The funny thing about videotapes is that no matter what the labels say, you still can never be completely sure of what you might find when you pop it into the deck (see Gearoid Dolan's Franklin Furnace "proposal" tape i.e. 80s porno "The Doorman Always Comes Twice"). As a student of Moving Image Archiving and Preservation at New York University, currently interning at Franklin Furnace and mining their moving image database, I've seen my fair share formats and descriptive information. Franklin Furnace Archives currently preserves and catalogues some 700+ videos which vary from event documentation, artist proposals, and random news clips and documentaries pertaining to the downtown performance scene and particularly the Art Wars of the early 1990s. While I considered myself to be relatively well-versed on performance art, particularly of the 1970s, I have come across a number of gems which have taken me completely by surprise, particularly works that were ei
Making the World Safe for Avant-Garde Art