ILLUSTRATIONS
Add & Return card for the show
Contact With Mail Art in the Spirit of Peacful Coexistence
Pages from the catalog
Mail Art Szene DDR 1975-1990,
Verlag Haude & Spener, Berlin 1994 (Eds. Friedrich Winnes – Lutz Wohlrab), 128 p.
Comment: Initiated by Birger Jesch in 1980, the "Schießscheiben-Projekt" (Target Project) is a landmark of pacifist Mail Art within the GDR. Jesch distributed approximately 300 international invitations requesting artists to manipulate or "design" standard air rifle targets. The project's slogan, "International Contact with Mail Art in the spirit of peaceful coexistence," was a direct challenge to the militarized atmosphere of the Cold War.
The exhibition premiered in February 1981 at the Weinbergskirche in Dresden and subsequently traveled as a "Wanderausstellung" (touring exhibition) to church-affiliated spaces in Radebeul, Meißen, Greifswald, and Rostock. Because these venues were outside the direct control of state-sanctioned galleries, the project maintained a degree of autonomous expression. Friedrich Winnes’ contribution (Image 11) notably used graphic medical imagery of facial wounds to confront the violent reality of "hits" (Treffer), sharply contrasting the sterile nature of target practice.
Contact With Mail Art in the Spirit of Peacful Coexistence
Pages from the catalog
Mail Art Szene DDR 1975-1990,
Verlag Haude & Spener, Berlin 1994 (Eds. Friedrich Winnes – Lutz Wohlrab), 128 p.
Comment: Initiated by Birger Jesch in 1980, the "Schießscheiben-Projekt" (Target Project) is a landmark of pacifist Mail Art within the GDR. Jesch distributed approximately 300 international invitations requesting artists to manipulate or "design" standard air rifle targets. The project's slogan, "International Contact with Mail Art in the spirit of peaceful coexistence," was a direct challenge to the militarized atmosphere of the Cold War.
The exhibition premiered in February 1981 at the Weinbergskirche in Dresden and subsequently traveled as a "Wanderausstellung" (touring exhibition) to church-affiliated spaces in Radebeul, Meißen, Greifswald, and Rostock. Because these venues were outside the direct control of state-sanctioned galleries, the project maintained a degree of autonomous expression. Friedrich Winnes’ contribution (Image 11) notably used graphic medical imagery of facial wounds to confront the violent reality of "hits" (Treffer), sharply contrasting the sterile nature of target practice.
