When did the IUOMA start

[Ruud Janssen]

Because I got the question I had to do some digging in the archive, As it turns out I found the starting month back in one of my own publications that I wrote in 1990:

This booklet was published in 1990 to document my first 10 years in Mail-Art. I still have the originals here. In it I wrote about the start of the IUOMA. It turns out to be AUGUST 1988. Later in 2005 it is also documented in the book "25 years in Mail-Art).

It started as a joke, but survived for 25 years soon.....

 

I will do some more research soon (I keep track of things quite well) and will read notes I made back in 1988 to get the starting moment back in details.These are private notes that are archived in the TAM-Archive.

[DKeys]

kinda like how Hollywood movies are usually two monosyllabic words and famous assassins have three part names

[De Villo Sloan]

IUOMA = 5 letters (middle = O vowel)

DKULT = 5 letters (middle = U vowel)

numerology looks promising

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

YO Mail Art! YOMA! IUOMA! What a beginning, and so glad it did, Ruud.

IUOMA was also one of the first sites to collect mail art calls and invitations

and publish them for us to see and participate...remembering the ol' yahoo group!

[DKeys]

Thanks to Neil giving me the idea, I obtained How To Draw a Bunny through interlibrary loan. Been wanting to see it forever.  Yes DVS-like IOUMA, I hope DKult gets huge like one of those mega-churches:)

Great pic of you Ruud-very handsome

[Ruud Janssen]

one of my postcards in the 90-ies when I couldn't handle all incoming mail-art......

[De Villo Sloan]

Always a treat when Ruud Janssen digs into his archives.

Diane, I think IUOMA starting as a joke is interesting too. I think that is the nature of mail-art. You create something & you're not entirely serious & you spread it around. Then it has a life of it's own & you think: "What have I done?" Like DKult too.

[Ruud Janssen]

The photo is also about 25 years old.....

What starts as a joke can transform into a lot of different things. I wrote an article about the IUOMA as a conceptual artwork, a fluxus word that went very succesful. The article is published in Cheryl Penn's documentaion that she made available online..

Ruud

[DKeys]

I had no idea that it started as a joke=that's phenomenal that it turned into something like this. It has made me appreciate the power of social networking