It's Coming Home!

[Michael Leigh]

Yes, the big chunk of our mail art archive that was the "CURIOUS THINGS" exhibition in Manchester is eventually coming home soon. After many months in lockdown - mothballed in the Special Collections it is being packed up by the lovely people who work there and will soon be back in the coal hole - if we can find room for it!  I suspect we'll have to go through it all again to see if they are in the right file boxes.  Doh!

[Michael Leigh]

Thanks John. I suppose thats what drew me to it in the first place - it's enigmacy ( is that a word?) . Some thing about being part of an underground art movement is very appealing - and at the same time we want to share it with the world and make it known to more people.  We were lucky having Special Collections at MMU host the exhibition as they seemed happy to show work in the past - exhibitions about ephemera, Pop Art collections, etc. things a bit outside the norm. It was also very pleasing to know many folk came from far and wide to see the show in Manchester - from London, Bristol and further afield.  Hopefully we have encouraged newcomers to the mail art network and they will be building future connections and future archives. And so it goes.....

[John Gayer]

In my mind mail art remains an enigma - especially In its relationship with museums and galleries, which is tenuous and unpredictable. It is a dynamic mode of art (though a lesser form of expression in many people's eyes) and mainly a private pursuit. It tends to be enigmatic in that it progresses in a random fashion, yet distinguishes itself by alluding to systems (the network) and organisations (this union). One could go on at length regarding all the contradictions mail art embodies. How to adequately document it, study it, exhibit it, preserve it... Unfortunately, I have agree with Michael. The development of such an initiative does seem remote.

[Michael Leigh]

Thanks Ilya and Raphael for your interesting suggestions.  Maybe some day we can hope for such a thing but it seems a long way off!  

[Raphael Nadolny]

This is a good idea proposed by Ilya, but will you be able to find an independent entity or museum to run the Mail Art Central Archive? Perhaps an international foundation should be established to deal with heritage related to the Art of the Post

[Ilya Semenenko-Basin]

I propose that we start looking together for a good private museum that will accept the collections and archives accumulated by the artists. We need such an assembly point, storage and careful use facility! Where can we find one?

[Michael Leigh]

Mom Kat, yes, it's a problem all serious mail artists face - sooner or later!   What to do with that pile of boxes full of envelopes, postcards, objects, cassettes, etc.   We have  no answers - nobody seems to be interested sadly.  Good luck with finding homes for yours!

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

What to do with mail art boxes and boxes and archives, Michael ????

Anyone want some 3,000 mail art pieces that had arrived in Greece over the past 10 years?

Time to "de-clutter" my studio :-(