'If
it is true, that the information on the knowledge of the whole
modern art investigation is greater than what any particular
artist could ever understood(sic), then is the concept of Avantgarde
out of date. Who can, with his uncomplete knowledge, sure enough
say, who is leading and who is not? I suggest to consider each
individual artist as a part of an eternal network' Robert
Filiou, 1973
What is Mail Art?
Mail Art can consist of or incorporate:
mailed artifacts, boxes and other editions of collected works,
performance events, congresses, fax art, sound works (audio
cassette etc.), stamps and stampsheets, posters, rubberstamp
work, tickets, collages, artists' books, visual poetry, computer
art, zines, copy art and more...
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Mail Art is generous in spirit (i.e. not precious), anarchic
in philosophy and democratic in practice. Its origins (manifesting
in the late fifties/early sixties) lie in several directions:
the work of the so-called 'Nouveaux Realistes' (including such
luminaries as Yves Klein, Arman, Piero Manzoni, Christo, Daniel
Spoerri and others), the activities of the Fluxus group, Robert
Filliou's 'Eternal Network' and Ray Johnson's 'New York School
of Correspondance Art'.
Mail Art has been and remains a contentious activity, with some
critics virtually ignoring the phenomenon. Some female artists
have claimed certain mail art groups to have been hierarchical
and problematic in attitudes towards women but several women
artists are key activists including: Anna
Banana, Freya
Zabitsky, Yoko
Ono, Martha
Aitchison, Sheril Cunning, Judith A. Hoffberg, Marilyn R.
Rosenberg and Patricia
Collins.
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It can, at least, be said that it is a truly international phenomenon,
aspiring to transcend narrow notions of class, race and gender.
As can be seen, Mail Art is essentially a materialist practice,
although often underpinned by conceptual and historical concerns.
Some have claimed it trivial, inconsequential and/or politically
inert but yet it remains, still thriving and bolstered further
by the advent of the Internet.
Bibliography
Welch, Chuck, (1995), Eternal
Network - A Mail Art Anthology, University of Calgary
Press, Canada
Patrizio, Andrew with Mark Pawson, (1997), 'Networking:
Art by Post and Fax', Spacex Gallery catalogue
Artists & Groups to Research/Links
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