OW 73 - Outweek.net

'a'n klY' scrutiny is good
, r ' .because that is indeed ,
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what ,we do, and. I
' rn",·aI" would rather die than
nle
. , , not show these artists.
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. '. ., - • ..".i" It says what the'
by Patrlc,k Moore . .avant-garde does mat-
In May of this year, Pranklin . ters like it did in
Furnace became the first real casualtY .Eastern Europe. They
In: the battle, over. government funding, weren't allowed to do,'
for the' arts. WhUe this vet~ space anythlOg :because the
for . tal art in NeW York City government knew that
Will continue to. do vis~alart exhibi... artists can embody dis- " !
tiona on i\"SgrQund floor; 'the inysteri-· sent, and ..that's their
ous black hole of abasement where job,and the .governmany
performers first stepped on a ment didn't want that
stage is aosed",(orever. As the fickle' dissent, Well, if this,
inedia loses interest in the country is now clamp-
NEA (:rlsis,:one.is left'to wonder if the ing dbwn on the artlst,
art5communitY is prepared to help one· then that means the·
of its own.' artist matters, arid the
, ,Prankl~n ,Purnace has always government is:afraid of
seemed like a·~egacy from more radical . ··the dialog that's' been
. times with its focUs on "book art" and started. So it's not the
willingness to engage unkn~wn per- worst of times from a
formers from aaoss the co.untry., Some- .political standpoint at
times it seems, as if the'performance all-it's the best of
scene is a great Lazy Susan and If one times in that the issues
~ a performance, .one need only get aired.
wait a week ~ see the I!IU.De performers On the other
come around again and ~gain. Yet hand, publicity is not
Pranklin Furna~e booked without regard" the same as money.
to gender, race or sexual preference long Somebody in the press
before any:.of these categories' became conference at the'
flavor of the inonth; The simple fac;t ~ Public Theater asked
that the Furnace didn't care If pnly two Karen Pinley, "Why do
people came to sit on the, wildly uncom- you need grant money
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~Ie folding chairs in die forbidding when The New York
basement painted black. Simply being 7Ymes is writing articles
there ~tuted a success. . about you?" And, of
. Martha Wilson, the founder and courSe, you can't pay
director of the Fumace, 'is one of th~ the rent with a New York 7Ymes article.
true heroes' of this aisis as she cantin- Pranklin Purnace is on the same
," I
ues to fight for a space below Canal ephemeral financial basis that it's
Street where ",othemess" is a. fact of always been. It depends on grants',
life. On this day, her wild r~ hair bobs which are not yery 'plentiful, the good
about as sh~ digs thro,ugh piles of Will of artists arid a lot of spit
aeepy letters from the NEA, the Gener- .OUr basement performapce ~,ace
al Accounting Office and the beast hlm- is closed so we've started to look
self, Jesse. Helms.' ~ . , around for other v~ues for' our 'pro-
. , . ". grams. We've already got the grants, so
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. Patrick Moore: What's the cur- we're gomg to go to Judson Memorial
tent ~~s of Pranklin Furnace,? , Olurch, which Is where the artists of the
..Martha wµson: It's like Charles. '60s performed nude all thoSe years ago;
DickenS said, "It's .the best of times All in all, this 'is good. To have
and the worst of times." There's all this our' space
- publldty, all this focus' on Pianklhl PUr- closed is
Dace as the oevu incarnate becaUse it's bad, but
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showing -Karen Finley and these other we can probad
artists llke.P.-ank Moore aqd J()~- s ely t i z e
na Whent. That's very' good. This and draw a
eo OUTWiI.K .D......... r.. 1_
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MARTHA WILSON OF THE FRANKUN RJRNACE
(WAllPAPER BY DOUG KENNY)
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connection between what the artists did
in ~ '60s and what the artiSts are doing
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now. So I still think that while Jesse
Helms is my worst enemy, he's also.my
best friend, . .
Ji
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'PM: Does it matter in a decisive
way that the programing has to .move
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to a diff~t location?
. MW: Only if the character of the
programing changes. Por example,
there's this signing of the anti-obscenlty
pledge thing. I've always maintained
that I would be happy to sign the
pledge; get 'the money and give it to
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