About
Inspired by the bravery and ingenuity of artists in the Eastern Bloc, our class at UC, Santa Barbara has decided to create a Mail Art Exhibit of our own. Drawing from projects and coursework from SLAV 130C: Contemporary Art in Eastern Europe/ Mail Art and Conceptual Practices (Winter 2022), the curators have compiled here a collection of student works inspired by the practices of these Eastern European conceptual and mail artists. This exhibit includes work using an array of media and techniques—including concrete poetry, “rubber” stamps, artistamps, dispersed or scattered artwork, and even original manifestos—and expressing diverse ideas and concepts, ranging from environmentalism and activism to language and globalism, connectivity and isolation, materiality and conceptualism. Curators Svetlana Malakhov, Simone Manzari, Jo Sanderson, and Professor Margarita Delcheva have assembled a collection of the work of their peers in this exhibit, Unmailed Pixels: Correspondence from the Hybrid Classroom.
The views expressed in these artworks reflect the perspectives of the individual artists and not of the University or the department.
The Origins of Mail Art
While its origins can be traced to conceptual artists of the early twentieth century, such as Marcel Duchamp and Kazimir Malevich, mail art first emerged in the 1950s with New York-based artist Ray Johnson. Johnson established the New York Correspondence School, an informal postal network for the unobstructed exchange of art and correspondence between participants of his network—often collages, prints, abstract drawings, or poems—between participants of his network. This network operated via a cycle of distribution and feedback between the artists. Many of Johnson’s ideas can be seen reflected in Polish artists Jarosław Kozłowski and Andrzej Kostołowski’s NET proposal, one of the first theorizations of non-hierarchical art networking. Inspired (directly or indirectly) by Johnson, Dadaism, and Fluxus artists of the 1960s, NET broke the boundaries of traditional art practices, exchange, and circulation in the restricted climate of Eastern Europe in the midst of the Cold War.
Mail Art in Eastern Europe
Mail art was, by its very nature, a global phenomenon. However, especially notable was the mail art scene in Soviet-era Eastern Europe. Confined by isolation and state censorship, artists of the Eastern Bloc sought novel and unconventional means of communication and expression. The post offered such an avenue outside the traditional (and regulated) institutions of museums and exhibits. However, even postal networks were not free from state censors. Evading postal surveillance sometimes meant utilizing innovative tactics to ensure the correspondence art made its way through the artist networks. Russian mail artist Rea Nikonova, for example, as well as many others, sent her work several times in the hopes that at least one letter would reach its recipient. Polish artist Pawel Petasz sewed envelopes shut, so they could not be opened by interceptors and then resealed by steam. Birger Jesch, an artist from East Germany, used condolence envelopes for his letters so that inspectors would be less likely to open them out of respect. Some artists engaged in the act of self-censorship. Endré Tot of Hungary, notably, sent unintelligible “empty messages” made up of or obscured by typed 0's. While censorship in Eastern European countries certainly made mail art an appealing alternative to traditional art, we must be careful not to overstate the role of censorship in motivating artists of this time. Much can be said for the exploration of expression, language, and creative commination sheerly for artistic sake.
Artists in the Eastern Bloc occasionally found opportunities to share their work among friends and colleagues in person. Although his first reception was raided and his materials confiscated, Kozłowski eventually found a way around state regulations by partnering with Unions. His first successful reception was held in collaboration with the Club of the Creative Union in 1972. His next project proceeded the with help of Polish Students Union, where he was able to create an exhibition space with no hierarchy to display neo-avant-garde art. NET played a central role in supplying material for this exhibit. Ultimately, however, Kozłowski still had to seek permission from censors for his exhibitions. East German artists Robert and Ruth Rehfeldt held kriechgalerie (“creep-galleries”) in their basement in the 1970s, which offered a (quite literal) underground space for printing presses, exhibitions, concerts, and parties.
The legacy of these pioneer artists was continued by next generation through the digital age. Despite changing social and political conditions, mail art exchange is still ongoing, responding to contemporary cultural contexts like isolation and digitization.