as part of the Franklin Furnace archive of Deep Research, since they are some of the many very interesting statements which sadly but finally could not be included in the published version of the Journal, due to lack of space.
The copyright remains with artists at all times.
by Ken Butler
by Billy Curmano [INCOMPLETE]
by Barbara Ess [INCOMPLETE]
by Coco Fusco [INCOMPLETE]
by Donna Henes [INCOMPLETE]
by Nigel Rolfe [INCOMPLETE]
by Michael Smith
by Amanda Heng
by Kim Irwin [INCOMPLETE]
by Tari Ito
by David Leslie [INCOMPLETE]
by Jesse Jane Lewis [INCOMPLETE]
by Elvira Santamaria
by Andre Stitt
by Lucy Lippard [INCOMPLETE]
by John Malpede
by Tanya Mouraud [INCOMPLETE]
by Pat Oleszko [INCOMPLETE]
by Yvonne Rainer
by Bonnie Sherk [INCOMPLETE]
by Fiona Templeton
by Diane Torr
Leonardo Magazine, Vol. 38, Number 3
Leonardo Magazine Volume 38 Number 3 is the first of several to be guest edited by Martha Wilson containing articles which examine live art and science on the Internet and issues raised such as mediatization, online activism, surveillance, and identity/gender, among other subjects. Below is a collection of texts related to Franklin Furnace:
by Martha Wilson
by Mouchette with Manthos Santorineos, introduction by Toni Sant [INCOMPLETE]
by Lynn Hershman
by Antoinette LaFarge and Robert Allen
Fluxus historian Owen Smith and Fluxus artist FF Alum Ken Friedman have developed a special double issue of the journal Visible Language on Fluxus, issues 39.3 and 40.1.
The publishers of Visible Language have made a sampler from issue 40.1 available as a PDF file to FF readers. Click [ INCOMPLETE ].
In the first issue, French art historian and critic Bertrand Clavez writes on “Fluxus — reference or paradigm for young contemporary artists?” and Norwegian art historian Ina Blom writes on “Fluxus Futures, Ben Vautier’s signature acts and the historiography of the avant-garde.” In this issue, University of Maine art historian Owen Smith also writes on “Teaching and Learning about Fluxus: thoughts, observations and suggestions from the front lines,” and Friedman and Smith together write on “History, Historiography and Legacy.”
In the second issue, Minnesota artist and editor Ann Klefstad asks on “What Has Fluxus Created?” and game designer Celia Pearce writes on “Games as Art: The Aesthetics of Play.” This issue also contains Friedman and Smith’s article, “The Dialectics of Legacy,” together with a bibliographic essay on “The Literature of Fluxus,” and a selective bibliography of Fluxus.
The double issue also contains three special anthologies.
The first is the long-awaited “Fluxkids” anthology compiled by art historian (and Fluxkid) Hannah Higgins. In this collection. The authors are Bibbi Hansen (daughter of Al and mother of Beck), Bracken Hendricks and Tyche Hendricks (son and daughter of Geoff Hendricks and Bici Forbes), Hannah Higgins and Jessica Higgins (daughters of Dick Higgins and Alison Knowles), Clarinda and Mordecai-Mark Mac Low (daughter and son of Jackson Mac Low).
The second anthology is a performative — and performable — transcription of event scores by artist Lisa Moren. Moren’s selection brings classic Fluxus event scores together with piece that could (or possibly should) have been events by many artists. Titled “Keep Walking Intently,” the piece is set in a format created by typographer Margaret Re and reset for Visible Language by designer Mark Nystrom. This anthology contains a special introduction by Ina Blom titled, “Signatures, Music, Computers, Paranoia, Smells, Danger & the Sky.” The artists in Moren’s interpretive anthology include Christian Marclay, Takehisa Kosugi, David Rokeby, Milan Knizak, Yoko Ono, George Brecht, Yoko Ono, Hugh Pocock, Bengt af Klintberg, Sophie Calle, Allen Kaprow, and many more.
The third anthology is titled “Artists’ Statements.” In this collection, Owen Smith invited eleven artists and one group to discuss their work in relation to the earlier Fluxus contribution. There are some of the artists that can be seen as “new Fluxus” artists. Neither members of the original Fluxus group nor secondary artists who might be called “neo Fluxus,” these artists inhabit the site of Fluxus, developing and interpreting the Fluxus tradition in a new way. The artists in this collection are Alan Bowman, Bibiana Padilla Maltos, Cecil Touchon, David-Baptiste Chirot, David Cologiovani, Eryk Salvaggio, Litsa Spathi, mIEKAL aND, MTAA, Ruud Janssen, Sol Nte, and Walter Cianciusi.
Friedman, Ken, and Owen Smith. 2006. “The Dialectics of Legacy.” Fluxus After Fluxus. Visible Language. Vol. 40, No. 1, 4-11. [Special journal issue.]
Friedman, Ken. 2006. “The Literature of Fluxus.” Fluxus After Fluxus. Visible Language. Vol. 40, No. 1, 90-112. [Special journal issue.]
Friedman, Ken, and Owen Smith. 2006. “A Fluxus Bibliography.” Fluxus After Fluxus. Visible Language. Vol. 40, No. 1, 114-127. [Special journal issue.]
The complete double set is available from Carrie Harris at the Rhode Island School of Design. For more information, write to:
charris@risd.edu
Below is a collection of texts related to Franklin Furnace:
by Alanna Lockward
by Kenneth Schlesinger
by Martha Wilson
by Robert Ayers
by Ken Friedman
by Cristyn Davies
by Martha Wilson
Below is the collection of texts and resources related to the NEA 4:
The bibliography contains a listing of reference books in Franklin Furnace’s office library.
Audrey Jajich compiled the information in 2004.
Launch the bibliography.
FranklinFurnace.org launched on October 25, 1996 with its first look and feel designed by Seth Zalman, who volunteered to be Franklin Furnace’s first Webmaster. William Wegman’s 1983 drawing, “Visit the New Facility,” was Franklin Furnace’s first splash page, aptly symbolizing our impending transformation from physical to virtual.
Betsey Gallagher, Program Coordinator, worked with Daniel Georges, artist and curator of “In the Flow: Alternate Authoring Strategies,” Franklin Furnace’s 20th anniversary exhibition, designing our February 1, 1997 splash page, the first face of Franklin Furnace as a virtual entity.
In 1998, Alice Wu created a new site to celebrate Franklin Furnace’s first forays into the world of online performance art in collaboration with Pseudo.com.
In 1999, Alice handed the site off to Tiffany Ludwig who developed Franklin Furnace’s physical and virtual worlds.
In 2001, Tiffany designed a new navigation scheme, look and feel to celebrate Franklin Furnace’s 25th Anniversary.
In 2005, Dolores Zorreguieta in collaboration with Oliver Wunsch and Ella Bjelm, designed a new site reorganizing and renaming Franklin Furnace’s categories.
In 2008, Moran Been-noon and Christine Tadler, Franklin Furnace interns obtaining their MFA degrees at SVA, reorganized the site according to a 30th anniversary template developed by Franklin Furnace’s staff.
Past campaigns are for view only and are not active. Click here to become a member.
“Franklin Furnace’s first stationery was designed by me, I guess. I wanted to go with the Franklin Stove inference, a museum for hot air, so I selected a chunky, 19th century industrial face and printed it in gray. Otherwise, our graphic identity for the first two seasons was largely determined by the IBM Selectric typewriter balls on hand. A young professional designer in a black shirt as I recall did the first professional-looking calendars in 1978-79. I can’t remember his name anymore, and there is no design credit on the calendars, but the logo he designed was incorporated by artist and sign painter Ilona Granet into Franklin Furnace’s sign. Artist Joe Lowery, friend of artist Bill Gordh, Franklin Furnace’s “ground control” dude, had a hand in the design of calendars, stationery, labels and such in the early 80s. During the 80s there were a plethora of stationery designs, no two alike, plus each Flue was designed by an artist so each one had a completely different look. Artist Kathy Grove created the shaded portion of our 12th anniversary stationery, “Hot for a Dozen Years”, with carefully air-compressed shadow around two edges. Unfortunately the printer’s thumb ruined the paste-up and we had to start over. Barbara Kruger told me not to use the image of matches strewn on the page, as they fed the inflammatory accusations being made at the time. Talented interns like Brad Rice (1984) and Program Coordinator Isabel Samaras took turns at designing stationery and calendars. At the request of Jackie Schiffman, Franklin Furnace’s Director of Development, Board member Lawrence Weiner designed a Members’ Passport in 1988, in which rubber-stamp images created by performance artists in our program were stamped on Members’ attendance. At the end of the 80s we decided to hold a logo contest. We sent out a call, and got great submissions, but the clear winner was Pavel Buchler, Czech artist and friend of Jaroslav Andel, curator of “The Avant-Garde Book” show. He used the corner of the page itself as part of the FF logo, subliminally suggesting the page as an artspace. During the 90s, artist Carol Sun adapted Franklin Furnace’s logo several times over, creating adventuresome designs including one with little FFs floating in orange bubbles. Our 25th anniversary stationery was designed by Jackie Goldberg of Razorfish, at the request of Alexandra Anderson-Spivy, Franklin Furnace’s fearless Chair. Jackie didn’t throw out the FF logo everyone had come to recognize but morphed it into two angular shapes on the page. Plus she selected hot pink, black and gray as our 25th anniversary palette, for which I will love her forever. When Franklin Furnace moved to the BAM cultural district, Program Coordinator Dolores Zorreguieta used Jackie Goldberg’s design as a springboard to leap to the design we are using to embark upon our 30th anniversary season.” – Martha Wilson