Preface to
THE OPTIONS OF MAIL ART
Jim Andrews
In THE OPTIONS OF MAIL ART, Clemente Padín situates his own work and the communications of Mail Art within/without political, economic, social, and artistic establishments and modes of discourse. The essay's relevance, however, extends well beyond Mail Art to Web art and, really, any art that seeks to speak beyond what is typically said and to speak beyond how it is typically said regardless of whether the context is South America and its sometimes brutal regimes or North America and its own colonial or domestic, self-serving, distantly brutal hegemonies.
Mail Art is one of the important predecessors of Web art. The parallels between the two are interesting: both involve an experimental aspect of language, image, and multiple media; both involve close communication between makers of the art, though the larger audience is more easily included via Web art; both are interesting alternatives or supplements to more traditional means of expression and distribution; both have no need to be approved within traditional publishing conduits before they are distributed; both are relatively available to participate in with relative affordability; both are quite widely international in their scope and audience, and offer maker and audience alike knowledge of and solidarity with the actions and spirit of a global, participatory art.
Consequently, the questions Padín raises in THE OPTIONS OF MAIL ART should be considered by the reader in relation to Web art as well as Mail art.
THE OPTIONS OF MAIL ART
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