Franklin Furnace Archive Inc.

The Future of the Present 2000

(New York, New York, United-States)

Franklin Furnace is a 23-year-old organization devoted to promoting ephemeral art forms neglected by mainstream art institutions. Although well-known for disseminating experimental performance, installation art and artists' books, Franklin Furnace now considers itself a virtual institution. The group sold its major collection of artists' books to the Museum of Modern Art (New York) in 1993 and has moved out of its renowned gallery space. It is now reinventing itself through the Internet.

The Future of the Present 2000 is an innovative residency program encouraging artists to use the Internet to produce avant-garde works. Ten artists were selected by a peer panel in the spring of 1999. Each artist was granted a residency of one month to work on a team with professionals and students in collaboration with Parsons School of Design, Digital Design Department and the NetArt Initiative.

The live Net-art series was presented through Franklin Furnace's Web site until December 2000. Among the Netcasts included in the 2000 edition : 15Minutes 2000 (The Art of Change) by Danny Tisdale, Shared Identityby Scott C. Durkin, Machines by Seemen and Rapid Fire by Andrea Polli.