Exhibitions
Hidden in the Stacks
Hidden in the Stacks: Digitizing the Franklin Furnace Archive Artists’ Books Vertical Files
This exhibition puts together 30 artists’ books with their vertical files, which are collections of supporting material, including bibliographic sheets, biography forms, correspondence, ephemera, news media, slide documentations, writings, and more. Much of this “behind the scenes” information about Franklin Furnace’s artists’ books collection is being made public for the first-time. Hidden in the Stacks highlights the publications of 18 artists who have worked closely with Franklin Furnace since the 1980s.
ABC to Z
ABC to Z: Abecedaria & Dictionaries from Franklin Furnace’s Artist Books Collection
Dictionaries, anthologies, and ABCs are universally recognized building blocks for learning. ABC to Z brings together highlights from Franklin Furnace’s Artists’ Book Collection to showcase the diverse ways artists utilize and transform traditional book formats.
Some artists play with the visual structure of letters to abstract them from their linguistic associations. Others assign personal rather than universal meaning to letters, creating an alphabet for one.
Shared Storytelling
Shared Storytelling: New Acquisitions from Franklin Furnace’s Artist Book Collection
This artists’ book exhibition includes new works donated to Franklin Furnace Archive in between 2018 to 2022. “New Acquisitions” brings together 12 artists, ranging from Gen Z students to long-practicing book artists. Their works experiments with diverse printing methods including lithography, risograph and historical photograph process. This collection of works examines the role of memory and the power of shared storytelling in shaping narratives.
The Ballad of Reversals
The Ballad of Reversals: Ephemeral Images of Ephemeral Art | LIVE AT THE LIBRARY IX
The exhibition The Ballad of Reversals: Ephemeral Images of Ephemeral Art reflects on the medium of reversal film through the image archives at Franklin Furnace. It explores the paradoxical nature of the now obsolete medium through images and
physical slides drawn from Franklin Furnace’s Event archives. The exhibition also features a glass vitrine
in which visitors can glimpse a simulated darkroom wherein the “magic” of photographic image making
takes place.
Dragging the Archive
Dragging the Archive: A personal re:encounter with Franklin Furnace’s cyber beginnings by Elly Clarke.
Dragging the Archive is an online/onsite exhibition of materials from the early cyber years of Franklin Furnace Archive, 1996-2002. Founded in 1976 in artist Martha Wilson’s living loft in Tribeca, Franklin Furnace Archive, continues to support the production, presentation, and preservation of what was once known as ‘ephemeral art’, which included artists’ books and live performance. In the mid 1990s, Franklin Furnace transferred its artists’ books collection to MoMA, sold its physical space, and Wilson made the decision to ‘go cyber’. In this way, Franklin Furnace became one of the first arts organizations (anywhere) to support live art on the world wide web.
46: Artists' Books
46: Artists’ Books from Franklin Furnace Archive, 1976-2022
As a celebration of FF’s 46th Anniversary, this exhibition highlights one artists’ book per year from 1976 to 2022, representing 60 international artists in total. Alongside the work of more traditional artists’ book-makers, and that of interdisciplinary artists whose experiences in performance or mail art influence their publications, “46” also features three new videos demonstrating the interactivity of specific artists’ books, as well as selections from The Anamorphosis Prize, 2015-17, an open competition celebrating the creativity and independent efforts of artists who self publish photo-based books.
Historias
Historias – Digital Exhibition
This exhibition brings together multi-media works, dating from the late 1970s through 2020, made by Argentine Franklin Furnace alumns. The curated selection of pieces in this exhibition explore many different sentiments such as solidarity with countries experiencing violations against human rights, disconnects from motherlands, and the desire to escape the mainstream. Hístorias was created with a bilingual format in the spirit of making it more accessible to audiences that normally wouldn’t have been reached.