Franklin Furnace: Performance and Politics

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Franklin Furnace: Performance and Politics, co-curated by Martha Wilson and Oraison H. Larmon, is a collection of archival records that document the historical, cultural, and political legacy of Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc. Spanning the last four decades the collection brings together 42 works selected from Franklin Furnace's Event Archives that were produced, funded, or presented by the organization. It also features early solo performance artworks by Martha Wilson prior to her establishing Franklin Furnace in 1976. The records in the collection include textual documents, slides, photographs, moving images, and other artifacts that document the organization as a contemporary avant-garde venue in New York City. Franklin Furnace is known for presenting artists who radically engage social agendas, making them vulnerable to institutional neglect, cultural bias, and mainstream censorship.

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The collection features artists from across the Americas who confront sociopolitical issues through various art practices—artists' books, concrete poetry, literary performance, temporary installation art, performance for the camera, cyberformance, and performance art. This archival body of materials focuses on the important artworks of women, queer/trans folks, and people of color, who are largely excluded from the historical record. These artists examine the politics of race, gender, and sexuality while forming new political imaginaries that challenge unjust social policies, violations of rights, and hegemonic power structures. Due to the transgressive nature of such works, many of the artists in the collection remain underrepresented in the art world. Artists at different stages in their careers are juxtaposed to produce new meanings, dialogues, and relationships across generations. By historically preserving the records of these artists, the Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library provides a space for such to live, perform, and engage political issues that are relevant today.