Mail from Vittore Baroni - Italy

Real Correspondence

a mail art bulletin of the ethereal open network

october 2007 – thirtieth anniversary edition

Whew, this is a rather busy “mail art year” for me! I have just finished mailing out three issues of my Arte Postale! magazine (# 90, 93 and 93, while # 91 was delivered at the end of June to coincide with one year after the loss of my friend Piermario Ciani), for a total of over two hundred envelopes. And to round off my thirtieth year in the mail art network, a sixth and final project is in the wings (see ULTIMATUM! invite below). It was indeed a rather extravagant investment of time and money even for my own intense correspondence standards, but I really wanted to test the state of health of the “ethereal” postal network and my own limits within the medium.

The results have been very encouraging, with a large participation and successful public presentations of the “art hats” and Ciao, Paolina! projects, plus the children workshop at the MACHmit! Museum in Berlin was very well received by organizers and audience alike. Mail Art may be an “old horse”, but for me this form of expression still represents an enlightening anticipation of a wider “paradigm shift” in culture, that social commentators are just starting to acknowledge (see for example the essay Convergence Culture by MIT Professor Henry Jenkins, New York University Press, 2006): a collective participation in the production and fruition of “transmedial” works, the merging and sublimation of individual visions in a open networking perspective (giving life to what William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin called a “third mind”). Thanks if you participated in any of the projects, and do keep in touch, much more is yet to happen!

Vittore Baroni @ E.O.N.

ARTE POSTALE! (1979- ...)

The magazine AP! is mailed out free to all contributors and also to selected archives and libraries, trades with similar publications are always welcomed. Few copies of each issue are also made available for sale, to recover at least in part the costs of printing and distribution.

Issues currently available:

AP! 88 - Stickin Glue... , special sticker art, over 50 international stickers, 32 pp. - Euro 25.00 - $ 30.00

AP! 89 - 30th Anniversary edition, 30 international networkers, 40 pp. & inserts - Euro 25.00 - $ 30.00

AP! 90 - Hats off to George Maciunas, BAU/Fluxus mail hat art project catalogue - Euro 12.00 - $ 14.00

AP! 91 - Piermario Ciani, one year later, unpublished works and tributes, with cd-r - Euro 25.00 - $ 30.00

AP! 92 - Ciao, Paolina! - international mail art project dedicated to Paolina Bonaparte, all the works in a cd-r plus colour booklet - Euro 12,00 - $ 14,00

AP! 93 - POSTmit! - documentation of a mail art workshop at the MACHmit! Museum for children in Berlin, part of the HACKmit! exhibition, with the participation of 30 international networkers - Euro 12,00 - $ 14,00

AP! 94 - Ultimatum! will appear in December 2007 or January 2008. Stay tuned for more issues in 2008, with the first installments of the monographic series The League of Serious Mail Artists...

Other mail art related publications also available:

Sentieri Interrotti / Vanished Paths (2000) - 388 pages large size catalogue, sections on mail art, Fluxus, Lettrism, Visual Poetry, etc. - Euro 40.00 - $ 60.00

Phosgenia collection (2004) - all 4 issues of the “Bulletin of Obscure Actions” (OA04) in plastic portfolio + original relics, collected edition of 15 copies only - Euro 60.00 - $ 70.00

Whatever Happened to Luther Blissett? (2005) - collective DVD on the multiple name mystery, limited edition version in 100 copies with 30 pages booklet, stickers set and relics - Euro 25.00 - $ 30.00

HOW TO ORDER

Europe: apply prices in Euro. Outside Europe: apply prices in U.S. dollars. All the prices listed include packing and postage (sent by air mail outside of Europe). Previous lists and prices are no more effective. Send payment as International Postal Money Order or cash hidden in registered envelope (if you send a cheque add Euro 10,00 / $ 10,00 for bank costs) to:

Vittore Baroni

Via C. Battisti 339

55049 Viareggio

Italy

…but wait, my 30th Anniversary in mail art (1977-2007) is not over yet! There is still time for one final project, fittingly titled:

ULTIMATUM!

Wars, terrorism, climate changes, pollution, over-population, epidemics... With the complicity of the mass media, we are kept in a constant state of alarm, living every day of our life under the sword of Damocles of a never-ending series of ultimatums.

What I request is simply the design for a rubberstamp in black and white inspired by the theme “Ultimatum!”. I need an original or good print on paper, any size, no half-tones or grey areas, no computer files only and please stick to the theme. The deadline is Halloween, November 2nd 2007. All the participants will receive a free catalogue (Arte Postale! 94).

Mail to my usual address: Vittore Baroni, Via C. Battisti 339, 55049 Viareggio, Italy