Collage & Collaboration – Mail Art Tempelhofer Feld

[Lars Schumacher]

Tempelhofer Feld, Berlin | August 6–8, 2021 - Exploring Mail Art in Tempelhof’s Post-Airport Terrain

Standing on the grounds of Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport—once a transit hub of geopolitical history, now an urban commons—the Collage & Collaboration Mail Art exhibition unfolded as an unexpectedly resonant artistic event. From August 6 to August 8, 2021, House 104 (the former weather station) became the locus of a rare convergence: more than 150 artists from over 40 nations contributed to a visual polyphony of postal interventions and ephemeral actions, all framed within the radical democratic ethos of Mail Art.

Correspondence as Counter-Institution

As a critic steeped in the legacy of conceptual and participatory art, one cannot help but read this exhibition as a deliberate counterpoint to the spectacle-driven economy of contemporary visual culture. Curators Susanne Schumacher, Lars Schumacher, and Rainer Wieczorek refused the spectacle in favor of intimacy—privileging exchanges over scale, and the aesthetics of dispersion over the logic of accumulation.

Mail Art, historically rooted in Fluxus and the transatlantic avant-garde, was here not merely represented but activated. The works—letters, collages, postal boxes, interactive pieces—were not static objects for contemplation but living documents of global correspondence, each tracing its own path through borders and postmarks. The medium became a message: of connectivity, reciprocity, and authorship shared among strangers.

Performance and Atmosphere: Art in the Elements

The exhibition’s design allowed art to spill beyond walls. Set in the repurposed weather station and the surrounding field, it invited viewers to engage with artworks outdoors, against shifting light and wind—a curatorial gesture that underscored the exhibition’s anti-monumental character. Mail Art, after all, thrives on movement and multiplicity, not the fixity of white cubes.

Two standout performances amplified this sensibility. On opening night, the international mask theater ensemble led by Marianna Buchwald (Chicago) offered a poetic ritual of shared gesture and cross-cultural resonance—enriched by the evocative musical accompaniment of Ulli Meinholz, whose live compositions infused the evening with an atmospheric, acoustic architecture that extended the performance’s reach into the surrounding air.

The following day, Ellyzabeth Adler, director of the Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble, delivered a movement-based narration blending contemporary choreography with fragments of storytelling—further echoing the exhibition’s commitment to transatlantic artistic dialogue.

 

Collaboration as Form

More than a showcase, Collage & Collaboration functioned as a working space for art-in-process. Visitors were invited to create their own collages, partake in postal dialogues, and situate themselves within an ever-growing archive of collective creation. Local Berlin Mail Art practitioners—some veterans of decades-long correspondence networks—teamed up with international counterparts through pre- and post-exhibition exchanges. The resulting hybrid works, many of which blurred authorship boundaries, promised a future life in exhibitions and publications.

This curatorial openness aligned well with current critical discourses on artistic labor and networked art practices. Echoing theorists such as Bourriaud and Bishop, the exhibition emphasized participatory aesthetics and intersubjective production—where the artwork is not the end point, but the trace of a lived exchange.

The Historical Weight of the Site

To host such an event at Tempelhofer Feld was not a neutral choice. From its role in the Berlin Airlift to its transformation into a park for civic agency, the site carries profound symbolism. The former weather station, too, offered poetic connotation: an instrument for measuring atmospheric phenomena now turned into a hub for affective and relational currents.

This layering of historical and contemporary context gave the exhibition critical weight. Mail Art, a practice both resistant to and reliant upon the infrastructure of logistics, found fertile resonance in a place once defined by flight, transmission, and contested mobility.

Participant: Adam Roussopoulos I Alessandra Schiavinato I Alexander Limarev I Allan Bealy I Amanda Lynch I Ana-Maria Stefan I Andrea Wallgreen I Angela Caporaso I Anja Mattila-Tolvanen I Anne Gilis I Anke Aust I Aranyi Sandor I Asma Ounine I Audrey Muller I Baitistella Elisa I Barbara Ihme I Biro Ildiko I Big Rock Candy Mountain I Biot Gustav I Brandstifter I Bruno Chiarlone I Bruno Pierozzi I Camela Rizzuto I Carmen Heemels I Catherine Gangloff I Chiarla Bertoncello I Christophe Masse I Christiano Pallara I Claudia Garcia I Claudio Mangifesta I Cohen Asher I Connie Jean I Cristiano Pallara I Cynthia Petry I Dadaland I Dame Mailarta I Daniel de Culla I Daniele Virgilio I Darja Mrdjen I David Stanley Aponte I Demetrio Coutarellis I Derya Avci I Diego Racconi I Dietrich Schneider I Diana Oană I Diana Righini I Dörte Schmidt I East Berlin I Edition Janus I Ejup Deari I Elena Cristea I Elle mercurio I Emilio J Carrasco I Eni Ilis I Esther Kamkar I Evren Sahin I Florian Georgiou I Francesco Cornello I Frips I Friedrich Schumacher I Gabriele Klimek I ginalori I Giovanni and Renata Stradada I Honoria Starbuck I Horst Tress I Hakan Demir I Hikmet Sahin I Ilmar Kruusamäe I Ingeborg Siemers I Irma Soria I Isabelle Derrieux I Issam Larkat I Ivana Taglioni I Jakabhazi Alexandru I James Gillen I Jan-Willem van der Looij I Jeff Bagato I Jennifer Weigel I Jim Leftwich I Jitka Kopejtkova I Joachim Buchholz I Johann Leschinkohl I John Gayer I John Held Jr. I John M. Bennett I Jon Foster I Jörg Seiffert I Jose Mizdraji I Julia Kawczyńska I Juliana Hellmundt I Juraj Jonke I Jürgen O. Olbrich I J C Synthetics I Katerina Mandarik I Katerina Nikoltsou I Kathrin Holl I Kai I Kendall Reid I Kevin G. Brandtner I Kevin Gillen I Keiichi Nakamura I Kemal Ozyurt I Klaus Groh I Klaus Pinter I Lady Silvia Soares Boyer I Lara Favaro I Lars Schumacher I Laurent Wilmet I Leslie Arroyo I Leslie Atkins I Lia & Nele I Lola Gonzales I Luc Fierens I Lutz Anders I Lutz Beeke I Lutz Wohlrab I Maks Dannecker I Mariana Salmaso I Marianna Buchwald I Marie Court I Marielle Conte I Marilena Marson I Marosi Kata I Martina Becker I Mariella Salmaso I Mario Lo Gerfo I Massimo Medola I Matthew Rose I Matthias Harnisch I Maya Lopez Muro I Maximilian Mayo I Melanie Bäreis I Meral Agar I Michael Georg Bregel I Michael Hall I Michael Leigh I Michelangelo Mayo I Michel Dejean I Michel Della Vedova I Miguel Jimenez I Mindaugus Zuromskas I Mirko Sievers I Mirta Caccaro I mizdruk I Mittivana Taglioni I Morice Marcuse I Moreno Menarin I Morelli I Nani Corina I Natacha Guiller I Natasa Marinkovic Petric I Nafisa Sayed I Negin Pirouzmandi I Nicola Winborn I Nik Agortsas I Nil Perez Peirano I Nono Zilahi I Olchar E. Lindsann I Oronzo Liuzzi I Ovidiu Petca I Ottmar Bergmann I Panagiotis Vougas I Paolo Teles I Pedro Bericat I Periklis Costopoulos I Peter Schubert I Philippe Pissier I Piet Franzen I Piroska Horváth I Picasso Gaglione I Pier Roberto Bassi I Poul Poclage I Priscilla Ramos I Rafael Nadolny I Rainer Wieczorek I Raphaël Nadolny I Rebeca Martell I Regina Neuwald I Renata Di Palma I Renee Bouws I Roberto Scala I Roberta Savolini I Roland Halbritter I Rosa Gravino I Rosalie Gancie I Ruggero Maggi I Ryosuke Cohen I Sabela Bana I Sait Toprak I Sandra Kruse I Serdar Dartar I Sergiu Mihai Zegrean I Serse Luigetti I Sharon Anderson I Sharon Silverman I Şahnaz Yilmaz I Sigismund Urban I Silvia Dubois I Silvano Pertone I Simon Warren I Sinem Ünal Gerdan I Snappy I Stella Maris Velasco I Stefan Balog I Stefan Brandstifter I Stephan J. Mitterwieser I Stephen Tomasko I Steven Jans I Stickerdude I Studio Orta I Sugar Irmer I Susanne Mitterwieser I Susanne Schumacher I Suely Castro Mello I Susan Gold I Sylvia Finazzi I Tafu I Teodor Stefan I Teresa Lucia Forstreuter I Texas Fontanella I The Wasted Angel I Thorsten Fuhrmann I Toan Vinh La I Tohei Mano I Ugljesa Colic I Ümran Özbalcı Aria I Ulli Meinholz I Uwe Höfig I Valdor I Valentina Stefanescu I Verdiana Calia I Veronique Pozzi Paine I Vittore Baroni I Vlado Goreski I Vladimir Ambrus I Wei Teck I Wilfried Obornik I William Lee I Wim Scheere I Winston Kelley I Wolfgang Günther I Wolfgang Rostek I Worldfred I Zdenĕk Sima I _guroga