Welcome to Franklin Furnace
Franklin Furnace’s mission is to present, preserve, interpret, educate, and advocate on behalf of avant-garde art, especially forms that may be vulnerable due to institutional neglect, cultural bias, ephemerality, or politically unpopular content.
The organization provides physical and virtual venues for the presentation of time-based art, including artists’ books and periodicals, performance art, installation art, and unforeseen contemporary avant-garde artforms; and undertakes other activities related to these purposes.
Franklin Furnace is dedicated to serving early-career artists, cultivating appreciation of avant-garde art for all, and fostering artists’ zeal to circulate ideas.
Upcoming Events
Subscribe to our Goings On e-newsletter for the latest information on the local, national, and international activities of Franklin Furnace artists/alumni and members.
Goings On | 08/31/2026
Contents for August 31st, 2026 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1. Martha Wilson, FF Alumn, now online at https://www.naaohistory.com/archive-home 2.
ISSUE Project Room & Franklin Furnace: “Back to the Present” Book Launch at 2026 Brooklyn Book Festival
[September 23, 2026 at 8pm] ISSUE presents an evening of performance and conversation in partnership with Franklin Furnace as part of their 50th anniversary commemoration and November release of Back to the Present: 50 Years of Free Expression with Franklin Furnace, edited by founder and pioneering artist, Martha Wilson.
Back to the Present:
50 Years of Free Expression With Franklin Furnace
A 50th-anniversary celebration of Franklin Furnace, this volume captures five decades of boundary-breaking art and the ongoing fight to defend creative freedom.
Edited by Martha Wilson, this richly illustrated collection brings together:
• Rare, never-before-seen archival materials
• First-person accounts from artists on the front lines of cultural conflict
• Reprinted historical texts + Newly commissioned essays
• And work by groundbreaking artists including Karen Finley, Jenny Holzer, Tehching Hsieh, Ana Mendieta, Shirin Neshat, Claes Oldenburg, Pope.L, Ed Ruscha, and many others whose practices reshape contemporary art.
Coming in November 2026
Book Details
Softcover, 8.5 x 11 in.
352 pages, 300+ images
ISBN: 978-1-7972-4339-9
Franklin Furnace’s FIRST FIFTY
Past Events
“Luendu/Journey” live from Kinshasha: Nada Tshibwabwa
[August 9, 2026] Join us for a special Congolese lunch and watch party featuring Congolese FUND 2025-26 artist Nada Tshibwabwa.
Franklin Furnace’s 50th Birthday JUBILEE Party | Brooklyn Academy of Music | Brooklyn, NY
[April 10, 2026] Join us for a once-in-50-years celebration honoring Franklin Furnace’s Golden Anniversary.
“ICE(age): OCCUPIED STATE” Film Screening
[February 20, 2026. 6:00pm EST] Ice(age), a 35-minute video remediation of ICE depredations, garnered from entrenched reporters witnessing it live.
2026-27 Franklin Furnace FUND for Performance Art Application Information Session
February 4, 2026, 7-8pm EST – Learn what constitutes a well-prepared grant application and ask questions about Franklin Furnace FUND programs from our staff. The session was followed by a
Click to access → past Events and past virtual LOFT records
Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc. gratefully acknowledges the government agencies, foundations, corporations and individuals whose support makes our programs possible:
Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc. programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Franklin Furnace has received support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Arison Arts Foundation, Henry Luce Foundation, Marian Goodman Foundation, Teiger Foundation, and the Willem de Kooning Foundation through Coalition of Small Arts New York City (CoSA NYC).