59) Guillermo Deisler

This hommage to chilean visal poet Guillermo Deisler I did more then ten years ago. It was onew of my first experience with multimedia. Reactions please.

Greetings from Hamburg

58) How do you archive mail art?

Sending out some collage-cards using glue I thought about archiving or conserving mail art.

I am quite sure that after two or three years the glue will not keep the parts together. As it will also happen to cards I've got. Now, do you take precautions? Do you re-glue cards of your collection?

57) Impatience?

Hello,

I just realized, that I sometimes become really impatient, waiting for the arrival of my send outs. On bad days ideas like "I should just post these cards with e-mail as computer scans instead of snail mail posts" come to my mind; and waiting for replies really nibble on my self consciousness ("Have I made sth. wrong?").

Well, on good days of course, I just think using snail mail is a good lesson to slow down in our fast world.

Best,

mischa

56) Mail-Art Discussions

As I have noticed only few discussions take place here. It seems most mail-artists are busy with sending out and receiving mail-art and don't like to discuss the subject. No problem. The blog will stay online just to demonstrate that.

55) Mail-Art Archives

In my TAM-Archive I found this old article I wrote about Mail-Art Archives. It was then 20 pages long and I am rethinking this topic for a new version. What has happened to the mail-art that has been sent out all these years. Is it sold, brought to archives, still hidden in boxes, what do we know?

Any stories or things I should know on this subject?

After the summervacation I will start on writing a new text. I discovered some mail-art archives has moved into certains places, sometimes wellknown archives. But sometimes they are also sold (yes, people pay for the old mail-art of some wellknown people....)

Your thoughts?

54) What to say about this?

The coupons I send out have a specific topic they touch. Is mail-art 'guilt-free' as some Americans say? Does one decide to answer or not and is the mailing one sends out really free. Or is it that mail-artists expect an answer and think it is wrong not to answer a piece of mail-art they receive? reactions?

53) A mail art a day...

Hello,

I'd like to know how other mail artists "work": Do you produce daily / on the week end / from time to time, but focussed?

The background of my question is that often a "guilty" feeling starts when I don't make & send cards - mostly because my job eats me... From time to time I plan to make a card a day, as quick & dirty as I can, but at least I have cards to send. But then my "standards" come knocking and say: "You don't want to send this card?!?".

Well, how do you handle this?

Thanks for your response,

mischa gerloff

52) How much is the cheapest postage to send something to abroad?

I know that the postal rates have increased a lot over the years. The 'snail-mail' has become very expensive. The rates for the cheapest mail in the Netherlands are:

Inside Netherlands (to 20 gram) 44 Eurocent
Inside Europe (to 20 gram) 75 Eurocent
Outside Europe (to 20 gram) 89 Eurocent

Just wondered how the rates are in other countries?

51) Question on size 8x8cm

Looking at the circulaire 132, I wonder if there is a special idea behind artwork using dimensions of 8cmx8cm?
Can you give me the origin and the significance of this?

50) Cartoon by Keith Bates

Your comments to this cartoon by Keith Bates bout the "MailArtMan"...........

49) New discussion one week later

The mail is slow and takes time. The Internet publishes righ away and people can read all at the same time.... Do you spend to much time online and therefore don't send out as much as you would like to?

47) MailArt contains Inspiration and may be Addiction!

Misha Gerloff

45) What is your passion in Mail-Art?

Why are you doing Mail-Art? With the electronic communication-ways some still prefer the handmade mail and keep sending things out. Why?

43) Where is Charles François?

In the 80-ies I was in contact a lot with Charles Francois from Liege, Belgium. He used a modem and an Apple computer in the early years of communicating with e-mail. He har RATOS, I had the TBHS (Tam Bulletin Host System), and we were pioneers in these new fields where mail-art and electronic networks joined.

On the Internet I can hardly find things from him. His old website from the University of Liege has gone.... Does anybody know where he is or what happened?

The photo is from my archives (dates 15 years back I think).

41) Mail Art Books - Where are they?

To my knoledge in the last years there were only little publications on the subject mail-art. In the 90-ies there were some books written and published on the subject, but the new generations hardly knows about thee books. Also the accesibility of these book is low. They aren't available in libraries or bookshops........

What will happen. Do we need more books, will there eventually be more online that covers the area, or is there almost no new development in mail-art so books aren't needed? What do you think?

40) Is Mail-Art more than Mail-Art Projects?

Sometimes I get the idea that most things I see connected to mail-art are Mail-Art projects. Just different themes, different sizes, deadlines, etc. Is Mail-Art only Mail-Art Projects for you (as a practitioner) or is it more for you?

37) Addicted to Mail-Art?

I know that some people stumble onto mail-Art, explore it. Play the game, and after a while (sometimes a few years) stop and leave. Some stay, and have become addicted to the exhange of art, ideas and the community involved.

Why does one get addicted?

(the images below I got by mail as a reaction to this question.)

36) How do you feel the Internet will effect the future of mail art-will it have positive or negative affects?

35) Do you believe that computer generated mail art is a more unclear form of mail art?

34) Why do mail artists use the computer as a tool to create mail art, doesn't this abandon the fact that it is mail art?

33) Thesis on Mail-Art

Over the years several persons have done research on the subject of mail-art. Some of the results I have in my collection. I am quite interested in reading these results. If someone has a thesis (or even has written one him/her-selve) I would very much like to read it. Maybe some readers can also direct me to sources. I know of some works (and have read them), but welcome any new texts to explore.

I know of works by Michael Lumb (UK), Carola van der Heijden (NL), Honoria (USA). Still looking for the text written by Donavan (UK).

32) How does one stop with Mail-Art?

Stopping with Mail-Art sometimes seems so easy. Just don't send anything out, and the mail to you will dry up. Some even send mailings out to the network telling everyobdy they stop. Some even had to stop because of finacial problems or other problems. Did somebody stop somewhere in the past and would like to explain why?

31) Is the Father Christmas a mailartist?

Letter that my children received from the Father Christmas in response to the list of gifts that they sent to him.

30) The older Mail-Artists Generation

Is seems that the 'older mail-art generation' isn't active on The Internet that much. Do they still send out mail-art and avoid the Internet. Did they stop? Did only the Computer-users survive the Internet-changes? What happened?

29) Sell your archive?

I know that most mail-artists that have been arround for decades have build up quite a collection. The best pieces they keep, other things they recycle. The 'garbage' is dealt with (or not). That leaves you with a problem of a growing collection that takes more time and is getting valuable. What do you think of the options:

1. Sell it to the highest bidder.
2. Arrange a museum of organisation to invest in currating the collection

And what to do when no-one wants the collection? Leave if for the next generation to decide on?

28) Mail-Art and language

　リトアニア出身のマチューナスは年当時，ニューヨーク大学で美術史を学び ，古楽器の儲からないディーラーをしていた。彼は建築，Mail-Artグラフィック・アート，音楽学も学んでいたが，特に美術史家として有望であり，芸術の形式，芸術運動，芸術の学派について研究し，全世界の芸術史を時間的・空間的に網羅した表を作ろうと試みていた。年の秋，ニューヨークのニュー・スクール・フォー・ソーシャル・リサーチでＲ．マックスフィールドによる電子音楽の講座を受けた彼は，L．ヤングと出会い，翌年にヤングの書籍『アンソロジー』という当時の前衛的な作品を集めた書籍の編集

Does language influence the mail-art network you have build up arround you?

27) Mail-Art and Money don't mix

Lon Spiegelman made this statement. Money should not be involved in the "game" of mail-art. I know that this rule has several aspect. Is it allowed to sell a mail-art catalogue to the network? Can you ask an entrance fee for a mail-art show. Can you sell your mail-art collection to a museum or established archive? All these things have happened in te past.

26) In Between Results

25) Is it allowed to throw away mail-art you receive?

This question is interesting since I once told in an interview years ago that I threw away some pieces I consider 'garbage'. I was confronted with very strong reactions against this statement that it was considered not done. What to do with a piece of mail you get that you don't want to keep (=archive) and you don't feel fit in distributing further?

If mail-art is guilt-free, then there should not be a problem. If there is the expectation that all one sends is archived by the receiver expects that from you, there is a problem.

Do you keep all mail-art you have ever received?

24) THE MAIL ART IS A GAME OR IS IT SERIOUS ?