mailart on the YOHO magazine in China

Photos from Amo Mao - Shanghai

Documentation of her mail-art project in China. Including documenting the project in a Chinese Newspaper.

Mail from Ejva - Shanghai - China arrived

The envelope sent by Ejva from Shanghai, China, arrived in Breda without any problem. Also part of the ZALOP project running on the IUOMA network. I even made a small video from the envelope so everybody can zee how it looked like:

Chinese writings on my Mail-Art

The Chinese postal workers added a few chinese details on the envelope to insure the delevery. Nice to see this little detail!
Overview, see: http://mailattack.net/project121-48%C2%B0e-2

Mail to China arrived

The Mail-Art project in Shanghai, China is going well. My own contribution to the project arrived and was published on the website: http://mailattack.net/archives/285 . It is a colourful collection already. The exhibition is currated by Amo Mao, and I hope more mail-artists will contribute.

Mail from Amo Mao - Shanghai - China

Mail-ARt from Amo Mao in Shanghai, China. The decorated envelope with content arrived without any damage and without any problems. Mail-Art to and from China is a fact. The first projects in China are being prepared, and invitations are sent, also through the IUOMA network. This project is already a success.

Mail to Amo Mao - Shanghai - China

Mail to Ejva Nsva - Shanghai - China

project call: head to toe

dear friends,

i found this worksheet in the scrap pile at my school. i realise more each day how fluxus'able elementary education can be. do: print this sheet and fill it out. send: back to me by post or email attachment (high-res scan)

before: early march 2011

you will receive: for the near present, PDF booklet of all contributions. this suggests itself as a first part of a larger idea re: identity, absurdism and other friendly buzzwords, upon the realisation of which (at indeterminate time this year), tangible matter will be distributed to all.

i am:

strayoff@yahoo.com

中国 (CHINA)
201620
上海市松江区谷阳北路2399弄
40号 1604室

2399 N. Guyang Road
Bldg 40, #1604
Songjiang District, Shanghai
PRC (China) 201620

Mail and photos from Horst Baur - China

it's done: the mail art exhibition FAKE OR ORIGINAL takes place
at the bookstore "the times of XMU" at the Xiamen University.
the opening was on 2011 january 6th and will continue till
february 3rd (chinese new year).
maybe it's the first one in China.
the exhibition was organized by Ma Wen, a teacher for new media
at the art department of the Xiamen University.
he is on one of the 2 pictures.
the photos are not the best and only show a part of the
exhibition. they were taken by ma wen's assistent.
however it's a documentary of it.

so once more, thanks for your participation.

horst baur, Changsha

p.s.: happy (chinese) new year

p.s.: horst baur /
zhu zhaohui
xin hua lian jia yuan 1 dong 404
chezhuan bei lu no. 319
changsha, hunan
410001 china
(chinese adress see jpg.)

Message from Amo Mao - Shanghai, China

Amo added a comment to your profile on International Union of Mail-Artists

------------
Hello Ruud, dont know what happend the Internet, i can open blogspot in China now! and see you put my article with a translation and project on it , amazing!!! the day before the website is been blocked......
Thank for you great help!
Best
------------

So, something changes in the last days. Blogger is accesible in China at the moment. Maybe not all blogs, but this one is. Great to know some changes are taking place while a first Mail-Art project is taking place inside China.

Mail to Ejva Nsva - Shanghai - China ARRIVED!

On The IUOMA Platform Ejva Nsva published a digital copy of the envelope as it arrived in Shanghai. Glad to know mail-art actually gets through. Also funny to see that some 'damage' during the long way was visible. A postage and priority sticker somehow got off...

Mail from Ruud Janssen to China.

Mail from Torma Cauli - Hungary to China

News from Ejva Nsva - Shaghai, China

an update on Chinese postal systems:

today i mailed three packages that were not precisely flat. one work had a small plastic child's ring attached to it, another contained the wrapper from an eyeshadow package that was re-filled with paper, and the last was a piece of stiff paper that had been folded into a triangle shape.

after being questioned about the contents and their value, i still had to fill out a customs form (i think there may have been a fee in the total, but i didn't get a breakdown) for the ring and the eyeshadow. they let the folded paper pass without customs after i demonstrated the folding with a piece of scrap paper.

in the future, i think i'll stay within the bounds of flat paper unless i'm prepared for snafu. i also wonder if the reverse will apply - if someone sends mailart with irregular shapes/attachments, will it be questioned by customs on the Chinese end (would the artist in China never receive it, or have to pay a customs tariff)?

has anyone tried sending unusual items in envelopes to China? another experiment may be in order!

News - "Not" Chinese Mail-Artists

The latest news is quite strange. On the IUOMA-platform there are two mail-artists active who claim to come from Shanghai, China. They both have websites that I reserached and are hosted and paid for inside the USA. So I suspect these artists are USA-based (or maybe the same person?) and play the role of Chinese Mail-Artist. I will research this more and confronted both members of the IUOMA that I discovered their websites are based in the USA.

On Internet anybody can take the identity they choose. Only proper research shows the basis of the work. An example. On www.whois.com you can check on whose name a website is hosted. Searching on enja:nsva's website called: http://songshi.info I discover that it is based in Georgia, USA, with address and phonenumber of the artists building the website. Judging the texts on the website, it must be an american artist.

More mail-artists received mail-art from china. So somehow this american can go to china, or mail to china and get things to us that way.

So we are warned that mail-art in china isn't that easy. There are a lot of artists in china for sure. But I now need more proof for believing someone actually comes from China.

Latest details: Ejva replies and explains she is an american artist working for some time in china as a teacher. She is exploring the mail-system from inside China and testing how mail-art can go and travel from China. So Inside China we have now someone making contacts with chinese artists as well, sharing them the knoledge of what Mail-Art can be. A first mail-art project in China (Shanghai) is started now and we will see what that brings....

Mail that Test Tower received from Enja-Nsva

Heebee Post #491 - EJVA-NSVA - Sonjaing, Shanghai- China
The Affair has never had a submission from China - this is the first of what I hope to be an interesting exchange with EJVA. This charming Hippo is expressing his delight as he trolls for love in the tumultuous river of desire.

Nice to have you here EJVA. I like the 'Field Study Romance' aspect of your card. You don't have to look too far to find the mojo of the Affair going on everywhere.
EJVA has mentioned in a note, that she is desiring Mail Art from other countries. She writes:
"So I would say, for China, send something radical for fun or experiment, but anything you really want to be sure of, send in a plain envelope. Also, most of the homes are in high-rise apartments, the mailbox slats are small, so I would say it is best to send something less than 5 inches wide, 3 inches tall - to make sure it gets stuffed in the box."
"Do not worry about what you send - unless it is something absurdly anti-Chinese government, there is not a problem as far as I know. There is even some prominent Chinese art which deals with gov't contemporary viewpoints in the gallery - so I don't think mailart will be a problem for anyone. Any trouble, I think, will be the idea of what the Post Office will accept as 'mail'"!


**So, the cryptic label above is a 'copy, print and paste' address for anyone who would like to send her something interesting. We are thrilled to have EJVA on the Affair. Thank you so much for the mail art and we shall be finding our way to you in the mail soon. The mail carriers in Shanghai will be amused by the colorful "Fluxus Affair" postcard I will be sending. See you soon.

Posted by Test Tower at 10:14 PM
source: http://heebeejeebeeland.blogspot.com/2010/12/heebee-post-491-ejva-nsva-sonjaing.html

Published on a Chinese Website

拿起笔在纸上涂画然后寄出现在看来是一个有点过时的主意了，人们似乎习惯了快如闪电的电子邮件以及其他各类通讯工具，尽管这已经成为一个事实，但是依然还存在着一类人，当收到别人的来信的时候会由衷的感叹一句“我喜欢收到邮件”，或者寄出的时候会很温暖的祝福“希望你能开心”，说这些的时候，你知道我说的是谁。

检查你的信箱，是不是被广告、报纸和账单占领了，已经没有一个角落给朋友或者是陌生的邮件艺术家了。于是我将要问一个问题“为什么收不到信了呢”，答案也许很简单但是同时又很懊恼“因为没人寄信了”。

你想收到邮件吗？或邮件艺术？先来看一个假设，如果你是世界上最后一个选择寄信的人，你制作了一份精美的也许是拼贴也许是手绘的小作品，你寄出去了但是确收不到对方给你寄得任何东西甚至是一封简简单单的感谢，你会不会觉得很沮丧。因此，邮件艺术的黄金法则就是“寄出一封邮件，收到一封邮件”，邮件艺术是交互的。

Mail Attack的成立正是基于此，遇到很多国外的邮件艺术家在问“我收到过美国的、荷兰的、比利时的、英国的、巴西的还有来自其他很多国家的邮件艺术，但是来自中国的邮件艺术在哪呢，中国有很好的艺术家、绘画者，但是邮件艺术家们藏身何处了呢” 我给的答案都很积极，中国绝对不缺邮件艺术家，也不缺邮件艺术作品，只是存在着相当多的限制因素，我们不能够像你们那么自由的在任意的纸张上贴上邮票寄出，但是说实话心里头还是有点灰灰的。

Mail Attack的意思是用邮件艺术来占满邮箱，你可以制作你的邮件艺术，也可以向任何人发送邮件艺术（当然，前提是你得知道地址），然后享受你的邮件之旅。 Mail Attack支持各种友好的、善意的、绿色的、和平的、关爱的东西，主旨是享受邮件艺术的乐趣（have fun）你可以把Mail Attack当做小邮差，让它来帮助你发布作品然后等待气味相投的人来领取你的作品。

今天是圣诞节，一大早msn就收到了在旧金山的朋友的留言，说是他已经收到了我的邮件艺术，还正好在他的平安夜，很喜欢、很兴奋。说实话，这也是我寄出的第一封邮件艺术，制作很简单，是我一个插画monster Hairy系列的第一张，也是Hairy的原型（从第二张开始，Hairy外形就开始有小小变化啦），当收到留言的时候我也几乎兴奋得要跳起来了，这几乎可以写入我的历史了，哈哈哈。

source:http://mailattack.net/?p=126

translation (babel Fish)

Took begins a stroke on the paper spreads the picture then to mail out looks like now is an a little obsolete idea, the people have as if been used to the quick like lightning email as well as other each kind of communication facilities, although this already became a fact, but still also has a kind of person, when will receive others' incoming letter time heartfelt sigh one “I to like receiving the mail”, or mailed out the time very warm blessing “hope that you could be happy”, said these time, you knew what I said was who. Inspects your mailbox, by the advertisement, the newspaper and the bill has seized, already did not have a corner to give the friend or was the strange mail artist. Therefore I am going to ask that a question “why couldn't receive believes”, the answer was very perhaps simple, but also was very simultaneously annoying “, because nobody has mailed a letter”. You want to receive the mail? Or mail art? Looks at a supposition first, if you are the human who in the world the last choice mails a letter, perhaps perhaps you have manufactured one finely are spell paste are the handpainted small work, you sent, but could not receive opposite party even to send anything to you are simple thanks firmly, could you think that was very depressed. Therefore, the mail art's gold principle is “mails out a mail, receives a mail”, mail art is interactive. The Mail Attack establishment is precisely based on this, runs into the overseas mail artist to ask that “I receive the US, Holland, Belgium, Britain, Brazil also to have from other many national mail art, but which from China's mail art, China has the very good artist, the drawing, but the mail artists hide the answer which where” I gave to be very positive, China did not lack the mail artist absolutely, also did not lack the mail art work, only has the quite many limiting factors, we could not look like you that freely to paste on the postage stamp on the random paper to mail out, but speaks the truth inside the heart a little the soot. The Mail Attack meaning is fully occupies the mailbox with the mail art, you may manufacture your mail art, may also to anybody transmission mail art (certainly, premise be you must know address), then enjoys your travel of mail. Mail Attack supports the thing which each kind friendly, the good intentions, the green, peace, show loving concern, the primary intention is enjoys the mail art the pleasure (have fun) you to be possible Mail Attack to treat as the young posman, lets it help you to issue work then waiting two human receives your work. Today is the Christmas day, msn has received very early in San Francisco's friend's message, said that was he had already received my mail art, but also happen to his Christmas Eve, very much liked, being very excited. Speaks the truth, this is also the first mail art which I mail out, the manufacture is very simple, is my illustration monster Hairy series first, is also the Hairy prototype (from the second start, the Hairy contour starts to have small microvariation), when receives the message time I nearly was also excited must jump, this might read in my history nearly, ha.

Mail-Art from China

There was a nice surprise in the P.O. Box this new year. A card from Shanghai - China. Seems my mail-art project "where are the Chinese Mail-Artists" is succesful. I am now in contact with a few already and with a first mail-art project in China, there is a new change ahead!

Mail-Art project in Shanghai - China.

http://mailattack.net


121.48°E is the first project of MailAttack. 121.48°E resembles the longitude of Shanghai.Is to say this project is taken place at Shanghai,China and we hope that you can fill our mailbox with your mailart! We are looking forward to your participation, and hope you can really enjoy the happiness of creating your mailart.

Any “Unhealthy” works will not be considered into this event. There’s no jury, no expense, and your works will not be returned.

the Mail Address: Room102, Building72,lane#151,West Guilin Street, Xuhui District, ShangHai,China. Zipcode: 200233 中国，上海 徐汇区桂林西街151弄72号102室 邮编:200233

Mail to Ejva Nsva - Shanghai - China

A first experiment with an envelope to Shanhai in China.

Contribution from Portugal

Mail Art from China arrived

The first Mail-Art from China since the start of this blog arrived. Above the Air-Mail stamp they use in China. Below the envelope in which the card was sent. The original postcard was refused by the Chinese Postal Office because it was NO POSTCARD. The size was not confirm the regulation. Putting it in an envelope helped, and it made it safe to Breda, Netherlands. Notice the new China postage stamps. They have nice theme's too. Glad the contact is established. More mail-art from and to China will be no problem now.

Ejva Nsva - Shanghai China

Received mail from Ejva in China, and will scan it soon. Now I have an addres to test: sending out mail-art to Shanghai in China.

Blogger is banned in China

In the e-mail from Amo Mao I read that Blogger is banned in china. So Chinese Mail-Artists can't make a blog, but also can't read a blog from Blogger. The banning of certain Internet areas is common use in China. That is also why Google has problems there (see previous e-mails.

I am glad though that the IUOMA platform is accesible in China, and we have nog some members from China already. The first mail-art from me arrived in China. Mail-Art from Hong-Kong already arrived here, and maybe a surprise from Shanghai will arrive before the year ends.

So, the project is already quite a succes. Connections are made, and a mail-artists in Shanghai would like to do a mail-art project which I will support and follow though this blog too.

E-mail from Amo Mao - Shanghai - China

i have got ur mailart today (2010.12.16)and that proves mailart can be sent to China, i did a small test here and made a mini group to know if people interested, and find that there are a lot. so my idea of hold a mailart show in Shanghai China can be started. and then i applyed a website for mailart in China, i am very interested in mailart, hope that more and more mailartist will participate in.

best

Amo

After sending comes receiving.

The first letters to China are sent out. The waiting starts. A postcard from Hong Kong already arrived, but I am especially curious on mail from mainland China. I know I received some mail-art back in the 80-ies from China. It was an American who taught english languale in China and was also a mail-artists. He sent out some wonderful things back then. Have to go through my Archive to find that specific envelope.

Also I know Peter Kuestermann and Angela went to China on the Worldtour and sent me something then. Again, will have to go through the TAM-Archive to find such historic samples.

In this blog the main issue remains. China, being the largest country and therefor with so many artists, has almost no mail-artists active in their main cities. With this project I am trying to change that and make a connection from the mail-art network with China.

So, when someone is reading this, and can help me reach this goal, I am very glad with your suggestions and help.

Mail to Amo Mao - Shanghai - China

On the IUOMA platform (see: http://iuoma-network.ning.com/) there are 44 visitors from China. One of them is a member of the IUOMA and lives in Shanghai. So I am please to have her mailing address and am sending this into the mail today. Because of the Social Network I can keep trach directly to if the mail arrives or not, and even get comments on the process. So a first connection to the mainland China.

Amo Mao wrote that mail-art to Hong Kong is different to the mainland. Because of the British history of Hing Kong the regulation in that part are different. So that is why this first test is an important one. Shanghai is a large city in China. There are so many artists in that city. Would be interesting to have a first communication by traditional mail.

Visitors from China on IUOMA

1. Dongguan 181 4,32 00:02:09 95,58% 96,13%
2. Guangzhou 60 1,07 00:00:03 100,00% 96,67%
3. Shanghai 52 6,63 00:07:12 30,77% 42,31%
4. Beijing 15 1,33 00:00:51 93,33% 80,00%
5. Shenzhen 5 1,20 > 00:00:00 80,00% 80,00%
6. Putian 3 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
7. Kunming 3 1,67 00:00:07 100,00% 66,67%
8. Shanghai 3 27,00 00:09:46 100,00% 0,00%
9. Zhengzhou 3 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
10. Changsha 3 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
11. Beijing 3 2,67 00:00:23 100,00% 66,67%
12. Xian 3 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
13. Nanjing 2 1,50 00:00:16 100,00% 50,00%
14. Chongqing 2 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
15. Foshan 2 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
16. Shijiazhuang 2 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
17. Tianjin 2 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
18. Hangzhou 2 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
19. (not set) 2 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
20. Xiamen 1 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
21. Changchun 1 1,00 00:00:00 0,00% 100,00%
22. Wenzhou 1 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
23. Hangzhou 1 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
24. Ningbo 1 2,00 00:00:04 100,00% 0,00%
25. Zhuhai 1 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
26. Suqian 1 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
27. Qujing 1 2,00 00:00:06 100,00% 0,00%
28. Chengdu 1 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
29. Huaian 1 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
30. Wuhan 1 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
31. Fuzhou 1 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
32. Hohhot 1 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
33. Haikou 1 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
34. Changzhi 1 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
35. Linchuan 1 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
36. Leshan 1 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
37. Handan 1 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
38. Shenyang 1 2,00 00:00:15 100,00% 0,00%
39. Zhangqiu 1 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
40. Deyang 1 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
41. Shenzhen 1 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
42. Shijiazhuang 1 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
43. Jinan 1 1,00 00:00:00 100,00% 100,00%
44. Changchun 1 2,00 00:00:47 100,00% 0,00%

Visitors from 44 cities in CHINA visited our IUOMA-platform. Just discovered that through Google Analytics. Qute a public from China already!

Chinese Addresses of Mail-Artists

There is now a new support in the search for mail-artists in China and to establish a contact. On the IUOMA network there is now a group where several mail-artists will attempt to join forces to find addresses, test if we can get our mail-art there, and see if we get responses. An interactive platform that will work more effective.

Join in at: http://iuoma-network.ning.com/group/chinamailart