Wednesday, June 9, 2010

WE ARE THE PORTLAND CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL






Hello and welcome! On June 7th, 2010 at 7:01pm, the following ad was posted on craigslist.org:

"I'm proposing a collaboration of creative individuals.  

This collaboration will involve exchanging any and all types of correspondence, images, or objects via the traditional postal service (within legal limits of course). I know email has taken over because of its convenience and speed of delivery, but don't you miss actual letters sometimes? Doesn't it still feel good to get a package or a birthday card in the mail (not just another bill, bank statement, or advertisement)? And wouldn't it be nice to get out of the traditional "white box" for a change? This project is not intended to create monetary gains for any individual in any way, but simply to serve as an outlet for creativity and a way to connect in some small way with other participants/strangers/artists outside of the traditional gallery setting. 

If you know about the New York Correspondence School, Ray Johnson, or Correspondence/Mail Art, then you may have a better idea of what I'm proposing. If you don't know about these things, then the following Wikipedia article may help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_art

And some examples of other people's stuff:

http://inspireme.lasoeurkaramazov.net/post/2008/10/24/Beautiful-Mail-Art-collection 

 
http://riittaikonen.com/projects/mail-art/

I'd like to compile a list of addresses or P.O. boxes of individuals who are interested in participating (anyone and everyone is welcome!). I'd like to mail this list to everyone on the list. From there, in fairness to everyone, I only ask that you participate in the sending aspect of the correspondence if you'd like to receive anything in return. Also, it would be nice to put a noticeable effort into being orginal /creative in the types or correspondence that you send. Part of the fun is pushing the envelope (<--- pun intended) of the postal system and creatively working within or around the limits of what is "allowable" to send. Hope to hear from you soon! "

2 comments:

  1. I love Ray Johnson :) Can you post the email address where to send an address.

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  2. Certainly! Anyone interested in participating can email their snail-mail address to:
    pdxcorrespondence@gmail.com
    Send them by 5:23:14pm on Sunday, June 13th, 2010 and you'll be included in the "maiden voyage" mailing :)

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