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> introduction / 

> ongoing project / research in the history of mail-art and related networking art movements from the past century /

> origine /

> in august 2001 we noticed that some mail-artists were completely forgotten / this happened when our thoughts were with achim weigelt from germany who died at the age of 25 in 1990 / his splendid decorated comic envelopes were enjoyed by many mail-artists / yet - many years later it seemed he is completely forgotten / achim weigelt symbolizes all other mail-artists who are forgotten / and who deserve as much attention as ray johnson / we dedicate this  mail-art encyclopaedia to achim weigelt and all deceased mail-artists / who have contributed to the mail-art network till the year 2000 /

> source of information /

> since 1986 - when we started our mail-art activities - we have build up a large mail-art archive with a significant collection of information about mail-art networking / beside that we search thoroughly for more information through various channels / yet - lots more information is stored away and we keep on searching information directly with mail-artists from the past / thorough research for information takes time / as such the encyclopaedia will remain for ever unfinished / with no real deadline /

> copyright /

> this project is developed in the philosophy of free information and no copyright / yet - it does ask incredibly lots of time in research and writing / as such there are a few conditions for using information from the mail-art encyclopaedia /
 / when using large parts of - or entire articles from the mail-art encyclopaedia for publication or internet / we would like to ask you to take contact with us /
 / any information from the mail-art encyclopaedia used for your own articles / will be mentioned in a footnote or a list of references / unless a professional reference style (apa) is used - the notation should be: sztuka fabryka (current year). mail-art encyclopaedia. http://www.sztuka-fabryka.be /
 

> preface / by vittore baroni / italy /

It is an hard job, but somebody has to do it! If we do not want this wonderful chain of creativity and cooperation that for the last forty-something years has gone under the name of Mail Art or Eternal Network to burst and disappear in thin air like a beautiful soap bubble, somebody has to do the research, write the unwritten (no) rules, document the ethereal, ungraspable, contradictory history of the postal art network. Even if you are doomed to fail in your attempt at completeness, because the subject is so vast and spread out over the decades, it is important to try and preserve the idealism, the human values, the tons of brilliant and not so brilliant ideas that have circulated (and are still circulating) in this ephemeral alternative art world.

I know how difficult it is, because I have tried many times to put the happy chaos of Mail Art into some kind of order, through thematic issues of my magazine Arte Postale! and through the books I have written or edited (my 1997 introductory guide Arte Postale, John Held Jr.'s Rubber Stamp Art of 1999, Jas Felter's Artistamps of 2000, the anthology of Artist's Postcards I am working on right now, all for Italy's AAA Editions). Other veteran mail artists have done the same, either with researches on specific topics (Geza Perneczky's book about network magazines and publications comes to mind) or with anthologies of essays (Chuck Welch's Eternal Network) or with useful tools for scholars, like the groundbreaking Mail Art Bibliography by John Held Jr. or Ruud Janssen's set of mail interviews (thankfully posted also in his T.A.M. web site).

Notwithstanding the efforts of this handful of insider "historians", the complex galaxy of Mail Art remains a mystery to the general audience, so every new endeavour to document and explain the multifaceted ramifications of the networking tree must be warmly welcomed. Mail Art surely lends itself to an encyclopaedic kind of approach, and it would be of great utility for everyone to have a big cross-referenced volume detailing the more relevant issues, projects and characters active in the medium. Somebody has tried already, there was a few years ago a Spanish web site with a sort of basic Mail Art alphabetic directory (was it from Cesar Reglero of Boek 481? Sorry, I'm getting older and my memory fails me.), but it seemed a hotchpotch affair with not much substance behind it. Compiling an authoritative encyclopaedia requires a brave heart and large shoulders, a passion for hard researches and an almost obsessive attention to details and "correspondences".

From the few completed entries I have been able to read of his new & improved "Mail Art Encyclopaedia", Geert De Decker of Sztuka Fabryka seems to possess both the heart and mind to carry out such an (almost) impossible task. He is doing his homework well, with the seriousness and intellectual curiosity it requires. So I just hope that he will not surrender to the many difficulties he will surely encounter on his path, or to the criticism from other networkers that will undoubtedly confront him along the way. In fact, he needs all the help and support that other mail artists can offer, this is a job the whole postal network will benefit from. In the past few months, many old friends have disappeared (Robin Crozier, Cees Francke, Joseph Huber, Lon Spiegelman, it would be a long and sad list.), their wide and passionate contribution to the Mail Art medium would be totally lost without some form of historical documentation. Let's dedicate our communal efforts to all these friends who have finally "returned to sender".

Vittore Baroni, December 2002