Comments on: Can we make it so that if we map how the art travels it looks like a bunny?

Can we make it so that if we map how the art travels it looks like a bunny?

sushiwiththejury — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:04:43 -0800

Mefi mail art. Via MeCha. Who's down?

A bunch of MeCha bunnies are in. We could do this two ways: 1. Sequential snailmail exquisite corpse (as I originally suggested): one of us starts, passes it on. 2. Parallel SEC: all of us start off at the same time and snailmail it to the next Mefite. 2'll keep the ocd add amongst us drugged and happy and produce lotsa 'mail art pics' MeTa posts. 1'll result in a giant collaborative piece and fewer pics. I'm thinking 2. Whaddaya say? And join in! No lower artistic talent bound.

By: Marit

Marit — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:11:16 -0800

I'll join in. I've been pretty flakey about this kind of project in the past. I will use this as an opportunity to make art and de-flake. 2 sounds good to me, but I'm game for anything.

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:37:54 -0800

How about a theme?

By: sushiwiththejury

sushiwiththejury — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:47:01 -0800

I say no theme. Go nuts.
Hive mind decides.

By: misha

misha — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:57:57 -0800

I'm in, but I'm all NaNoWriMo-ing just now! So, yes, I'm for 2, but be aware I may be a bit behind you guys!

By: cobaltnine

cobaltnine — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:05:24 -0800

I'm down with it. I did some online exquisite corpses once and always wanted to try my hand at real ones.

Um...paper ones.

By: snsranch

snsranch — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:07:18 -0800

Hey, this sounds like fun, but I'm not sure I understand the mission. How exactly can I participate? I can draw bunnies, does that help?

By: aubilenon

aubilenon — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:17:10 -0800

This sounds fun. How do I get in on this fun?

By: East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:25:39 -0800

This is an interesting thing!

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:40:44 -0800

If this happens, I'm in.

For 2, are we talking a (partial) circuit among the participants? So with, say, 10 people each starting a package, and maybe four steps per package if we're doing Exquisite Corpse or something similar, so that each of the ten would take four "turns" as the packages move around through the mail?

By: sushiwiththejury

sushiwiththejury — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:42:13 -0800

hmm, ok.

you heard of postsecret? this is kinda like postsecret. except: you don't need to post any secrets. it needn't be a postcard, can be anything mailable. you don't need to be a master draftsman. heck, you don't even need to draw!

theora55 has agreed (on mecha) to coordinate this mess. i've mefimailed her, she should drop in soon.

hmm, we need a seed here, something to jumpstart this thing.

i nominate....emrjkc'94!

throw something at us you sweatymangaminsuperstar.

By: East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:43:04 -0800

I am now scared of this thing!

By: spiderskull

spiderskull — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:03:33 -0800

Yeah, I'm a intrigued and slightly confused (such is my life). We just make some freeform art and mail it to someone else?

By: sushiwiththejury

sushiwiththejury — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:04:50 -0800

For 2, are we talking a (partial) circuit among the participants?

Yeah, it'll probably end up this way, right? I mean I'm in Jakarta - mdonley's in Riga - so I figure not too many ppl'll want to mail us shit :-(

I think we should do partial circuits and mix it up: i.e no islands and everyone's a member of > 1 circuit.

Can one of you setup a mailing list?

By: sushiwiththejury

sushiwiththejury — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:16:41 -0800

We just make some freeform art and mail it to someone else?

yes, and the next one adds to it / subtracts from it / messes with it and passes it on. basically snialmail exquisite corpse in 3D meatspace.

(ideally) each mefite takes a picture 'before and after'
ripe for shoutouts, injokes, puzzles, mefi historical references etc.

i've been all like 'why have structure? freedom from frames!'. but dunno. if someone has a sweet plan and a theme i'd think about it.

By: snsranch

snsranch — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:18:02 -0800

I'm totally down with mailin' shit, but what to mail? And where to? I'm a better sculptor but I can paint and draw a bit.

By: sushiwiththejury

sushiwiththejury — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:21:26 -0800

but what to mail? And where to?
let theora55 get here. she'll get us organised.

oh man, i hate ridin this thread. help me out, people!

By: substrate

substrate — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:32:47 -0800

I'll do it. I'm qualified "No lower artistic talent bound!"

By: snsranch

snsranch — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 19:00:41 -0800

OK. I'll keep checkin' this thread. This really does sound like some crazy artistic fun.

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 19:01:18 -0800

Yeah mine is likely to be a houseware, artified.

By: CKmtl

CKmtl — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 19:44:30 -0800

I'm cautiously curious, and could possibly become interested.

By: midwesttransplant

midwesttransplant — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 19:44:57 -0800

I'll give it a go.

By: sushiwiththejury

sushiwiththejury — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:00:26 -0800

So I started a page on the Mefi wiki: Mail Art. It looks pretty bad; I could use some help!

Throw in thoughts/ideas.

By: nowonmai

nowonmai — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:24:02 -0800

"basically snialmail exquisite corpse in 3D meatspace"
This was supposed to be an explanation?

By: sushiwiththejury

sushiwiththejury — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:02:01 -0800

This was supposed to be an explanation?
ugh. yeah, very doctorow. delete the line and read on?

By: tickingclock

tickingclock — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:38:01 -0800

Sounds fun! I'd be in, once some of the details are fleshed out.

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 22:06:55 -0800

Wow, two great things I suck at, that I together would suck at more.

The Wiki entry for mail art to which you linked has way too many words and not enough pictures (zero) to explain this concept to me. Is it just drawing on envelopes?

By: sushiwiththejury

sushiwiththejury — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 22:55:14 -0800

The Wiki entry for mail art to which you linked has way too many words
hm, yeah, the wiki's a bit verbose. slightly better: 1 2 3

Is it just drawing on envelopes?
i see it as: anything that can be mailed counts as base material. envelopes/converse sneakers/the fedex box itself with nothing inside/an animated gif printed out as a flipbook/etc.

you don't have to draw/paint - i was thinking of putting the variables from katullus' profile on a rubik's cube.

also by my clunky '3D meatspace' i mean that online ex. corpses are two dimensional - like sheets of paper. we can snailmail stuff with volume - sculpture like snsranch said - hence 3D.

also: in addition to types 1 and 2, we could have type 3: where we all make shit and mail it to one address.

i have some ideas:

type 3: a chess set: each one us makes a piece, perhaps? i'll gladly knit the chessboard.

type 2/1: puppets. you build a limb/torso/head, pass it on.

pls populate the wiki

By: papafrita

papafrita — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 23:39:58 -0800

At first I was all giddy, but then I remembered Guatemalan postage rates, and the notoriously flaky service. So maybe something more "paper-based" would work for me, and maybe others?

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 00:30:12 -0800

I'm in the process of moving over the next two months, so something smaller or more manageable is better on this end...

If it is postcard-sized roughly speaking, sign me up. This sounds like a whole lotta fun!

By: Xoder

Xoder — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 05:55:35 -0800

I'm down with postcardish things. I make no guarantees as to their artistic merit or legibility, however.

By: and hosted from Uranus

and hosted from Uranus — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 07:53:55 -0800

I still don't quite understand, but am intrigued by your newsletter. I'm hoping for a smashing success that spawns a "next time".

By: pointystick

pointystick — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 09:28:36 -0800

I haven't done anything like this in years and would love to do it again.

By: The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew

The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 09:54:55 -0800

I am so totally in.

By: doubtful_guest

doubtful_guest — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 12:30:15 -0800

I'm willing to give it a go, too.

By: Marit

Marit — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 13:28:44 -0800

I made some things. Now... where do I mail them?

By: misha

misha — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 10:10:59 -0800

I'm about to make some things. Yes! Where should I send mine?

By: sushiwiththejury

sushiwiththejury — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:48:38 -0800

We now have a Google Group: Mefi Mail Art.

Join in. If you'd rather do this via email, drop me a line. Email in profile.

So we're starting this off with Marit sending me some shit (hopefully with giant anteaters in em) and I'll mess with it and pass it on to whoever says yay next.

By: annaramma

annaramma — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 12:21:41 -0800

Ooh, I'm in!

By: jinjo

jinjo — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 12:37:59 -0800

After skimming very very briefly, I want in too!

By: evadery

evadery — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 13:42:47 -0800

I'm down as well...especially since a lack of artistic ability seems happily acceptable...whoo!

By: Mamapotomus

Mamapotomus — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 15:19:06 -0800

Whoo-hoo! I'm in!

By: nkknkk

nkknkk — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 16:19:43 -0800

I'm in!

By: 45moore45

45moore45 — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 21:12:53 -0800

You can also post this call for mail art on mailart.org. There is an entire underground artist collective that does nothing but participate in mail art shows all around the world. Way cool!

By: !Jim

!Jim — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 07:17:28 -0800

No lower artistic talent bound.

So there's an upper? HA! Call me when you need talent!

_{I don't have any.}

By: theora55

theora55 — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 09:19:43 -0800

Wow, I totally missed this thread until sushiwtj emailed me.

So, here's the proposal: you send me your postal address. I create 'circuits' of about 6 - 8 people each. You all carete mailable art and send to each member of your circuit. If you want to be in more than 1 circuit, just let me know. Only the members of your circuit will get your postal address. My mail carrier delivers stuff to Theora Fifty-five (as far as I know) but you should check and if your mail carrier requires your RL name, please supply it. This will all be much easier if people have email addresses in profiles, or have signed up for MeFi Mail.

By: theora55

theora55 — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 09:21:55 -0800

carete s/b create

It kind of sucks when people sign up and do not send stuff, so pretty please, send something, even if it's not the Sistine Chapel. If you do send the Sistine Chapel, make sure I'm in your circuit.

By: sushiwiththejury

sushiwiththejury — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 10:21:07 -0800

theora55 sweet.
can y'all pls take it to the google group? i added a page called circuits which you can populate.

pls play by the rules

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 10:25:47 -0800

Yeah I want some annarama swag!!

By: cobaltnine

cobaltnine — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 14:37:24 -0800

Could someone who is slightly more in charge than me do a quick, step-by-step 'how to'? I found it a bit obtuse. I think what you want is:

1. Update one's google groups profile to include a link to one's meta profile.
2. Add oneself to the circuit, at the bottom.
3. When you have the art, e-mail the person next on the list to get their meatspace address.
4. Make art.
5. Send art.
6. (possibly?) make a mark on the circuit list to show that you have it (maybe bold yourself?) /have sent it. (maybe italics yourself.)

If I'm wrong, correct me?

By: stagewhisper

stagewhisper — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 11:51:49 -0800

I'm in.

By: eponymouse

eponymouse — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 16:46:34 -0800

This sounds like a smashing idea. I´d be heading the 0 artistic talent group, but I enjoy making things and enjoy mail, so let the bumbling through the art project commense!

By: DenOfSizer

DenOfSizer — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:17:32 -0800

I was once an expert mail-artist, if I do say so myself, pre-email and unemployed. I once constructed a valentine out of balsa wood, hardware, telephone wire, and covered it in sandpaper, and managed to send it in the mail (the recipient was gobsmocked.) I made my own stamps, for chrissakes (this was before stamps.com, naturally.)

Nowadays I've got the kid, the job, the whatever, but dagnabit, I'd love to be in. But gosh darn it all, I just don't want to sit here and deal w/ a google groups thing because it doesn't work in Safari and I'd have to sign in on Firefox, and it just seems so anti-mail-art to do all that. Can someone just send me a list of ten addresses to send my wares to?

By: Marit

Marit — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 17:17:04 -0800

Okay, neat. I mailed some stuff to sushiwiththejury. Wow DenOfSizer, that sounds really cool.. I just made some drawings. Gah, feelings of inadequacy!

By: sushiwiththejury

sushiwiththejury — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 11:47:38 -0800

DenOfSizer, I'll MefiMail you.

And yeah, I'll get my shit together and send out an email to everyone by this weekend.

By: Fenriss

Fenriss — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 13:58:14 -0800

Wheee! I'll go join the group directly. I love mail art. Anybody else remember nervousness.org?