Performance artist Martha Wilson is Founding Director of Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc., a museum in lower Manhattan which, since its inception in 1976, has presented and preserved temporal art: artists’ books and other multiples produced internationally after 1960; temporary installations; and performance art. On Franklin Furnace’s 20th anniversary, the organization “went virtual,” its website, www.franklinfurnace.org, becoming its public face. In 1998, Franklin Furnace presented its first program of “live art on the Internet,” viewing cyberspace as offering the same freedom of expression as Franklin Furnace provided in its 70s loft space. During the last 30 years, Franklin Furnace has presented 1,832 events in real time and space and in cyberspace.

Trained in English Literature, Ms. Wilson was teaching at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design when she became fascinated by the intersection of text and image. As an artist, she has performed in the guises of Alexander Haig, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, and Tipper Gore. Ms. Wilson lectures widely on the book as an art form; on performance art; on “live art on the Internet”; and has developed exhibitions, publications, courses and pedagogical resources concerning the artistic movement and philosophy we now know as Postmodernism.

Martha Wilson

Founding Director
Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc.
80 Arts The James E. Davis Arts Building
80 Hanson Place #301
Brooklyn, NY 11217-1506
E-mail: Martha@franklinfurnace.org