Franklin Street Works was a contemporary art exhibition space and café located in Stamford,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

. They sponsor 3 to 4 themed exhibitions a year. ''Connecticut Magazine'' described the space as containing “thought provoking... politically motivated” art.Erik Ofgang “Franklin Street Works in Stamford Offers Compelling Pairing of Contemporary Art & Great Food”, ''Connecticut Magazine'', 31 July 2015
/ref> Franklin Street Works logo

History

It is Stamford's first nonprofit modern art gallery and is located in a renovated brick townhouses originally built in the 1880s. It exhibits works by emerging artists and strives to be a cultural laboratory where artists and community members can collaborate and interact. Works also include performances of experimental music and

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

projects. In 2012 it received a grant from the

Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...

Elizabeth Kim, “Quiet Influence”, ''Stamford Advocate'', 9 August 2015
/ref> According to the ''Stamford Daily Voice'': "Franklin Street Works provides the region with critically acclaimed contemporary art exhibitions and programming, garnering positive reviews in international publications such as ArtForum online, Art Papers and Hyperallergic." It organizes approximately three original contemporary art exhibitions each year. Franklin Street Works was founded in 2011 by attorney Kathryn Emmett. It closed in 2020 due to financial pressures related to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

of 2020.

Notable exhibits

''I hear it everywhere I go'', September 2017 – January 2018. A collection of works focussed on the disillusionment with the American Dream. The show was inspired by artist

Cady Noland Cady Noland (born 1956) is an American postmodern conceptual sculptor and an internationally exhibited installation artist whose work deals with the failed promise of the American Dream and the divide between fame and anonymity, among other the ...

's 1987 essay "Towards a Metalanguage of E V I L" and built around socially acceptable forms of violence used to express that discontent. The show was curated by Franklin Street Works creative director, Terri C. Smith. Exhibiting artists include Alex Bag, Michael Blake,

Nayland Blake Nayland is a village and former civil parish in the Stour Valley on the Suffolk side of the border between Suffolk and Essex in England. In 2011 the built-up area had a population of 938. In 1881 the civil parish had a population of 901. Hi ...

, Jen DeNike, Jonah Freeman & Justin Lowe,

Rashid Johnson Rashid Johnson (born 1977) is an American artist who produces conceptual post-black art. Johnson first received critical attention in 2001 at the age of 24, when his work was included in '' Freestyle'' (2001) curated by Thelma Golden at the ...

, Adam McEwen, Rodney McMillian,

Tameka Norris Tameka Norris, also known as. T.J. Dedeaux-Norris and Meka Jean is an American visual and performing artist. Norris uses painting, sculpture, and performance art to create work about racial identity and the simultaneous visibility and invisibilit ...

, Cheryl Pope, Mikel Rouse, and Melissa Vandenberg. ''Cut-Up: Contemporary Collage and Cut-Up Histories through a Feminist Lens'', January – April 2016. Multigenerational women artists spanning 50 years, who pushed the boundary of cut-up techniques across media, including sculpture, video, sound art, painting, performance, printed matter, poetry, and photography. This exhibition was guest curated by

Katie Vida Katie Vida is an American interdisciplinary artist, curator and arts educator based in Brooklyn, New York. She is best known for her performance art, installation art, film, and sound art but also known to create paintings and sculptures. Biograp ...

and featured art by Ruth Anderson, Phyllis Baldino,

Dodie Bellamy Dodie Bellamy (born 1951) is an American novelist, nonfiction author, journalist, educator and editor. Her book, ''Cunt-Ups'' (2001) won the 2002 Firecracker Alternative Book Award. Her work is frequently associated with that of the New Narrativ ...

, Ofri Cnaani, Lourdes Correa-Carlo, Mayme Donsker, Heike-Karin Foell,

Susan Howe Susan Howe (born June 10, 1937) is an American poet, scholar, essayist, and critic, who has been closely associated with the Language poets, among other poetry movements.

, Jennie C. Jones, Alexis Knowlton, Carrie Moyer, Lorraine O’Grady, People Like Us,

Sheila Pepe Sheila Pepe (born Morristown, New Jersey, 1959) is an artist and educator living and working in Brooklyn, New York. She is a prominent figure as a lesbian cross-disciplinary artist, whose work employs conceptualism, surrealism, and craft to addres ...

Faith Ringgold Faith Ringgold (born October 8, 1930 in Harlem, New York City) is an American painter, writer, mixed media sculptor, and performance artist, best known for her narrative quilts. Early life Faith Ringgold was born the youngest of three children ...

Mariah Robertson Mariah Robertson (born 1975) is an American photographer. She lives in New York City. Robertson has exhibited work internationally including at Saatchi Gallery in London and MoMA PS1 in Long Island City. In 2015 she was a co-founded Situations ...

, Carolee Schneemann, Nancy Shaver, Meredyth Sparks, Cauleen Smith,

Martine Syms Martine Syms (born 1988) is an American artist based in Los Angeles who works in publishing, video, installation, and performance. Her work focuses on identity and the portrayal of the self in relation to themes such as feminism and Black cu ...

, and Janice Tanaka. ''Acting on Dreams'', June – August 2015. The show focused on immigration issues through a variety of political and visual tactics. Featuring art by Andrea Bowers, CultureStrike &

JustSeeds Justseeds Artists' Cooperative is a decentralized, worker-owned cooperative of thirty artists throughout North America. Justseeds members primarily produce handmade prints and publications which are distributed through their website and at confe ...

Chitra Ganesh Chitra Ganesh (born 1975) is a visual artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Ganesh's work across media includes: charcoal drawings, digital collages, films, web projects, photographs, and wall murals. Ganesh draws from mythology, literature, and pop ...

and

Mariam Ghani Mariam Ghani (Pashto/Dari: مریم غنی; born 1978) is an Afghan-American visual artist, photographer, filmmaker and social activist. Biography Mariam Ghani was born in 1978 in Brooklyn, New York, of Afghan and Lebanese descent. Her father, Mo ...

, Ghana Think Tank,

Marisa Morán Jahn Marisa Morán Jahn, also known as Marisa Jahn (born 1977) is an American multimedia artist, writer, and educator based in New York City. She is a co-founder and president of Studio REV-, a nonprofit arts organization that creates public art and c ...

(Studio REV-) in collaboration with

National Domestic Workers Alliance The National Domestic Workers Alliance is an advocacy organization promoting the rights of domestic workers in the United States. Founded in 2007, it is made up of 4 local chapters and 63 affiliate organizations around the country, along with th ...

and Caring Across Generations, Jenny Polak, QUEEROCRACY in collaboration with Carlos Motta, and

Favianna Rodriguez Favianna Rodriguez (born September 26, 1978) is an American artist and activist. She has self-identified as queer and Latina with Afro-Peruvian roots. Rodriguez began as a political poster designer in the 1990s in the struggle for racial justic ...

. ''The Sunken Living Room'', April – May 2014. Participating artists investigated the financial crisis, from issues around labor, debt and unemployment to corrupt banking practices and post-industrial urban landscapes, through sculpture, video, texts, drawings, prints and photos. Among other pieces was a sculpture by Constantina Zavitsanos that was a recording of her student debt printed out in hourly increments on paper over a three-year time span. As Zavitsanos put it “When you have a lot of material, you make something out of it. And I had a lot of debt.” ''Kool-Aid Wino'', July – September 2013. The show focussed on how some of the most successful pieces of art are riddled with mistakes that became triumphs. Guest curated by Claire Barliant and featured artists,

Anne Carson Anne Carson (born June 21, 1950) is a Canadian poet, essayist, translator, classicist, and professor. Trained at the University of Toronto, Carson has taught classics, comparative literature, and creative writing at universities across the Unit ...

, Choi Dachal, Frank Heath, Owen Land, Rotem Linial,

James Merrill James Ingram Merrill (March 3, 1926 – February 6, 1995) was an American poet. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1977 for ''Divine Comedies.'' His poetry falls into two distinct bodies of work: the polished and formalist lyri ...

, Alice Miceli,

Jenny Perlin Jenny Perlin (born 1970) is an American artist. Education Perlin earned a Bachelor of Arts in Literature and Society from Brown University and her Masters of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Film. Collections Her wor ...

, Aki Sasamoto.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Culture of Stamford, Connecticut Conceptual art Contemporary art galleries in the United States Art museums and galleries in Connecticut Non-profit organizations based in Connecticut