Arte Postale!
Near the Edge Editions, Forte Dei Marmi / Viareggio, Italy (Ed. and assembled by Vittore Baroni)
Introductory essay by Vittore Baroni
Chronology by Vittore Baroni
No. 4, More Political Satire: Post Scriptum, January 1980
No. 13, T-Shirts Issue, October 1980
Call for the 1981 issues
No. 19, Think About Mail Art, May-June, 1981
No. 34, Are You In Love?, October, 1982
No. 50, Silver, October, 1984
No. 55, Mail Art Handbook, 1986
No. 56, Mail Art & Money Do Mix, January-June, 1987
No. 59, Alternative Philately, January-June, 1989
No. 63, Let’s Network Together, 1992
No. 64, Utopia Infantile, January-March, 1993
No. 70, [Jürgen O. Olbrich], March-April, 1995
No. 83, The David Zack Project, July-December, 2000
No. 87, The Booklet of Oz, January-March, 2003
No. 94, Ultimatum!, 2007
Introductory essay by Vittore Baroni
ARTE POSTALE! STORY
1979-2009
The idea to create a magazine completely devoted to mail art came to me in 1979, two years after my first contact with the world of art by correspondence, that had happened through a chance meeting with the art collector and well known postal artist Guglielmo Achille Cavellini. I simply named my small self-produced magazine Arte Postale! - “Mail Art” with an exclamation mark - to point out the exuberance and warmth of the “Eternal Network” (the name that Fluxus artist Robert Filliou gave to the growing artists’ network), a friendly and open circuit of authors freely exchanging all kinds of ideas and works, while surmounting all racial, ideological and linguistic differences. A sort of “social network” anticipating Internet with the simple use of letters, postcards and stamps.
In the course of three decades, I published Arte Postale! with a very irregular periodicity and circulation, often adopting different formats and sizes. In the first two years, a new issue appeared almost every month, with a certain cut-and-paste rudeness of design, on the same wavelenght of the punk zines of the late Seventies. Gradually, the issues became less frequent and more complex in design and format. The first fifty issues of Arte Postale! were produced in limited editions of 100 copies, adopting the strategy of “assembling magazines” launched by New York experimental poet Richard Kostelanetz in his seminal Assembling publication: each participant sent me a hundred copies of a page, postcard, postage stamp or other materials, that I then collected together, adding a cover and a few editorial pages. Some issues of the magazine had a given theme (music, badges, poetry, stickers, photos, Neoism, etc.) or were dedicated to single mail artists living and dead (Ray Johnson, David Zack, Lon Spiegelman, Piermario Ciani), while others had a free theme but requested contributions in a very specific format (e.g. n. 24 was a 3D issue in a cardboard box, with small objects from each participant; n. 49 was a miniature issue with tiny works all contained in a audio-cassette box). After issue n. 50, I discontinued the assembling method and usually produced the entire magazine by myself, in photocopy or off-set, always adding many little manual interventions, so that each copy became a sort of “collector’s item”. The variable circulation ranged from the single copy of issue 53 (a special issue in just one copy, produced by Mark Pawson as an homage to my publication) to the 600 copies of n. 63, that included a vinyl 7” single by Le Forbici di Manitù with the hymn of the 1992 Decentralized World-Wide Networker Congress. In thirty years, approximately a thousand authors from sixty countries contributed to the magazine.
Though also available at a regular (low) price to the general public, Arte Postale! has been mostly exchanged free of charge with similar publications from other mail artists, in the true open and uncommercial spirit of mail art. The zine was also mailed to selected archives, museums and libraries world-wide: a complete collection is housed in the Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry (Miami Beach, USA), as well as in the VEC Archive (Holland) and in the Guy Bleus Archive (Belgium). A varying number of copies are included also in many other important Museums, public libraries and private collections in Italy and abroad. In 2007, to celebrate my thirty years in the circuit of mail art, I produced five issues of Arte Postale! related to five different collective exhibitions and projects, giving new impetus to the dissemination of the publication.
With all its practical limits and persisting underground status, mail art remains a powerful statement of collectivistic creativity, a workable model for do-it-yourself cultural action based on cooperation and solidarity. Not even the quick rise of the Internet in the Nineties could convince thousands of practicing mail artists to dismiss completely envelopes and postage stamps, in favour of the easier and often cheaper digital communication. E-mail, together with cell phones and other new technologies, has become an invaluable help for the pursuer of creative networking, but the rampant commercialism of most art-related web sites has made the veteran mail artist rather cautious and suspicious towards the digital medium. Net art projects on the web still cannot replace, as many mail artists argue, the surprise and pleasure of receiving every day unexpected gifts in the mail-box, letters and parcels to be touched, opened, smelled... So mail art lives on in the third millennium, even if my magazine, probably the longest running mail art publication ever, has concluded its journey with its 100th issue (december 2009, a documentation of the Klang! sonic arts festival), appeared exactly three decades after the completion of the first three issues (october-november-december 1979), a trilogy also devoted to the theme of music.
Vittore Baroni
A collection of the complete run of Arte Postale! magazine (issues 1 to 100, 1979-2009), a unique peep-hole into the world of international Mail Art, is available to serious collectors, archives and museums. Ask for details.
Chronology by Vittore Baroni
Chronology: Issue number - title / content - circulation
1 - Art Songs from Demonia 1 - october 1979 - 100
2 - Art Songs from Demonia 2 - november 1979 - 100
3 - Art Songs from Demonia 3 - december 1979 - 100
4 - More Political Satire: Post Scriptum - january 1980 - 100
5 - Speciale Cavelliniana (G.A. Cavellini special) - february 1980 - 100
6 - Dada 80 - march 1980 - 100
7 - reFluxus issue - april 1980 - 100
8 - Autobiographical Issue (Part I) - may 1980 - 100
9 - U.K. Special - june 1980 - 100
10 - Autobiographical Issue (Part II) - july 1980 - 100
11 - Autobiographical Potpourri Issue (Part III) - august 1980 - 100
12 - Fun Fun Fun - september 1980 - 100
13 - T-Shirts issue (including The Badge Show catalogue) - october 1980 - 100
14 - Develop My Dreams (photographic issue) - november 1980 - 100
15 - Kids workshop cover - december 1980 - 100
16 - Poems from the Inside (poetry issue in large serigraphed poster) - january-february 1981 - 100
17 - Etoatlerpsa! - march 1981 - 100
18 - The Yahoo Bulletin - 1 april 1981 - 100
19 - Think About Mail Art (networking theories) - may-june 1981 - 100
20 - Ut Fona Res (with guest editor Lieutenant Murnau) - no date (july 1981) - 100
21 - 44 88! (with guest editor Lieutenant Murnau) - july 1981 - 100
22 - Midsummer Issue - august 1981 - 100
23 - The Yahoo Bulletin Vol. 2 (Special Neutron Issue) - september 1981 - 100
24 - Boxed Edition (3D works in cardboard box) - october 1981 - 100
25 - This Order (with guest editor Lieutenant Murnau) - december 1981 - 100
26 - Yearbook 1981 - 31 december 1981 - 100
27 - Postcardsbox (cardboard box with postcards) - january-february 1982 - 100
28 - Confidences - march 1982 - 100
29 - Invisible Hobsons (VEC cover) - april 1982 - 100
30 - East-West Connection (Far East issue) - may 1982 - 100
31 - Romantic postcards cover - june 1982 - 100
32 - Bidet (parody of Frigidaire magazine cover) - july-august 1982 - 100
33 - Textured face cover - september 1982 - 100
34 - “Are You in Love?” vintage photo cover - october 1982 - 100
35 - Biennale de Paris cover - november 1982 - 100
36 - Optical badges cover - december 1982 - 100
37 - S.I.N.EWS I (a bulletin of S.I.N.) - january 1983 - 100
38 - Conceptual Mafia - march 1983 - 100
39 - Lewd CAREss (acts also as CARE magazine n. 8) - april 1983 - 100
40 - Old Forte dei Marmi photo cover - may 1983 - 100
41 - S.I.N.EWS II - june 1983 - 100
42 - Post Art Guerrilla (Mark Pawson stencil cover) - july 1983 - 100
43 - Networkart (world map cover) - august-september 1983 - 100
44 - Ear Show back-cover - october-november 1983 - 100
45 - S.I.N.EWS III (The 7 Tables of S.I.N.) - december 1983 - 100
46 - A Trip to Akademgorod (Agenzia Neoista issue) - januay-february 1984 - 100
47 - The Mail Art Show Show - march 1984 - 100
48 - MCMLXXXIV! (Charles Burns cover) - april-june 1984 - 100
49 - The Miniature Issue (mini-works in audiocassette plastic case) - july-september 1984 - 100
50 - The Silver Issue - october 1984 - 100
51 - S.I.N.ews IV - january 1985 - 100
52 - Scripta Volant (air mail poetry show in Florence) - february-march 1985 - 200
53 - Hommage a Vittore Baroni (special surprise issue with original works) - march-april 1985 - 1 (plus unnumbred transparent sheet-documentation to participants)
54 - Cornucopia (catalogue of show in Ponte Nossa) - june-december 1985 - 300
55 - Mail Art Handbook (a synthetic instructions guide for mail art by V. Baroni) - january-december 1986 - 500
56 - Mail Art & Money Do Mix! - january-june 1987 - 100
57 - The Box Game (collective add on project) - july-december 1987 - 500
58 - The B.A.T. Manual (Break Art Taboos) - january-december 1988 - 300
59 - Alternative Philately (artistamps issue) - january-june 1989 - 500
60 - The Making of Netzine (blueprint for a collaborative net art magazine) - july-september 1989 - unlimited xerox edition (approximately 200 printed)
61 - Smile (collective project, multiple name magazine) - october-december 1989 - unlimited edition (approximately 200 printed)
62 - B-Art Issue (with bag of Prof. Bad Trip’s Trash Trading Cards) - january-december 1990 - 500 (250 copies in standard edition and 250 with added art comic book The Risk in collaboration with Günther Ruch)
63 - Let’s Network Together (with 7’ vinyl record by Le Forbici di Manitù) - january-december 1992 - 600
63 bis - Meta-Concert in Spirit (audio cassette with inserts) - summer 1992 - 93
64 - Utopia Infantile (collaborative project with Robin Crozier) - january-march 1993 - 100
65 - David Drummond Milne (Glass Enigma) - april-june 1993 - 100
66 - The One-Man Show (collective add-on project) - july-september 1993 - 100
67 - Stickerman’s Scrapbook (sticker art) - october-december 1993 - 100
68 - Arturo G. Fallico Special - late december 1994 - 100
69 - Ray Johnson Lives! - january-february 1995 - unlimited edition (approximately 200 printed)
70 - Jürgen O. Olbrich Sondernummer - march-april 1995 - 100
71 - Fun in Acapulco (show in Hotel Acapulco, Forte dei Marmi) - may-september 1995 - 300
72 - Ray’s snake cover (remembering Ray Johnson, one year later) - 1-13 january 1996 - 81
73 - A Deck of Postcards (collaboration with Guy Bleus) - october-december 1985 - 100
74 - My Own Private Internet (The Club of 12) - 14-17 january 1996 - 300
75 - Luther Blissett uomo dell’anno - 18 january-1 april 1996 - 111
76 - Scissures 1 (Le Forbici di Manitù bulletin) - may-september 1996 - 300
77 - Vittore Baroni Mail Interview (VB interviewed by Ruud Janssen) - october-december 1996 - unlimited xerox edition (approximately 150 printed)
78 - The Making of Arte Postale (behind the scenes of V. Baroni’s book Arte Postale) - january-december 1977 - unnumbered edition (approximately 300 printed)
78 bis - Arte Postale! 78 ¾ (reviews and reactions to V. Baroni’s book Arte Postale) - january 1998 - unnumbered edition (approximately 200 printed)
79 - Scissures 2 (Ray Johnson commemorative, with Le Forbici di Manitù bulletin and A Song About Ray on cassette, replicas of A Book About Death, part of the Incongruous Meetings 1998 project) - 13 januaray 1998 - 31
80 - Dick Higgins commemorative (letter reprint) - 28 october 1998 - 60
81 - Incongruous Meetings 1998 (calendar-catalogue of IM98 project) - january-june 1999 - 300
81 bis - Incongruous Meetings 1998 cassette supplement (audio cassette and booklet) - january-june 1999 - unnumbered edition (approximately 50 produced)
82 - The Table of the Little Iconoclast (project for Sentieri Interrotti, Bassano) - july 1999-june 2000 - 400
83 - The David Zack Project - july-december 2000 - 150
84 - Scissures 2 (Le Forbici di Manitù bulletin) - january 2001 - 150
85 - Just 4 F.U.N.? (Virtual Lands & Creative De-Globalization) - february-june 2001 - 201
86 - Lon’s Memorial Juke-Box (audio cassette tribute to Lon Spiegelman) - december 2002 - 16
87 - The Booklet of OZ (special David Zack issue) - january-march 2003 - 100
88 - Stickin’ Glue... (sticker art) - september 2006 - 150
89 - Anniversary Edition (commemorating 30 years of V. Baroni in the mail art network) - 17 january-1 april 2007 - 100
90 - Hats off to George Maciunas (international hat art project) - may-june 2007 - 100
91 - Piermario Ciani Un Anno Dopo (with cd-r, an homage to P. Ciani, one year later) - july 2 2007 - 55
92 - Ciao, Paolina! (with cd-r, show in Viareggio) - 28 july-31 august 2007 - 150
93 - POSTmit! (mail art workshop for children at MACHmit! Museum in Berlin) - september 2007 - 50
94 - Ultimatum! (with rubber stamp enclosed) - november-december 2007 - 100
95 - Libri dell’utopia (relics of AAA Editions) - july 2008 - 120
96 - The Utopian Library (artist’s books show in Viareggio) - august 2008 - 200 (100 copies with texts in Italian, 100 in English)
97 - Paradigm Shift (a collaboration of V. Baroni and J. Mountain, with badge enclosed) - september 2008 - 100
98 - You Were On My Mind (show at MAC Gallery, Viareggio, with cd-r) - november 2008 - 50
99 - Emanuela Biancuzzi collage cover (various mail art news and reports, with Anna Banana artistamps) - may 2009 - 100
100 - Klang! (with cd-r, sonic arts festival in Viareggio) - december 2009 - 200 (100 in standard edition and 100 with 30 original cd covers insert)
Total circulation: approximately 14569 copies
Arte Postale!
a mail art magazine published by
Near the Edge Editions
Via C. Battisti 339
55049 Viareggio, Italy