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IUOMAReceived from Peter W. Kaufman
– Major Congress Coordinator – CH 8123 – Ebmatingen –
To all Netlinks of the DNC ‘92
DECENTRALIZED WORLD WIDE
NETWORKER CONGRESS (DNC’92)
10 Years have passed since DNC’92.
The Networker, a new Role perception as stated by Mister HR Fricker as a
specification for statements and congresses.. I ask myself, did open relation
systems for the interchange and cooperation in art and mail art as well as in
other culture institutions on a communal, regional and international level
develop? What are the results? I’d like to know from netlinks important for the
DNC’92, which results, positive or negative, they can see, their highlights and
frustrations, their perception of their role as networker as of today and
possible visions for the future. All contacted netlinks, other active
participants of the DNC’92 and art institutions will receive documentation with
the results. Please answer within the next 2-3 months. Many thanks in advance,
yours former Congress Coordinator DNC’92, P.W. Kaufman.
Answer from TAM-Publications –
Ruud Janssen –
Ten years have passed and lots
of things have happened. In 1992 the congress year was the successor of the
Congress year 1986 in which I participated as well. The first intense meetings
happened there. In 1992 I was mentioned as “TAM Computer Sessions”. I had my
analogue TAM-Bulletin (a magazine with all kind of information on mail-art) transformed 
into a Bulletin Board Version, and was making things available through the
computer network that was common before the Internet took over. Besides some
regular congresses where I met other mail-artists physically, the electronic
meeting was also explored. Only few mail-artists were able to take part.
Only computer-users like Mark Bloch (PAN), Charles Francois (RATOS) and
Meeting people electronically
has now become common. The Internet really got available here in
Still, I use both worlds
(analogue and digital) when I communicate. Also in the Mail-Art. In 1995 I started my mail-interview project
in which I wanted to know how other mail-artists were seeing the changes. Not
only questions by envelope. Also faxes, e-mails and personal visits to deliver
a question or to get an answer. The personal visits always were the best. Since
1992 I travelled to Belgium, France, Germany, Sweden, USA, Greece, Denmark, England
and always included visits with mail-artists to get a better idea of who the
other one was and why he/she got involved in mail-art. Those mail-interviews got out of hand a bit.
I started about 74 of them. In the beginning published booklets of each interview
(about 20 pages including visuals). After 40 booklets (and a total of five
thousands booklets) the hardcopy mail became expensive year by year. So
publishing these interviews on the Internet was the next step. First with the
kind help of Jas W. Felter in Canada the interviews were placed at his site.
Here it also shows that the collaboration internationally has become quite easy
because of the Internet. Later on I arranged my own site that way that all
interviews would fit there, including the unfinished ones. One Interview
booklet got specially printed by Joel Cohen in New York, USA in an edition of
3000, the Interview with Guy Bleus. Also an example of how 3 mail-artists can
collaborate in the new electronic age without sending each other snail-mail.
The electronic communication however resulted in large boxes with booklets that
are widely spread into the network. Actually I still have hundred of those
booklets here for interested people. The complete text –off course- is also
available online.
Somehow this mail-interview
project was also a change point for me. It became an intense correspondence
with old friends and also new friends. Besides that I also reached for the
roots of mail-artists and interviewed people who are no longer with us like: Ray
Johnson, Norman Solomon, Edgardo-Antonio Vigo, and Robin Crozier. I discovered
that some mail-artists have a deep background while others were very empty
indeed. An interview could also end with the publication and breaking of the
contact. Other extremes are there as well; that an interview results in a
life-time relationship.
The positive aspects of the
electronic Internet world is that communication is fast, cheap, contains colour
and videos. The negative aspect is that it is mostly a bit empty and the depth
of the correspondence is not always great. There is also a new bread out there.
Newcomers that are missing something in their life and turn to the Internet for
communication. Actually discover there the old-fashioned mail-art world because
it is nowadays fully documented on the Internet. Finding the first addresses
and start to mail out there first bits and pieces. Because of my own (intensely
visited) site I regularly get envelops or postcards from people I never heard
of before.
The printed mail-art magazines
have disappeared mostly. Only a few survived. Also new ones appeared and
disappeared. The online groups like the one at Yahoo! Have taken over the
sharing of information. If someone starts project and publishes this on the
Internet it is spread quick and widely. Off course only the select online
community will discover this. I must say that the printed invitations I get in
my P.O. Box are mostly for the ‘better’ projects with a better concept then the
online ones. It is so easy to start a project nowadays without giving too much
thought about how it will evolve, will be exhibited or will be documented. The
mail-art though “all can participate”, and “all is art” also have destroyed the
quality of some/most projects. Yes, I am a bit pessimistic about that.
The new bread of mail-artists
has never heard of Ray Johnson. They mention the rules, or sometimes mention
“there are no rules” in mail-art. The historic knowledge of mail-art is only
preserved by some. The archivists, the writers, and the ones that are alive.
As I write this I know that
Honoria (Texas, USA) is working hard on her thesis on how the Internet has
touched the Mail-Art community and how it has been affected. Something I
focussed on also in the vast volume of Interview-questions I sent into the
world and which got retuned to me and were published in those over 2000 pages
of paper with answers to those questions.
The role of a networker is to
network. Not only in the ART-world but also in the common world these terms are
used now. We don’t have meetings anymore, we network. We use our network. Life
and art are integrated. Now more than ever. The traditional art, like painting
on canvas, is only done by a select group. And to be honest, that is the art
that will end up on walls and in museums. Will Mail-Art leave any traces other
than piles of paper in archives that slowly rot?
You asked about frustrations
as well. Quality. I am looking for quality in my work and in improving myself.
I discovered that the mail-art principle doesn’t cherish that. The better the
work you send out, the more replies you get, the less time you have for each
piece you want to create. Every mail-artist will fall into this trap. I did as
well. Now I focus on higher quality. That means I don’t answer all I get in.
Only send in something that is good enough for my standards, and invest more
time for less art in the shortened life I still have. A concept that works
since I am now making the best works ever (in my eyes off course). Time will
tell where all that will end. As a networker it isn’t easy to alter the network
one is in. One can only change networks by looking for new contacts and
breaking old contacts.
Maybe this text has become
somewhat incoherent. So be it. It has been years since I have written about mail-art 
and explained my thoughts as they are now. This is a first step. Maybe there
will be more. I am looking forward to see the results of others, how they see
the changes. Haven’t heard from lots of them for years. Have they all retired?
Is retiring from mail-art returning to a ‘normal and settled life’ and are the
mail-artists the ones that are searching for something that is missing in their
life? If you consider yourself a mail-artists, try to answer that last
question.
Ruud Janssen
TAM-Publications
P.O. Box 10388
5000 JJ Tilburg
NETHERLANDS