Drawing from her Fifth Points of the Compass series—where a fixed-focus camera positioned from her fifth-floor apartment at the Chelsea Hotel became both instrument and constraint—the artist Bettina devised a system of observation that balanced structure with chance. Through the repetitive act of documentation, Bettina sought to reveal rhythm within the undefined, to locate constancy amid flux. Her lens, fixed yet endlessly searching, established a poetics of attention: the artist herself as the steady axis around which the movements of the city street unfolded.
Inspired by Bettina’s cycles of making, Franklin Furnace was invited to present an activation within the exhibition space on December 11, 2025. The event reimagined moments from “Fifth Points of the Compass: Studies in Random Constant: Fixed Focus: 29 Boxes, 16 Images, 15 Minutes, 2 Men, 1 Handtruck, 1977-1985″. through projection, unfolding as a “movable painting” that gradually transformed into a surface. The afternoon’s activation took place both within the room and across the projected planes, immersing participants in a shifting environment of image and presence. The activation marked the conclusion of Phase I of Original Order, Order Original at the Ruth Foundation, curated by Andrea Andersson of Rivers Institute.
The Franklin Furnace program Internal Combustion: Staging Surfaces unfolded in three parts:
I. Guest appearance: Martha Wilson, Franklin Furnace’s Founding Director Emerita, performed a piece from her Political Evolution series—and appeared as herself.
II. Archival presentation: Memory Work highlighted parallel approaches from Franklin Furnace’s Artists’ Books and Events Archives, presented by Senior Archivist Fang-Yu Liu.
III. Performative lecture: Outside In presented a continuous unboxing of his collection of boxes / an interactive storytelling experience presented by Ken Dewey Director Harley Spiller.
The event was produced by Xinan Ran, with technical support from Rohan Subramaniam and assistance from Helen Vong and Georgia Helena Burki of the Franklin Furnace team. It was made possible through the generous support of the Ruth Foundation for the Arts.
“Memory Work” presentation by Fang-Yu Liu. Video by Rohan Subramaniam
“Outside In” presentation by Harley Spiller. Video by Rohan Subramaniam
About the presenters:
Fang-Yu Liu is a Taiwanese-born archivist based in New York. Her research and curatorial interests center on artists’ books and time-based art, with particular attention to the themes of ephemerality and malleability of memories. She currently serves as Senior Archivist at Franklin Furnace Archive.
Harley Spiller is an artist and arts administrator. Now serving as the Ken Dewey Director of Franklin Furnace, Harley’s art focuses on collections of everyday artifacts. His book Keep the Change: A Collector’s Tales of Lucky Pennies, Counterfeit C-Notes, and Other Curious Currency (Princeton Architectural Press) was selected by Roberta Smith as one of 2015’s top ten art books. His collections have been exhibited internationally, from el Museo de Bellas Artes Caracas to the Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum.
Martha Wilson is a pioneering feminist artist and gallery director, who over the past five decades created innovative photographic and video works that explore her female subjectivity through role-playing, costume transformations, and “invasions” of other people’s personae. In 1976 she founded, and as Founding Director Emerita, continues to help direct Franklin Furnace, an artist-run space that champions the exploration, promotion and preservation of artists’ books, installation art, video, online and performance art, further challenging institutional norms, the roles artists play within society, and expectations about what constitutes acceptable art mediums.
Xinan Helen Ran creates scalable installations and searches for the point where trauma, nihilism, and humor converge. Ranked “Highbrow and Brilliant” by the New York Magazine Matrix, she is a 2025 MacDowell Fellow, a 2024 More Art Commission Artist, a 2024 New York State Council on the Arts grant recipient, and has exhibited nationally and internationally. Xinan is also an art educator, set designer, and the Program Director of Franklin Furnace. www.xinanran.work
