Book 52.  The Beginning Penn, C. (2009) (Fig. 51).  The Beginning. Limited Edition Artist’s Book. Edition of 25.  Inkjet print, stamps, drawing.  15cm x 10.5 cm opening out to 30cm x 21cm.  Book 52. Various collections.

As a result of 6TH June 2009 – 9th September 2009   (Book 57) I began The Mail Art School SA in September 2009 with The Beginning.  This book is a very brief summary of the work of Ray Johnson, the ‘father’ of Mail Art.  As at 20th September 2009, the ‘school’ has twenty five artists taking part.  The concept for the mail art school is:  on agreeing to enter the ‘school’ the participant  receives this book.  He/she  must in turn post me an A6 size artwork. I return an artwork thereby establishing a regular correspondence with that artist as well as giving them another name to post an artwork too.  Later instructions also include a request to enlist further artists into the project.

Ray Johnson spoke about the New York School of Correspondance as being continually in the present.  He said “Mail Art has no history, only a present” (Johnson in Blom, 2008). Blom (2009) takes this to mean “a present of communicational events, of uncontrollable exchanges, of things arriving and departing at unforeseen times and places, thanks to the medium of the postal system..  [as well as a] present, meaning gift.”  She goes on to write of mail art as placing “itself squarely in the realm of social exchanges, that is, the realm whose entire principle of circulation and reciprocity is kept in check by a system of gifts” (Blom, 2009).

As a large part of my art practice consists of collaboration with other artists, to engage even further with them in  situational or relational art practice   seems  to be a natural progression of this process.  Situational art practice in this context is described by Doherty (2009) as art which is ‘in a unique set of conditions produced in both space and ranging across material, social, political and economic relations”.  This is the aim of The Mail Art School SA.