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PERFORMANCE

The performances and exhibitions which Martha creates can be of different contextual messages and hold different meanings to the eyes of the beholder, but most of the performances focus around her feminist view point or have a link to the topic, which to this day still generates a big talking point.

Franklin Furnace

It all started in 1976, when Martha saw that major institutions were not accommodating works of art being published by artists, and decided to gather, exhibit, sell, preserve and proselytize on behalf of the form that came to be known as "artists' books." Wilson opened Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc. in her living loft (which happened to be a storefront) on April 3rd, 1976. Soon after, Printed Matter, Inc. came into being the publish and distributing company for the artists' books. Franklin Furnace taking the not-for-profit activities of collecting, cataloging, preserving, exhibiting and related activities like artists' readings, the activity that evolved in turn into the performance art program. Printed Matter published and sold artists' books as a for-profit corporation, (and later sought and received not-for-profit status too).

Franklin Furnace's presentation of temporary installation work and what came to be known as performance art started right from the start. The artists who were publishing artists' books were the same ones who considered the text to be a visual art medium Jenny Holzer and Barbara Kruger are two main influences behind this. Martine Aballea, whose book was in Franklin Furnace's collection was invited to read in the storefront in June 1976. When she showed up in costume, with her own lamp and stool, the performance art program was born. Although Martha called it Artists Readings in the beginning, every artist chose to manipulate the performance elements of text, image and time, from a very simple 1977 performance by Robert Wilson of the word "there" repeated 144 times with a chair on stage, to the more messy 1983 performance of Karen Finley taking a bath in a suitcase and making love to a chair with Wesson oil. Franklin Furnace's niche became the bottom of the food chain, premiering artists in New York who later emerged as art world stars: Ida Applebroog, Eric Bogosian, David Cale, Willie Cole, Guillermo Gomez-Peña, Ann Hamilton, Theodora Skipitares, Michael Smith, Annie Sprinkle, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Paul Zaloom, and hundreds of others.

P.P.O.W

P•P•O•W was founded by Wendy Olsoff and Penny Pilkington in the first wave of the East-Village Art Scene in New York City in 1983. In 1988 the gallery moved to Soho and in 2002 moved to Chelsea. P•P•O•W maintains a diverse roster of national and international artists. Since its inception, the gallery has remained true to its early vision, showing contemporary work in all media. There is a commitment to representational painting and sculpture and artists who create work with social and political content. Martha Wilson has worked closely with this gallery showing her works/events and exhibitions here since joining in may 2011.

The works which are exhibited in the gallery are embedded with the ideas Martha has being concerned about for four decades. Wilson's new work 'I have become my own worst fear' which is available at the gallery, consist largely of photo/text image which will be shown with a videotape made by the artist in 1974. The works on view consist of nine new photo/text works created in 2008 along with two early works in her career, Alchemy, from 1973 and My Authentic Self from 1974.

Staging the Self 20th March to 10th May 2009

This exhibition by Martha Wilson and Peter Dykhuis for The Dalhousie Art Gallery provides deeper meaning and understanding of the work she creates through a series of images and well constructed characters surround the interpretations one may have to a certain type of person. It's not only her work which holds key significance to this gallery exhibition but it is also the work of performance artist's over a period of Three decades which have being involved with Franklin Furnace focusing on archival documentation work, which holds significance to this subject.

Wilson generated pioneering photographic and video work that explored her female subjectivity through role playing, costume transformations and invasions of male and other female personas. She further developed her performative and video-based practice after moving to New York City in 1975 where she was also instrumental in founding and then directing Franklin Furnace, a downtown artist-run centre dedicated to the exploration and promotion of innovative installation, performance and time-based art practices.

This exhibition highlights the stages of Wilson’s creative contributions within the context of early feminist and socially engaged studio practice as well as her dissemination of the work of like-minded individuals through the endorsement of Franklin Furnace. Central to the exhibition is Wilson’s presence as an agent of transformative change, initially in her artwork and then her facilitation of cultural change through her Directorial presence at Franklin Furnace. Wilson’s selection of 30 projects from 30 years of programming at Franklin Furnace also becomes a self-portrait of sorts as she highlights works that are historically significant for pushing boundaries within exhibition and display culture as well as society at large.

Wilson and her works

Wilson's works are mainly involved with image, not the image we gain from the piece she has created but the image that is created surrounding a topic/subject. Example of this would be her work from 1974, a portfolio of models, where she in turn creates a series of 'models' through the understanding that one self has about the topic in question. The housewife, The Goddess, The working girl, The Professional, The Earth mother and The Lesbian all of the above are examples of Wilson's. This series of images are based upon ones stereotypical view of the subject matter.

Though most life trajectories are difficult to encapsulate, Wilson’s art and work seems to acknowledge that the experience of any one individual can morph into and connect with many other realities. And it’s this, perhaps, that remains her lifelong, signature strength.

There are many works of Martha Wilson consisting of both image, body and video show casing characters she has created to connect with many other realities, find below a list of her work.

Video

http://www.marthawilson.com/videos.php

Premiere: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 1972

Routine performance: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 1972

Art sucks: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 1972

Appearance as value: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 1972

Cauterisation: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 1974

Deformation: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 1974

Martha Wilson as Nancy Reagan: For Oracle, performance series at Exit Art, New York, 1985

Martha Wilson as Nancy Reagan "Nancy Reagan beats Cancer": Sideshows by the Seashore, Coney Island, July 13th, 1986

Martha Wilson as Nancy Reagan "Nancy Reagan director": Atomic Gospel Hour, New York City, April 12th, 1987

Martha Wilson as Barbara Bush: Upstream Arts, Staten Island C.T.V, March 11th, 1991

Martha Wilson as Tipper Gore "Beauty and the Beast: The Weight Thing": Tacoma, WA, April 16, 1994

Martha Wilson as Tipper Gore "Body Politic: Mental Health": Cooper Union, N.Y.C, February 15th, 1994

Martha Wilson as Barbara Bush "Separated at Birth" : New York, NY 2003

Selected Performances & Exhibitions

1972

• Captivating a man

1973

• Posturing: Drag
• Posturing: Age transformations
• Posturing: Male impersonator, Butch
• Breast forms permutated
• Transformance: Claudia

1974

• I make up the image of my perfection/ I make up the image of my deformity
• A portfolio of Models: The Goddess, The Housewife, The Working girl, The Professional, The Earth Mother, The Lesbian

1975

• De-Formation

1976

• Franklin Furnace founded
• Queen

1980

• Disband

1985

• Just Say No to Arms Control

1992

• Barbara Bush on Abuse

1994

• Tipper Gore: Advice for the 90's

2002-

• Gloria: Another look at Feminist Art in the 1970s
• Personal & Political

2005

• How American Women Artists invented Post-Modernism

2006

• The Downtown Show

2007

• WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution

2008

• Martha Wilson: Photo/text works, 1971-74
• Looking back: The White Columns Annual
• re.act.feminism

2009

• 40 Years 40 Projects
• Martha Wilson: Staging the Self

2010

• The Man I Wish I Was
• Donna: Avangurdia Feminista Negli Anni '70

2011

• Solo exhibitions

Disband

Disband, based in New York City from 1978-1982 was formed by Martha Wilson, IIona Granet, Donna Hennes, Ingrid Sischy and Dianne Torr. The band didn't see themselves are musicians but rather artists who performed using spoken word and noise. The bands sound type was that of a cappella performing mostly at Franklin Furnace along P.S.1 contemporary arts centre, where they reformed for a one off performance in 2008 as part of WACK! Art and feminist revolution which was an exhibition put together by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

The band were very popular within a feminist art audience. Creating music such as Sad, Everyday the same old way, Look at my dick and Missels and Pistols w/ chance for peace.