RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES
Franklin Furnace Event Archives of Variable Media Art
The physical archives of Franklin Furnace consist of documentation of events presented or funded by the organization from 1976 to the present. Files are arranged by artist's last name, and then broken down by events; for example, Karen Finley's work is represented in four event files, one for her first performance in New York in 1983; one each for the two performances paid for by her Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art award in 1985; and one for her 1990 installation, "A Woman's Life Isn't Worth Much." Each Event file usually contains correspondence with artists and others, slide and b/w photographic images, press releease, announcement cards and/or posters, proposal material including resume, sometimes drawings and other materials.
Each file is also documented in The Unwritten History Project on Franklin Furnace's website in a database that can be sorted by Artist/Group/Curator Name, Event Title, Genre and Date. Selections from 26 of these files (one for each letter of the alphabet) were digitized under the aegis of a 2001 NEA Heritage & Preservation grant.
Franklin Furnace is endeavoring to raise funds to publish its in-house database online. Each time-based artwork is defined as a single event, which is catalogued as a discrete record in the Event database. The Event database contains primary information about the event and functions as the central switching station through which the information from all the related databases interconnect. Related databases that add to the definition of the Event database include Artist/Group Name, Contact Information, Image, Moving Image, Audio, Term (thesaurus), Press, Publication (by Franklin Furnace), and Calendar.
Research appointments to view Franklin Furnace's physical archives and use its in-house database are available on-site to members of Franklin Furnace. An appointment is necessary. Only one person is permitted per appointment due to space and staff limitations. Call Michael Katchen, Senior Archivist, at 718-398-7255.
Lending and Viewing Policies for Moving Image Collection
The Moving Image Collection is composed almost exclusively of video documentation of artists presented or funded by Franklin Furnace.
Because it is a research collection and permissions have not been granted by the artists for distribution, you may view tapes onsite but they may not be copied or removed. If you wish to rent a tape, we recommend you contact a professional distributor of performance art videos:
Electronic Arts Intermix
535 West 22 Street floor 5
New York, NY 10011
t 212 337 0680
f 212 337 0679
email: info@eai.org
www.eai.org
Video Data Bank
112 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, Il 60603
Fax: 312.541.8073
Tel: 312.345.3550
email: info@vdb.org
www.vdb.org