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 | 12/22/2025
Contents for December 22nd, 2025 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Weekly Spotlight: Standing Slightly Outside: Franklin Furnace 1976—2026, an exhibition at BAM – Brooklyn Academy of Music, thru April 11, 2026 Weekly Spotlight: Franklin Furnace receives inaugural Cai Guo Qiang Foundation Archival Contribution Award 1. Linda Montano, Marina Abramović,
Goings On | 12/15/2025
Contents for December 15th, 2025 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. Coco Fusco, FF Alumn, at El Museo del Barrio, Manhattan, thru March 1, 2026 2. Coco Fusco, FF Alumn, selected for Best Art of 2025 lists, NYTimes and Hyperallergic.com 3. James Hannaham, FF Alumn, now online at NYTimes.com
“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
Lettrism in America – An Avant-Garde’s Journey Overseas
[January 27, 2026. 6:00pm EST] A public lecture on the history of the American reception and impact of one of the most radical Parisian late avant-gardes: the Lettrist movement.
Random Excess: Linearity to Labyrinthian
[January 26, 2026. 6:00pm EST streamed live from Center for Book Arts, New York]
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).