The MAIL-INTERVIEW Project by Ruud Janssen – Netherlands
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The MAIL-INTERVIEW project by Ruud Janssen – Netherlands A compilation of some mail-interviews After the first publication (interviews with Ruud Janssen – celebrating the 25 years in Mail-Art) this is the second publication with 16 more mail-interviews © 2008 TAM-Publications 1 2 These mail-interviews were done in the years 1994-2007 by Ruud Janssen. This publication contains a small collection out of the 80+ interviews that he did in these years. Contact-address: TAM-Publications P.O.Box 1055 4801 BB Breda the NETHERLANDS e-mail : [email protected] URL : www.iuoma.org 3 4 CONTENT CONTENT......................................................................... 5 INTRODUCTION .............................................................. 7 MICHAEL LEIGH (A1 Waste Paper Co Ltd.).............. 10 CARLO PITTORE............................................................ 22 CLIVE PHILLPOT ............................................................ 40 DICK HIGGINS .............................................................. 55 EDGARDO - ANTONIO VIGO...................................... 85 INTRODUCTION......................................................... 85 INTERVIEW ................................................................. 86 END .......................................................................... 106 KEN FRIEDMAN ........................................................... 108 INTERVIEW ............................................................... 108 APPENDIX-1............................................................. 135 APPENDIX-2............................................................. 139 APPENDIX-3............................................................. 143 APPENDIX-4............................................................. 145 5 AL ACKERMAN ........................................................... 149 ANNA BANANA.......................................................... 181 JONATHAN STANGROOM ........................................ 203 ASHLEY PARKER OWENS............................................ 221 JULIE PAQUETTE .......................................................... 235 ROBIN CROZIER.......................................................... 255 Guy Bleus.................................................................... 278 APPENDIX-1............................................................. 292 APPENDIX-2............................................................. 297 RAY JOHNSON ........................................................... 306 INTRODUCTION....................................................... 306 THE UNFINISHED MAIL-INTERVIEW. ........................ 306 ENDING ................................................................... 308 ALLISON KNOWLES .................................................... 311 ENDNOTES............................................................... 320 NORMAN SOLOMON (Mr. Postcard) ...................... 323 INDEX........................................................................... 355 6 INTRODUCTION All these 16 mail-interviews have been published before. Mostly on the Internet, and sometimes in small booklet form with cover and illustrations after an interview was finished. Small circulations always, and sent to the subscribers at that time and some archives like e.g. the MoMa, in New York, This book is published with a selection of mail-interviews that have historic value and are worth reading for a broader audience. The amount of illustrations is kept to a minimum to make the publication not too thick. Also the Fluxus-related interview are collected in this book. A third and maybe fourth one will appear next year with the other interviews that I did. I invested several years in gathering all this information. Honoria (Texas, USA) even devoted a complete chapter in her thesis about this project, so I guess these source interviews from the past are worth saving on paper too. Besides the mail-interview I did with others, there is a selection of mail-interviews some people did with me. Those are published in another book with title “25 Years in Mail-Art”. Also published at www.lulu.com. Enjoy reading this collection, 7 Ruud Janssen Breda, April 2008. 8 9 MICHAEL LEIGH (A1 Waste Paper Co Ltd.) Mail-interview with Michael Leigh (UK) Started on: 6-11-1994 Ruud Janssen (RJ): Welcome to this mail-interview. So far we met twice and have discussed certain things about mail- art already, but I still forgot to ask you what your 'firm' A1 Waste Paper Co. Ltd. is all about. When did you found it and what is it all about? Reply on: 17-11-1994 Michael Leigh (ML): Well, it was soon after I had chanced upon the mail art network in 1980 at the Artlink International exhibition at the Greenwich Theatre Gallery in London that I decided I too could have a weird and wonderful nom de plume that many of my fellow mail artists had contrived for themselves. Also it would be nice to have a name other than my own to attach all my mail art to so as to distinguish it from the other art I was doing at that time (Landscapes and animals in oil on canvas). I forget just how many names I'd thought up at the beginning but two I remember were ART ACHES 10 REPOSITORY and the BAD ART DELIVERY SERVICE. Both remained on the back burner until I chanced upon a couple of battered rubber stamps at a flea market in London's East End - both were the address stamps for a defunct (I assume so since they didn't crop up in the telephone directory at that time) recycling firm called the A.1.Waste Paper Company Ltd. I couldn't believe my luck - just the name I had been looking for! Not only did it sound good but could also be shortened to A.1. and covered all aspects of the recycling ethic I had seen as key element in all the networking material that I had used or was going to use in the future. It also has the happy ability to put itself at the very front of any address lists made in an alphabetical order! RJ : This recycling is something I recognize in most mail-art I have seen from you. Some mail-artists keep all the mail they receive in their "Archive". Do you have an "Archive" or is almost everything recycled? Reply on: 26-11-1994 ML: I think most sensible people realize that RECYCLING in everyday life is very important now if we are to put back something rather than take take take from the Earths limited resources. In art too this has become more and more important - not only from a ecological point of view but as a way of saving valuable time and money. My "archive" consists mainly of dozens of cardboard boxes from the supermarket which are stuffed full of old mail in no particular order or design. I've never been very good at 11 organizing such things and so I'm afraid if I need something from my "archive" it takes me ages to find! Fourteen years of correspondence takes up a lot of space so I've been very ruthless just lately (since Archie was born) - sorting through it all and sending the stuff we didn't want to Michael Lumb's archive in Ipswich. On a day to day basis I still recycle envelopes and boring xeroxes get letters written on the back of them. RJ : So this 'boring xerox' gets personalized and probably will end up in someone's elses "archive". Do you think that these "archives" are important for other people than the mail-artists? Is it possible for a 'non-mail-artist' to understand that mail-art is more than art sent by mail? Reply on : 8-12-1994 ML: Archives are important because they contain the history and development of mail art. Artists can benefit by using their archives in a constructive manner - making exhibitions from them and showing the work to outsiders who don't understand what the postal network is about. At the moment Hazel and I are showing our artwork in conjunction with pieces from our mail art archive at the WEIDORAMA show in Walsall Museum and Art Gallery in the West Midlands of England. This exhibition is an attempt to show how mail art interacts with the other work we do and to show outsiders just how diverse and multi- disciplined it is. Archives should contain the best work and ideally made available to other mail artists and interested parties who wish to see it or part of it or the works of one particular artist for Commemorative works or book projects etc. 12 These outside the mail art network will never understand what mail art is without becoming part of the mail art network. I'm not so sure we should crusade to make the mail art understandable to those outside its circle. Those interested enough will discover it for themselves eventually. It's not a RELIGION to be thrust down peoples throats. One must carry on doing ones best and hope that others will see for themselves through mail art shows like WEIRDORAMA just how much fun their is using the postal system as your artistic medium. RJ : You talk about 'the postal system'. Does this include the new communication-forms like using FAX and Computer for communication or isn't this mail-art in your eyes? What are your thoughts about the TELENETLINK 95 project that Crackerjack Kid started? Reply on : 28-12-1994 ML: I'm afraid I must admit that FAX and computer art doesn't really fit into my idea of Mail Art - it's not something I'm interested in. If you can't stick a stamp on it and post it, then it's not really Mail Art. It's a different medium and should be called something else. I don't know anything about Crackerjack Kid's TELENETLINK project. RJ: Well, let's stick to the communication-form with postage-stamps. The postage-stamp plays an important part in mail-art.