no franco, hai capito benissimo il senso della mia, e quello della tua risposta รจ altrettanto evidente, nonostante gli svarioni del traduttore (e che siano un po' anche gli altri ad usarlo :-) ciao, Vittore
>Dear friends, >I have tried to understand the Dodo-text with an electronic translator, >therefore you will excuse me. >In effects, I am also me remained surprised by the indifference to this thin >provocation. I have given guilt to the summer period, but I am not >convinced! >I fear that the mail art both for many only a hobby, while I have tried some >deep emotions and great changes in my thought on the art. Today I have moved >all these my changes to the direct meetings with the artists. Because the >thought of the mail art evolves and continuous to produce good changes in >the mind of the men. The world has taken an ugly road and they won't be the >governments to change rout. Each of those of us that he/she believes in the >collaboration it has to throw to him on the sleeves and to personally >undertake. The art is life. The art of exchange, the art of the peace makes >to become life beautiful. >I apologize for the bad translation. But I meant my thought. Thanks. >Franco > >----- Original Message ----- >From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> >Sent: Saturday, July 23, 2005 9:03 AM >Subject: Re: (",) Re: dodo not dada > > > >Dear Kevin, >many thanks for your kind and thoughtful answers, my Dodo-text was indeed >purposedly over-pessimist as a sort of provocation (and a feedback in the >first place to some Dodo mailings I got from other mail-artists, so part >of a collective "game). I was bewildered too by the total lack of answers >from the ma newsgroup, so your words (and b saved too, I should add) make >it a bit less surrealistic to me. I experienced the same feeling in the >past, >when I posted a text pointing to the fact that my AAA Editions is the only >small publishing house in the world to have produced 3 books on the history >of mail art (2 of which in English/Italian) and only about 10 copies of each >were sold to mail artists despite a large circilation of info about it >(luckily, >I sold enough in the normal Italian bookstores to almost cover the costs). >I am not bitter about it, I enjoyed doing it and will do it again, I am just >bewildered by the surrealistic lack of interest in the history of the medium >from the part of those who take part in it. Yes, there probably never was >a true mail art community, just an oneiric utopia from us seasoned old >hippies. >It's everyone for himself, homo homini lupus, and all that :-) And you are >right on live8 too, at least half of the acts should have been African, or >it's just hypocritical self-promotion (of course, Bush didn't move an >eyelid, >so what can we do?). >I thank you again for your much needed human contact, to touch paper just >write to >vittore baroni, via c. battisti 339, 55049 viareggio, italy > >ciao, V. > >><html><body> >> >> >><tt> >>freightening that there hasn't been any comment (at least in the<BR> >>group) on the email and its contents, so i'll throw a few typed<BR> >>letters onto the screen<BR> >><BR> >>On 7/18/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:<BR> >>> I recently wrote this short text for a snail-mail mailing cum dodo ATC >>attached,<BR> >>> am I just a old embittered snob totally off mark?<BR> >>> VB<BR> >>> <BR> >>> DODO not DADA - summer reflections on a shiny mailbox<BR> >>> <BR> >>> So, is mail art still alive or (almost) extinct? Though I never >stopped<BR> >>> swimming in the correspondence flow since I first entered the postal >>network<BR> >>> way back in the late Seventies, this question is becoming more and >more<BR> >>> difficult to answer. The mail art community, if there ever was one, >>from<BR> >>> my observation point seems to be receding into utter obscurity or >melting<BR> >>> into (Inter)net-art, which is a wonderful but rather different kind >>of experience.<BR> >><BR> >>here it seems that you are saying that there is a community, otherwise<BR> >>it could not recede into utter obscurity. you are framing this<BR> >>statement with such a pessimistic tone that it would be hard to want<BR> >>to do anything. starting back at the beginning, (almost) extinct is<BR> >>still alive (tho, a wonderful turn of phrase that (almost) extinct).<BR> >><BR> >>> Yes, there are still mail art shows and ?festivals? being organized >>around<BR> >>> the (Western) world, but the medium has become a bit stale and tired, >>the<BR> >>> original feeling of excitement and discovery is long gone (and this >>is understandable<BR> >>> for a phenomenon that spans four decades, no small feat in itself!) >>but<BR> >>> it has not been replaced by the wisdom and maturity that old age >usually<BR> >>> brings forth. I perceive a forced mood of ?eternal youth? for a medium >>that<BR> >>> has had its days. <BR> >><BR> >>this mode of 'eternal youth', who is behind it? i make no claims to<BR> >>having been in the mail-art community for a long time, indeed i'm a<BR> >>rube, however i would suggest that those behind the eternal youth<BR> >>message are *probably* people who are, well, older<BR> >><BR> >>The very symbols of correspondence (artists? postage stamps,<BR> >>> rubber stamps, postcards, envelopes, etc.) are being gradually >abandoned,<BR> >>> they are not the main focus of postal activities anymore, or they have >>become<BR> >>> rare practices pursued by a dwindling number of veterans. Artists? >Trading<BR> >>> Cards might be a cute new twist to the old game, but it never really >>spread<BR> >>> out and conceptually I find it a bit weak, missing a precise link with >>the<BR> >>> postal medium (and art history). Mail art lost a centre of gravity, >>its<BR> >>> identity fragmented into a myriad of individual projects, and not many >>seem<BR> >>> to care much anymore about a communal ?philosophy?. <BR> >><BR> >>can't an 'individual project' exist within a communal philosophy?<BR> >>can't this be the next possibility to 're-invigorate'? this is, for<BR> >>me, the balancing act and one of the more interesting points raised<BR> >>within the essay<BR> >><BR> >>Old mail artists die<BR> >>> - too many to mention, r.i.p. - and the newcomers are often unaware >>of mail<BR> >>> art?s tradition (yet there are books available to be read, just check >>Google<BR> >>> or Amazon!), so the dream of a global and peaceful community of >artists<BR> >>> sharing experiences is fading away into underground myth and urban >legends.<BR> >>> Something you will tell to your grandchildren, and they will smile and >>shake<BR> >>> their heads in disbelief?<BR> >>> <BR> >>> I find rather telling the fact that one of the few ?signs of >networking<BR> >>> life? - messages that are not aimed at individuals but rather >addressed<BR> >>> to the entire circuit of postal artists - that I noticed in the past >>few<BR> >>> months is a series of loosely connected mailings (from Lumb, Bates, >>Brignull<BR> >>> and others) comparing mail art to the Dodo, the notorious exotic bird >>that<BR> >>> has come to represent the endangered animal species par excellence. >><BR> >><BR> >>a period of pessimism seems expected, that aside, are(n't) messages<BR> >>aimed at the idea of mail-art, the entire community, possibilities for<BR> >>discussion, for dialogue, indeed for community building?<BR> >><BR> >>So I<BR> >>> am not the only pessimist networker feeling the ground shake under his >>feet.<BR> >>> Things have changed a great deal in the almost thirty years I spent >>inside<BR> >>> (and outside) the postal net: riding on the crest of the new wave/punk >>energy<BR> >>> in the Seventies, but still maintaining the positive ideals of the >Hippie<BR> >>> era, resisting the boredom of the Eighties and Nineties clinging to >>the<BR> >>> collectivist Utopia of a free-for-all and open trading system, >entering<BR> >>> the new Millennium to find out that, after all, maybe those cynical >>punks<BR> >>> were right, this is a ?no future? situation for the planet. Evil >forces<BR> >>> prevail, the model for global cooperation that mail art so well >exemplified<BR> >>> proved inapplicable to the big numbers. <BR> >><BR> >>as someone who grew up during the 20 years of great boredom that you<BR> >>mention, it seems to me absolutely foolish that people actually<BR> >>believed that mail-art, or any artistic practice, could prevail over<BR> >>the evil forces (loosely defined)<BR> >><BR> >>Maybe all the money we dumped in<BR> >>> postage stamps and photocopies would have been better invested in some >>charity<BR> >>> project, maybe a little voluntary social work would have been less >wasted<BR> >>> time. <BR> >><BR> >>it isn't a waste of time, you did indeed take pleasure from these<BR> >>activities, and clearly you are passionate about it. but, reflecting<BR> >>what i typed above, if one wants to make a truly immediate impact,<BR> >>than yes volunteering is a better way to go. the impact of artisitic<BR> >>and mail-art activities can't be wide-spread, but it is 'more<BR> >>targeted' as an individual opens a package as opposed to, for example,<BR> >>teaching a group of adults literacy. it is unfair to compare charity<BR> >>versus art in this vein. ross priddle brought up a sound point a month<BR> >>or two ago but in a different context, namely that mail-art, or all<BR> >>art requires a degree of leisure time and disposable income--at least<BR> >>in north america, definitely in the united states<BR> >><BR> >>But just see what millions of people reunited by music with the ?Live8?<BR> >>> event has been able to obtain by the powers that rule the Earth: next >>to<BR> >>> nothing. Contemporary popular culture has touched an unprecedented >low,<BR> >>> the new generations have got used to a diet of heartless blockbusters >>and<BR> >>> mindless bestsellers. Mail art is not the only endangered Dodo >around.<BR> >><BR> >>true, but the promoters and participants in 'Live8' were a little<BR> >>self-congratulatory about all 'the good work' they were doing by<BR> >>playing pop songs<BR> >><BR> >>vittore, i appreciate your wisdom (despite what you wrote earlier that<BR> >>mail-art, with age, has gained none!) and for bringing up the points<BR> >>you raise--bill wilson who has grown silent, and probably does not<BR> >>wish for me to circulate his name is another person who has much to<BR> >>offer. everything you two (and guido is very good too) not to mention<BR> >>(fuck, this has turned into an awards banquet, 'and i would like to<BR> >>thank') tamara okay, enough of names--i think my sentiment is clear<BR> >><BR> >>xoxo<BR> >><BR> >>kevin<BR> >><BR> >>> The Dodo was a mild bird with a hooked beak and a gentle spirit. When >>the<BR> >>> Portuguese sailors first discovered the friendly bird on the shores >>of the<BR> >>> island of Mauritius in the year 1598, they called it ?dodo? >(?simpleton?)<BR> >>> mistaking his child-like innocence and lack of fear as stupidity. >Being<BR> >>> also unable to fly, the bird was easily killed by men and by other new >>animals<BR> >>> introduced in its environment, like dogs and pigs. By the year 1681, >>the<BR> >>> Dodo had been completely wiped out from the face of the planet. We do >>not<BR> >>> even have a complete skeleton, so the bird only lives today through >>the<BR> >>> rare descriptions of the time and the pictures of artists, such as the >>drawing<BR> >>> made by Sir John Tenniel for Lewis Carroll?s Alice in Wonderland. >Maybe<BR> >>> the same will happen to mail art in a near future, when postage rates >>will<BR> >>> have become even more expensive: artistamps and such ephemera will >survive<BR> >>> only in the description and catalogues of a few devoted bibliographers >>and<BR> >>> scholars. Mail art is not only endangered by sky-rocketing postage >rates<BR> >>> though, I think the most perilous risk factors are not those that come >>from<BR> >>> outside but those that spring from its own ranks. I notice a >widespread<BR> >>> lack of interest in mail art history (taking at face value Ray >Johnson?s<BR> >>> pun ?mail art has no history, only a present? may have fatal >consequences!),<BR> >>> so there is a consequent scarcity of magazines or forums for a >collective<BR> >>> debate on the relevant issues related to networking (there are a few >>newsgroups<BR> >>> on the Internet, I peeped into them, but it is mostly small talk and >>unrelated<BR> >>> projects). Ultimately, mail art is folding on itself for the general >>inability<BR> >>> to come up with new networking concepts, different from the worn-out >>?theme<BR> >>> show? format, the ageing ?assembling? zine, the never ending >chain-letter-like<BR> >>> add-to-and-pass-on formula. I am not just whining and preaching, I try >>to<BR> >>> do my bit: with the participation to the Funtastic United Network >concept<BR> >>> (SUN of FUN convention organized by Piermario Ciani coming up in early >>September),<BR> >>> with the When the Saints show of alternative ?holy images? (the second >>?station?<BR> >>> opening in Pisa at the end of September), with the planned Luther >Blissett<BR> >>> multiple name decennial commemoractive dvd, just to mention three >recent<BR> >>> projects in progress, I try to take networking tactics into new >grounds.<BR> >>> The doomed AAA book on artists? postcards may finally see the light >>one<BR> >>> of these days, and there are other publications placing mail art in >>a historical<BR> >>> perspective bubbling to be published soon (by John Held Jr., Mark >Bloch<BR> >>> and others). I may be one of the ?last dodos?, but I will not be >crushed<BR> >>> down so easily and without reaction. Wanna join the fight?<BR> >>> <BR> >>> Vittore Baroni >>@ E.O.N. ? July 2005<BR> > > > >To unsubscribe, send an email to: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Mailinglist from Sztuka Fabryka >http://www.sztuka-fabryka.be/ >Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mailinglist from Sztuka Fabryka http://www.sztuka-fabryka.be/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ma-network/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
