Yes, mail art IS changing.
I think as more people come to it the "rules of engagement" change to accomodate the influx. There's been a significant rise in the number of people trying to better understand how the mail art phenomenon works...let alone how to create artwork that will realistically make it through the mail.
Also, we are experiencing a shift in the kinds of art that's being created...I'm into art journals, handmade paper collage, mail book art and zine work. That means my mail art interests push the fringe of traditional mail art swaps. Which leads me to postage! Postal fees have gone up...and continue to do so, depending on the type of art you're into, the cost of postage and supplies can be significant...and the TIME and TECHNOLOGY associated with hosting a call well is extensive. T
he painful part of the whole process is
making the investment only to have participant not follow through....and it's not just the newbies that don't do what they say they will do...its everyone. I mean, life happens...but that doesn't reimburse me for printing when I send someone a 15 page, full color zine that they never recipricate for...AND they post pictures of it on their blog as if it were there own...or $8 collaborative art journals that go out and never, ever come home. I have sent out 11 ($88 bucks!) books to a ring of artist I know and not one book has come home. There are sightings of a few from time to time...but the others...they are gone. I took a chance...and keep hoping they will find their way home, but who knows.
So yes, things are changing. We all try to find ways to mitigate our losses and alleviate the pain. I don't have a problem with the shift overall...as long as people are just trying to break even...to
not throw money out the window in the name of mail art. As the economy shifts, maybe those losses won't be as painful, but for now, $88 is my gas money for 2 weeks.
I think the Network needs all of the options...pay-to-play, newbie swaps, Yahoo boards, art blogs, funny money, 4x6, lumpy cards, collaborative copier collage, mail art books, zines...we need all of these options. Take what you like, leave what you hate, discuss the various points in between...but change is good, if for nothing more than the discussion of what was vs. what can be.
seren
mailart_manekineko <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Yeah there seems to be a growing number of people involving money with
mail art in other ways too...like requiring a fee for participation,
or outright selling.
I saw someone the other day who sells artistamps on her blog - not
made for any other purpose - so that the buyers can make 'mail art'.
It seems like there is this alternate universe of people who are doing
something very different than what I know mail art to be - mostly
involving cash as a requirement. Is mailart changing, or are these
people doing something else and calling it 'mail art'?
--manekineko
http://www.mailart.org
--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED]ups.com , Alice Kitselman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]..> wrote:
>
> Just popped over to the http://www.envelopecollective. (Cool sitecom/
> by the way) and noticed that these fellows seem to be planning on
> eventually using the envelopes they have collected to raise money for
> charity. No specific cause has been identified as yet.
>
> Ok, so I know we have pondered about this before, but what do you all
> think about the rising number of folks who are "selling" mail art for
> charity???
>
> Dragonfly Dream
> www.dragonflydream.com
>
> "It's something wonderful to get a letter. The paper, the stamp, the
> envelope. It is not just a piece of paper. It is something sacred. "
>
> IBRAHIM ISMAIL ZAIDEN, a postman in Baghdad, Iraq.
>
> (quoted in the New York Times)
>
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