Volume 30, No. 1, Mar 2007
Mail Art & Visual Poetry
News
W.W. Hulme II, a leading collector and historian of postage stamps who became the first curator of philately at the National Postal Museum, died in January at the age of 60. A stamp collector since childhood, Hulme had a Navy career and was a corporate executive before joining the postal museum, a branch of the Smithsonian Institution.
PARASTAMP - Four Decades of Artistamps from Fluxus to Internet. 23 March - 24 June 2007. Budapest Museum of Fine Arts. This temporary exhibition will be displayed in the special Print & Drawing Cabinet of the Museum. (see at the end of this mail some more info + pictures about the museum, which is one of the most important museums in Central Europe with a collection from Egyptian Art till the 20th Century) — Press release of the ParaStamp show
A catalog in English and Hungarian will be published in the museum’s traditional series with some illustrations. A preface for the catalog was written by art critic Peter Frank, there is an introduction to the world of artistamps by Kata Bodor (art historian) and an interview with Gyorgy Galantai (curator). Beside the invitation card, a copy of the printed catalog and the poster of the exhibition will be sent to all participants (We apologise in advance if the catalog will only arrive after the opening)
As an integral part of the exhibition a complete internet site is going to be published and will be available on several computers in the exhibition space, of the Museum. The internet site is already under development and is reachable from: www.artpool.hu/Artistamp/ The Parastamp exhibition is the product of one and a half years of preparatory - research and systematisation - work. Based on the various documents and publications available, a collection of materials has been compiled in order to provide an overview of the history of the artistamp through past exhibitions.
This material, together with the clearly arranged documentation of Michael Bidner’s estate and additional pieces from the Artistamp Museum of Artpool, can be studied at leisure by researchers and any interested party during the exhibition in Artpool, in the Artistamp Research Corner during opening hours.
We are still working on completing the documentation of the artistamp history and checking all related documents (announcements, invitation cards, posters, flyers, catalogs, articles). We will try to contact all curators one by one in the coming weeks, in case we are missing information or documents. We would be thankful for your help. Catalogs of which we have a duplicate copy will be available for consultation to the public in the exhibition space at the Museum.
(We may also contact some of you for a second copy for this purpose.)
The opening event will be on 23 March at 11 am - and as to the tradition of the Museum of Fine Arts, will be quite formal. Opening speeches will be held by Dr. Mrta SCHNEIDER - State Secretary in charge of culture at the Ministry of Education and Culture, Istvan HAJDU - art critic, and Dr. Laszlo BAAN - General Director.
On Thursday, April 26, from 6 to 9.30 pm. there will be a special Museum+ event organised for the participants of the ParaStamp show where the public will also be able to meet the artists - there will be an interpreter to help communication - from 7 p.m. Gyrgy Galntai, Jas Felter and the artists present will speak about the exhibiton, their works and experiences. We hope to meet you at this time or sometime during the three months of the exhibition. If you plan to visit the Parastamp exhibition and Artpool, we would like to encourage you to come in April and be here on the 26th, at this probably nice and warm gathering and be our guests for a dinner later in the evening.
Let us finish this already long account with some acknowledgement:We would like to express our thanks as well as respect to all the members of the Mail Art Network, and especially to the following people:
Anna Banana, Vittore Baroni, Thomas Michael Bidner, Al Brandtner, C. T. Chew, Robert Rudine-Dogfish, Jas W. Felter, Peter Frank, Hans Ruedi Fricker, Harley-Terra Candella, John Held Jr., Michael Hernandez De Luna, E. F. Higgins III., Bernd Lbach-Hinweiser, Crackerjack Kid, Milan Knizak, Andrs Lengyel, Stephen Perkins, Pawel Petasz, Gilbert & Lila Silverman, Hans Sohm, Patricia Tavenner, The Sticker Dude, Ed Varney, Bill Wilson.
— Julia Klaniczay, Gyrgy Galntai and the Artpool staff
Mail Art Call
Images Against War. Any medium, no deadline. Jpegs or any snail mail. No jury, no returns. Exhibition in the web: Image Gallery Against War from Boek 861. Send to:Taller del Sol, Apartado 861 43080 Tarragona, EspaZa. Put your own image in: boek861.com/no_war/index.html
Brain Cell Fractals. Ryosuke Cohen. Send him 150 stickers, artistamps, rubberstamps, etc. and he will send you a list of participants, a beautifully produce color print of all participants’ work. Send to Ryosuke Cohen, 3-76-1-A613 Yagumokitaho, Moriguchi-City, Osaka 570, Japan. braincell@k6.dion.ne.jp
Neo DADA. Ongoing project. Send self made postcards 4 x 6” (10.1 x 15.2 cm). Any medium, no envelopes, documentation to all, no returns. Online gallery and possible exhibition. P.O. Box 661, New York, NY 10116.
Shadow Play. Slightly serious artist seeks fun, intelligent shadows for international art project. Blondes, brunettes and redheads preferred, but all shadows welcome. Please send a photograph of your shadow with your name written on the back. Shadows to feature in upcoming exhibition. Send to Wei-Ho Ng, Chelsea College of Art, Manresa Rd., London SW3 61S, England. artshadow@hotmail.com Deadline:ongoing.
Mail Art/Visual Poetry Call for Palestine, Lebanon, Human Rights-Peace-Freedom. Size: A4 limit. Any medium, 2D; deadline: ongoing. All works will be displayed on davidbaptistechirot.blogspot.com Mail contributions to David-Baptiste Chirot, 740 N. 29 #108, Milwaukee, WAI 53208 USA or to davidbchirot@hotmail.com
Hummingbirds - Colibri. Send mail art inspired on/with hummingbirds. Any medium, any size. No deadline and Valeria will answer your themes. All items will be published on her blog. valeriazunzun.blogspot.com Mail to valeria Zunzun, 1412 Euclid Ave. #15, Miami beach, FL 33139 USA. Or to valeriazunzun@gmail.com
Send a photo of yourself standing or sitting in front of your bookcase or bookshelves. No deadline. Answer to everyone.Bibliotheca Gullbiana, Staai 41, NL-6127 AB Grevenbicht, The Netherlands.
Lonely Pet Rocks. Send your own pet rocks and stones to the curator of the UFO museum: Lex Loeb, PO Box 6056, Portland Oregon, 97228-6056 USA.
Artist Trading Cards. Send 20 cards (ed. of 20), size: 64 x 89 mm (2 x 3 inches). Sign, date and number the cards on the back. No theme, no deadline, ongoing project. You will get a set back. Send to M. Vanci Stirnemann, Dufourstrassse 132, CH-8008 Zurich, Switzerland. www.artist-trading-cards.ch
The Beatles Forever. Postcard size 10 x 15 cm. The Tree of Poetry, Tiziana Baracchi, Via Cavallotti 83b, I-30171 Venezia Mestre, Italia. No deadline.
Exquisite Corpse. Participants are asked to send 3 images and 3 words on separate sheets: 1. Head, 2. Torso, 3. Legs, and 4. Three words. Any media, up to size 8 x 11” that will be mixed and matched with other artists’ work at random to complete a finished piece. The work will be shown as part of an art show in Toronto, shown online and be used for another project to be announced. Anyone interested in collaborating, contact Exquisite Corpse, 87 Sparkhall Ave., Toronto, Ont. M4K 1G7, Canada.
Bibliomancy. A species of divination performed by selecting passages form a book haphazard. Just open the book at random, and the passage you touch by chance with your finger is the oracular response. Send your oracle to Bibliomancy, 214 First Ave. South, Suite B13, Seattle, WA 98104.
Fish. Call for Entries. As only water separates us, the fish has become our symbol of missing and longing, of desperation and hope, of love, desire and union. Frantic lives just meters away from the Atlantic and stares day in, day out at the horizon of the ocean. Antic-ham, when walking along her river in Seoul can feel the wind coming from the west, and hear the message of the fish. Soon both will become fish and unite in the waters. Already in early religions, the fish was a symbol of desire, union and fecundity, as well as a symbol of the power of the female sexuality, thru a multitude of goddesses with fish symbols, or mermaids, nymphs and water spirits. Send one or more fishes. Postcard size. Deadline 30 April 2007. Color catalogue to all participants. Possible exhibitions. Send to address of your choice, or to both: Frantic Fan Mail , Dugort, Achill Island,County Mayo. Ireland OR Anticham (Kim Hye Mee), Gangnamgu Gaepo 2 Dong , # 3 APT. 310-510, Seoul 135-800 / South Korea.
Red Letters. Use red ink and write a text of 20 words accompanied by a drawing. Add time, day, month & year. All the red letters will be scanned and put on this website: http://20words.org View the web gallery to have an idea of the project. If you want to receive a red letter from another person, add also a self-addressed envelope and a SASE (this is only for US participants). Red Letters, CC #2272, 16800 Point Lookout Road, St Mary’s City MD, 20686 USA
“Keep the ball on the move”
Stemming from a snippet of a Quote by Ray Johnson I have proposed to do a Mail Art Project, sending Marbles across the world. I will roll each marble in a performance in Cardiff, Wales UK. Then send the marbles out by mail to different participants. From here I want you to roll the marble and record this action; photo, drawing or simply noted documentation of where the event of the roll happened. Then Send the documentation back to me and the marble with instructions and details of the journey onto someone else. You will receive documentation on the marble’s journey. If interested in this Mail Art Project please email me your name and address. Thank you so much. Really hope you join the roll! Alice Evenett loosest_goose@hotmail.com Visit www.lissyloo.com for more information. There is no current deadline.
Global Warming. Photographs, e-mails, cartoons, collages, poems, visual poems, paintings, prints, digital images…Deadline: 30 June 2007. Postcard size only. Your work will be displayed on my website. No jury, no fee, no returns. Send to Sinasi Gunes, Abide-I Hurriyet Caddesi Arslanoglu Apt. 80/18, Sisli/Istanbul, Turkey.
Public Art. Postcard size. Any medium, visual poetry wanted. No jury, no deadline, ongoing project to introduce the community of Prescott, Arizona to mail art. Works will be on display at Prescott College in Spring-Summer 2006. Documentation to all. Send to Grace Vajda, Prescott College, Mailbox 580, 220 Grove Ave., Prescott, AZ 86301 USA. Please include your e-mail or snail mail address.
Call for Books and Zines. Seeking donations for “independent reference library“in Kosovo, former Yugoslavia. Kosovo is a struggling country with an average monthly salary of $30 and unemployment at 60%. Any zine or book donations are welcomed. Also T-shirts and postage stamps for children’s collections. Send to Switzerland and it will be forwarded since it is more secure. No internet access. Send to RLP, c/o PF44, CH4142, Munchenstein 3, Switzerland.
Famous Pigs Continue to Fly in Belgium. The suicide of Baudhuin Simon left a possible hole in the PIG universe. Another Belgian mail artist however continues to challenge the network to send her creations on the theme of Pig Dada’s fetish animal. Publication on blog: piggyonemailart.blogspot.com. Send to Nicole Eippers, rue de Hodebierge 28, B-1370 Melin, Belgium.
Laughing and Smiling for Peace is the latest Friour project, inspired by a meeting at the alternative arts & music festival in St. Niklaas, Belgium. Any size, any medium. Fun stuff, laughing or smiling self-portraits and portraits, red nose communications, group portraits of smiling buffoons for peace, clowns united for peace performances, etc. Deadline: 1 April 2007. Exhibition and documentation in the form of friourlaughs.blogspot.com. Send contributions to Guido Vermeulen, Vincottestreet 81, B-1030 Brussels, Belgium.
Tribute to Robert Malaval. He’s an underground artist and Pinky proposes a tribute to him. For information, visit www.palaisdetokyo.com/robertmalaval/. Total freedom, so no deadline. Send to Pinky, 23 Impasse Rotrou, F-28000 Chartres, France.
Feast of the History. We are the history/know ourselves and know it. Any medium, any technique. Deadline: 31 August 2007. Send to Anna Boschi, Via Tanari 1445 B, Castel S. Pietro Terme/BO, Italy. cermasi@libero.it
Shoes. The Shoe Gallery wants to create and feature unique and different artworks from all kinds of artists relating to shoes. I will send one in return. Any medium, any technique. Deadline: 30 June 2007. Send to Vincenzo Teriaca, Via Pacchiotti 32, 10146 Torino, Italy. Teriacavincenti@hotmail.com
Beetles. Beetles are the most varied order of insects. This project intend to explore how we perceive them. Beauty or Beast? The works will be posted in the following site: http://wandrefalk.multiply.com and also will be part of a gallery show at the University of Braslia (date to be announced). Please send only postcards that deal with any technique. Deadline: 30 July 2008. Send to Marco Santos-Silva, SHIS Q117 conj 3 casa 3, Brasilia DF71645-030, Brazil. Markus@ilustrare.bio.br
Chairs. 4“x 6” postards of chairs, stools or any form of single seating. For display in Paper and Postage, Moat Gallery, Library Square, Vancouver, Apr 16-29, 2008 All submissions posted on paperandpostage.blogspot.com Include snail mail and/or email address for documentation. For my exhibition please send me only postcards that deal with any technique. Deadline: 31.12.2007 Send to: Lorraine Kwan / #202, 3580 West 41st Ave / Vancouver BC V6N 3E6 / Canada / pixelkart@gmail.com Also themes of Snails, Clocks.
Personal Space. Create work representing the interactionof human bodies with respect to how we each define personal space. Any size, any technique. Deadline: 15 March 2007. info: marcelogarcia7@yahoo.com Marcelo Garcia Da Rocha, O Corpo e Sua Relacao Com o Espaco, Rua Sao Jose 05, Jardim Belmont, Brasil.
Earth Day 2007. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. You are invited to participate in the Paintings and Assemblages- Reduce Reuse Recycle. Any size, any medium. Art exhibit to be held at the Firehouse Gallery, 4147 Meadowbrook Dr., Fort Worth, TX 76103. Dates of exhibit: 31 March - 29 April 2007. Documentation online. No jury, no returns. All works will be exhibited. Deadline: 15 March 2007. Info: junannepeck@mac.com Send to Junannee Peck, P.O. Box 8776, Fort Worth, TX 76124-0776, USA.
Mail Art for Mircea Bochis. Create mail art or many and dedicate them to me. Create/Write anything you like and even things which you dislike, communicated with a burning light.
The Apple. The apple is a fruit which tastes good, but it’s not so greatPartly, thanks to it, we have been expelled from the Garden of Eden. We live on an Earth where for different reasons we provoke wars which lead us to feel bad. If we are not killed in war, we fight to keep the peace in order to have time to prepare quietly for another war. Draw an apple which is symbolic of how we arrived in this situation.
The Bed. The bed is the most pleasant object from the worldIt is the place where I always feel very good. Nothing can be compared with the pleasure to stay in bed with a glass of champagne in your hand, with a good cigarette and to watch TV at anything. Moreover, inside to be warm, outside to be a horrible weather and everybody to be left at work as well as to be 11:00 o’clock in the morning. That is how, I see the things. My wife has a different version and says: “I don’t like the bed. For me, the bed means the sign of a lying. I don’t want to lie on the bed, I prefer to sleep on the bricks, on the mats, on the desert land, in the forest although I hate the forest, on the sand although I hate the sand and not even I don’t step on it.” What do you say? Format: Postcard. Any technique, any medium. I think that additional text on the subjects would be also welcome at the correspondence part of the postal card. Submissions for all mail art projects will be posted on the Internet at Florean Museum: www.cmc.ro
All submissions will also be displayed at the Mail-Art Exhibition between the 26th of May and the 15th of June 2007 in Baia Mare. Deadline to be received for any or all projects: 30 March 2007. info: bochis@cmc.ro Send to:
Mircea Bochis- Curator,
Florean Museum,
P.O. Box 1, Post Office no. 9,
Baia Mare 430510,
Maramures, Romania.
Envelope. Any technique, any size. Send mail art on an envelope. Deadline: 17 March 2007. Documentationt o all. 360.yahoo.com/profile-Z3GXTUQ4aLW7V6VYNDe9?inv%3DmEivF.lj%26r%3D
info: issi8@web.de Send to: Iwona Suchanska-Himik,ul.Bonczyka 2/22, 5-138 Wroclaw, Poland
Doctor Mail Art Recommends. Size: Postcard Only … 10.5 cm X 15 cm. Any technique. Deadline: 31 March 2007. Exhibition in Mail Art Mekka Minden. Color Catalog to every participant. Send to Netmailart, P.O. Box 2644, D-32383 Minden, Germany.
Laughing and Smiling for Peace. I got the idea at the festival when Pete Spence labeled him and me as the “last 2 laughing agnostics”. Laughter is a serious weapon of resistance in the hand of the poor verses the powerful. I invented the stamp “smiling is the rebellion of the poor”, so it’s a topic that is already a long time in my head. The emperor is naked when you make fun of him. Everybody knows that. Why do you think that the Dalai Lama is always smiling and not the Chinese leaders in their red free market paradises build on the corpses of dead miners?
Free size and medium as usual. You can send me fun stuff, laughing or smiling self portraits and portraits, red nose communications (thank you Zois & Lynn), group portraits of smiling buffoons for peace, clowns united for peace performances, tape me your laughter and mail it to me so I can make a compilation and so on… The danger of laughter was the essence of Eco’s In the name of the rose. I’m sure that you’ll find many connections yourself if you reflect on the issue. Deadline: 1 April 2007. Exhibition and documentation in the form of another blog. Send to:
Guido Vermeulen, Vincottestreet 81, B-1030 Brussels, Belgium.
Fish. Collaboration between an editor from Luxembourg living in Ireland and his fish mate in South Korea. Any medium, postcard size. Deadline: 30 April 2007. Catalog to all. Send to Frantic Fan Mail, Dugort, Achill Island, County Mayo, Ireland or Kim Hye Mee, Gangnamgu Gaepo 2 Dong #3 Apt. 310-510, Seoul 135-800, South Korea.
Mail Art on the Fence: “Move Against G8” for social justice worldwide. Size: A4 ( = 20x30 cm). Technique: free.
Please use some orange = the color of Attac We enlarge your work in color and make it waterproof.Deadline: 20 March 2007 (already!) Vernissage with Angela & Peter Netmail, on 29 April, in Mail Art Mekka Minden, at Culture Center BZ.Exhibition on the FENCE in June 2007.Color Documentation in Art Magazine Oswald, free copy to each participant.Send works in letter only to:ATTAC-Minden, Bernd Mehrhoff, Burgweg 24.32423 Minden
Mail Art Call What Time Is It?
Is it 20.08 or 2008? What is your time? Now, tomorrow?
In Finland mail art is not yet widely known. Now I have a change to arrange a mail art exhibition in the City of Tampere, in the spendid exhibition rooms of Tampere Hall, with the aim to make mail art better known to those living in Tampere”.
The fine exhibition area, Winter Garden, is rather small, it may hold only about 40-50 works. So, contrary to the civilized practice of mail art, I am forced to limit the number of works chosen. Those works that cant be displayed in Tampere Hall will be exhibited in Gallery G, a gallery founded by myself. It is also a Mini-Museum dedicated to mail art. It is no worse place, but naturally Tampere Hall has a finer reputation, as it has housed large international congresses and EU-meetings.
What is the time you live? Tell me about that in mail art pictures (max A4 or 8.5 x 11 inches; min. postcard). The exhibition will take place either at the end of 2007 or at the beginning of 2008. I will be informed of that as soon as the congress and concert program will be settled in Tampere.
No returns, no fees, documentation to all. Maximum size: A4. Deadline: 30 September 2007. Send to: Paul Tiilila, Kuusitie 4, 36600 Palkane, Finland.
Tampere is the third largest city in Finland and the largest inland centre in the Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway). Tampere Hall (Tampere-talo) is the largest concert and congress centre in the Nordic countries. Tampere Hall is located in Tampere on the edge of a lovely park, just across the road from the main building of Tampere University and within a short walking distance of the city centre.
For more information: Paul Tiilil paul.tiilila@pp.inet.fi
