Loosing our Back-up

In these  modern digital times
We have all out memories in digital forms
We don't loose our memories,
But we sometimes loose out Back-up

Retired Mail-Artists

Retired Mail-Artists
They still get mail-art in
But they don't answer it anymore.

see:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/retiredmailartists/?ref=bookmarks

Mail-Art and history

Seems like the old generation
Of Mail-Artists is slowly vanishing
Or they move online.
Will Mail-Art survide another decade?

Historic statements papers from the 80-ies and 90-ies

ex posto facto (USA) sent me some of my ols papers back just this month. The statements are still correct, so have a read yourself too.....

New Generation of Mail-Artists

After writing the article on 5 generations of mail-artists I wondered what the 6th generation would be like. Now I know.

Online, in social networks, people discover the mail-art movement where ther speak of snail-mail used as a medium for art. They join online and start to send out their first mail-art piece after being online for such a long time.

So the 6th generation are the artists that move from the digital communication-world into the oldfashioned snail-mail world.

The future of Mail

When I see in several countries that the postal systems are reducing their services because the amount of mail being brought to be processed is decreasing I get worried on the future of Mail. In Mail-Art things will go on as long as mail is sent. The die-hards will test the system to the last possible ways of sending out mail

Definition

Any definition written by a mail-artist to explain MAIL ART is not what it is about. An outsider is the only one who can give a good and clear definition

11-04-2010

Fluxus and a good definition do not mix.

1-1-2010

When you take part in Mail-Art for some decades, you discover that there are only few new things to be done in Mail-Art. So what you do is focus on that, or repeat just what you enjoy the most. The cyclus for a mail-artists is like that.

Overview of all Statements in BOOK-form

Paperback book €19.99 Printed: 280 pages, 20.99 cm x 29.7 cm, perfect binding, white interior paper (55# weight), black and white interior ink, white exterior paper (90# weight), full-colour exterior ink


Description:

B&W Version of Statements Collection on Mail-Art by Ruud Janssen. Reprint of statements written in period 1993-2008 on the subject of mail-art. These statements were first published as pamphlets. Later on the Internet, and now as a collection in one book. Some statements and texts were also published on the Internet first and later as print-out sent into the network. The last part of this book contains visual statements made when the Millennium came about and most recent is an overview of the slides used at a lecture at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam explaining the concept of mail-art. In the past 28 years Ruud Janssen has intensively written about how E-mail and Internet would change mail-art, and it has.

A colour-version of the book is also available. See an overview of all publications at:

http://stores.lulu.com/iuoma

Enjoy reading this book!

Thoughts on Mail-Art

A hard-copy version of the first 10 thoughts I wrote for the Internet. The online version is still available at: http://www.iuoma.org/overview.html and a direct access to all the texts you can find though: http://www.iuoma.org/secret_9.html. All the texts are hyperlinked, so you can jump from one text to another. Realize that the texts are old ones. They are my views from back then.

Mail-Interviews - PART 4

Yes, a next book with Mail-Interviews got published. This time a combination of complete mail-interviews and a collection of unfinished interviews. 21 mail-artists in total.

Printed: 343 pages, 6" x 9", perfect binding, cream interior paper (60# weight), black and white interior ink, white exterior paper (100# weight), full-colour exterior ink. Print: €16.96
Download: €2.50

Description:
A selection of 21 more Mail-Interviews conducted by Ruud Janssen with International Mail-Artists and Fluxus-Artists in the years 1994 till 2002. This time also unfinished interviews! Includes interviews with H.R. Fricker, Julia Tant, Raphael Nadolny, John Evans, Bern Porter, Birger Jesch, Patricia Collins, Daniel Plunkett, Patricia tavenner, Judith A. Hoffberg, Peter Küstermann, Robert Rocola, Rod Summers, Marie Stillkind, Roy Arenalla, Rudi Rubberoid, Stephen Perkins, Klaus Groh, Ruggero Maggi, Vittore Baroni, Svjetlana Mimica and a reprint of the mail-interview Newsletter that explains the Mail-Interview Project.

Orderdetails: http://www.lulu.com/content/2354626

All books: http://stores.lulu.com/iuoma

Because I know some people don't want to order online I will see how I can help there. When I order the books myself and send them out, postage is paid twice. Cheapest way is to order straight from LuLu. But when I have stock here in Breda I can determine how heavy a package is and what the extra postage is. Next month I will give the details.

29

The large ART-institutes are discovering the Mail-Art movement. It starts with the Postal Musea which want to show that mail and 'real' art go together. But they don't follow the unwritten mail-art rules, they select works and look for works in mail-art of people who now are (a bit more) famous. But the most famous mail-artist for me is the one that makes my morning so many times beautiful with his/her wonderful mail- art in my post-box.

26

Why do so many people write about mail-art and not practice it that often. There is a lot of exchange of data but I sure sometimes miss the Dada. Lets play with the mail before we get too old to play.

25

Sometimes I wonder if what I read about the mail-art history is all true. The things I read are mostly written by mail-artists themselves who claim to know a lot about mail-art. But since everybody has his own network of friends all those stories are rather subjective (probably my writings too).

23

Maybe it is stupid to write about the things you have to experience and can't understand by reading about it. But I know I am not the only one who has the problem of trying to explain still what mail-art is all about.