Social art as its best is a way to empower the people. In this project i will highlight all this creative foundation below the actual heroes in art with their works shown in the museums all over the place. This top on an iceberg is in the view, but the foundation not so much.
Check Updates for new information about this project while re-visiting this side.
In 2022 the project was started slowly by preparing some first rubber stamps, preparing some envelopes and sending them out to artist friends. Later I used another of my social art projects to promote it further. As part of an MUARCO exhibition i invited guests in an opening in a gallery space to work on the stamps. Also i started to use the IUOMA network to find more artists to join the project.
Now i am happy to collect first Add&Returns from the Mail Art scene and to prepare for the next step. From the beginning of 1st of September 2023 we will go for the target directly.
An this is the story behind.
At the end of the last century, a young German, then a student of fine arts, sent a drawing to the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The drawing was simple, on an A4 sheet, spontaneous and direct. In the cover letter, the student offered his drawing to the museum as a document of contemporary history, for the archive. It should be a contribution to and evidence of current contemporary art in Europe and as such it should find its place in the Museum of Modern Art collections. The people in charge of the museum responded very kindly and sent the artwork back. Unfortunately, their archive does not allow for storage. But the young contemporary artist was wished all the best on his creative path. The drawing, the artist’s letter, the reply from the museums management… it’s all together in a showcase at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Nice in France.
The artist’s name is Josef Beuys.
Now I am – as a the German-Spanish contemporary artist – setting out again and sending a work of art to the Museum of Modern Art in New York, this time a world-wide social sculpture and you’re in!
By using social media and extensively Mail Art i collected already hundreds of creative manipulations and interventions of these handmade rubber stamp pieces. With the beginning of September 2023 i will target the museum directly. Affiliated galleries that support me will invite their visitors to paint, write, draw, glue collages directly onto the small cards or to change the stamp imprints in some other creative way. The results are collected on the spot and sent directly to the museum.
(ARTIST) If you want to join this project as an creative person, just write me a Mail, include your postal address and i manage to send you some stamps to work on. Before 1st of September you will send them back to me, after 1st of September i will provide you with the contact details and you can send your work directly to the museum.
(GALLERY OWNER) If you want to join this project as a gallery (before 31st of December 2023) please write me a mail and include a possible date, on which you could offer your guests as part of an art event to join this project by working on the stamps “in sitiu”. In this case i will provide you with a bunch of stamps and contact details to send the outcome directly to the museum.
(CURATOR) If you like this social art project and you like the idea to publish the outcome in the future or to manage some research about its deep anchor in these times, feel free to write me a Mail and introduce me to your idea.
Anyway here you will find further documentation and links in the future. For now just some…
CASAdelDRAGON – the artist residence where this project idea – like many of them – was born
My profile on the International Union of Mail Art artists IUOMA
Updates:
2024-09-08 | Cold calling and email marketing – contemporary art uses contemporary technology
As a contemporary artist, I also use contemporary instruments to place my message in the attention economy. In doing so, I add another level to this work of art.
In the contemporary museum of the near future, it will not only be documented who is generally recognized as successful and style-defining in an art era. It will also reflect with respect on which mountain of creativity this top performance was built.
The social-dada project is a value that conveys this creativity of the many. When these lines were written – which also make up one level of this work of art – the initially unimaginable number of over 1000 works where on their way to the museum in New York or had already arrived. And it doesn’t stop. I still receive individual mail art envelopes with works from all over the world. Creative people are still interested in this project, making the work all the stronger.
The museum of modern art in New York experienced it by itself with the rejection of Beuys’ art. It is always a fine line to decide wisely when to give your attention to whom.
Just like with museum of modern art in New York, I wrote to 78 galleries in Barcelona today and informed them about the progress of this project. Some of them will now read this text and thus become part of this project. Whatever they decide, it will become part of the history of this work and thus part of art history.
The project of the day was to explore how Catalan galleries have survived the last few years and how the important role of communicating contemporary art has developed. To do this, I reached for an old catalogue from 2010. I wrote to these 78 galleries and 26 were no longer available. This means that about a third of the galleries have not survived the last few years, and this in a city full of culture.
It may seem like just an annex to this project, but it is much more than that. The “mass” appeal reflects the project as such and is inherent in it.
Just as there are now over 1000 works for the museum in New York, there are also 1000 creative people around the world who are following the progress of this project. And there will be many more places where this project will be remembered. The first collections and museums are asking whether there are “subsets” of exhibits that are available for exhibitions. The answer is YES! On the one hand, this work is a collection of many individual pieces. On the other hand, there is probably no larger social sculpture. And yet it is reduced to one. And in the end there will only be one gallery per country that can take on the management and marketing. Exciting.
2024-07-02 | new (P)oint (O)f (S)uccess – Cafe Mozart – Vinaros
The project will continue to gain momentum in 2024. In addition to the gatherings and events involving visitors, there are now selected locations where art lovers can discover material in order to participate in this large social mail art sculpture.
The artist café and exhibition space Cafe Mozart in Vinaros Castellon is one of the first places where we have set up small displays. It will be exciting to see how visitors react and what kind of feedback we get from this branch of the project. If you know of cool contemporary places, please get in touch immediately. We would be happy to send you some of these displays as well.
2024-06-04 | new works
The project is growing and growing. In the first months of 2024, new works were added. Authors, contact details and images are stored in the database as part of the MUARCO project for future evaluations and research.
2023-12-31 | the last 400 stamps
One important condition in the professional art market is the certainty about the number of items of a given artwork. In case of the social-dada project we used 6 stamps over the last 1,5 years to produce and deliver items to join this social sculpture. On the 31. of December 2023 we produced the last 400 items and we reached 4800 copies. For now we will not produce more items but we are still able to deliver some to interested creatives. If you want to join this amazing social mail art project feel free to write an email with your postal address and we send you material – as long as we are not running out of items (or money to send them by postal service).
As part of the “clean-up” and for further documentation of this project we cleaned and preserved the stamps.
Each stamp was in use around 800 times in the last two years. The items where distributed to every continent and shipped by postal services, world wide delivery services and friends and helpers. Many of them had contributed to the transport costs or even covered them completely (special thanks to Dirk, Antje and Corinna).
2023-12-30 | Newhouse Gallery Dec. 30, 2023
The original plan was to deliver 50 gifts to the staff member of MoMA (so if anyone of you are visiting this side AND you are a staff member and you want to join this project you are HIGHLY welcome. Please send me an email and a postal address and i will send you the material. It would be a great peasure to do to in the following month). But the helping group of artists had some concerns.
“We would like to suggest an alternative plan for this project. Day De Dada has organized a very successful series of events during this past month in NYC called Fluxfest NYC 2023. On Dec. 30 there will be a closing event for this Fluxfest, with many artists and staff of the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art and the Staten Island Museum attending.We would like to distribute your packets at this event. This receptive group would understand the intent of the piece and we feel your packets will be readily accepted without any repercussions. (StickerDude)”
So finally we decided to change the location. Now we are very curious how many new creatives are joining the project in the next time.
Vivien von Snug Harbor mentioned in her communication the link to the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art and Day de Dada Performance Art Collective in New York. I feel very comfortable in this agile, professional and contemporary environment and am happy to pass on the links here. We’ll see how this story develops. On behalf of the over 1,000 creative people involved, I am very pleased that we have reached New York. And big thanks to StickerDude!
2023-12-12 | another social happening in Spain…
2023-12-04 | Q&A – as a forecast of what might happen soon…
We are planning to deliver a Merry Christmas gift to the staff member of MoMA soon. On the way i was asked some questions and i publish here honestly my answers.
Question: “I don’t feel a “surprise” visit would be appropriate — I don’t want it to be perceived as a protest or self-promotion!?“
Answer: “Contemporary art is sometimes something between surprise and provocation. on one side the story behind social-dada is a real story and very serious, even to target a well-known museum with a “social” project questioning the contemporary role of a museum as a “factory of consent in the art market” in these days is a very real and provocative question. but the circumstances are honest!”
Question: “What is the reason to deliver the package of gifts to be delivered personally? What do we say or how to announce ourselves?“
Answer: “From my point of view you deliver a message: YOU ARE THE ARTIST! – this message is the compressed expression of what this little project inside of the larger social-dada project is about. In the larger project we target the CEOs and responsibles of the museum and again, this is a very “elite” class inside the art market and inside the hierarchy of the art market. In the art work itself we focus on the big masses of creative contemporary people and their power to do art. If we target MoMA with this, we should in some way respect the ordinary people there too. And that’s it. This christmas gift for the staff
member of MoMA is a way to balance and to equalize the actors in the field of MoMA. And with respect, i know from first hand that a lot of staff member in museums are highly interested in art and creative
expression, but they are hidden and trapped in their roles. So to point light in their direction is a big impact for the social component of this project. I will not expand this issue to something
over-sized, but i paid a lot of money from my small budget to live to make this delivery possible. So in relation to my personal circumstances it is a “big deal”. I was feeling i need to contribute
to this, even if it can be only a glimpy hint on the issue ( that we all have creative potential).
One possible way to express what you are doing in front of a staff member would be: “I am a mail art artist and i help to deliver a personal gift to YOU from a european artist. Merry Christmas! Enjoy
with us!“
Question: “Should a note or a phone call precede the delivery? Do either of you have contacts or a connection with/at the museum?“
Answer: “I think if you announce anything before you will be not able to deliver the message. It is only my prediction based on my experience that nobody will agree in a “surprise” these days. This is sad because
it disable access to peace and happiness and inner freedom for a lot of humans. If you start you will pass the guards on the entrance. If you start with them delivering the gifts you will create acceptance. if they let you pass on your way you will feel the spirit of the power of this art donation, and it will turn to something beautiful for all.
2023-11-13 | Some side effects…
To date, approximately 3,600 templates have been distributed worldwide. About 900 have already arrived or will arrive shortly at the Museum of Modern Art MoMA in New York.
Since the beginning of 2023, the artists involved have already sent me several hundred works for further distribution. A selection of these works goes to galleries, museums and other institutions that are specifically interested and committed to social sculptures. Below is an example documented with a work by the artist Maria Garcia from Spain. The work was sent to Vera Petukhova, curator for the Bronx Museum in New York.
2023-11-27 | Servia de les Garrigues – Llerida – another social happening
2023-11-09 | New artworks for the project…
2023-11-01 | Exhibition in Barcelona…
Arteria Art Gallery
Carrer Sant Marc, 26, Bajo, 08012 Barcelona
Exhibition Dates: 21st October – 3 November 2023
Inauguration: Friday 20th October, 19.30 – 21.30
Social dada enter Barcelona. Anyone who comes to the opening has a unique chance to take part. In the exhibition, 6 selected works from the project are presented and, upon request, visitors receive the material (*limited) to take part in the project themselves.
Reimagined Realities
2023-10-13 | The catalan artist Sonia Eva Domenech added a big batch of drawings to the project. Most of this works will be published in an additional series inside of the social art project artsurprise.eu later in 2023/2024
2023-10-10 | A new gathering is confirmed in SINGAPORE. Thanks to Lynn we will invite creative people in this powerful metropole to join the project in November / December.
Nuts about arts – Singapore – The promenade @pelikat – (date and time soon)
2023-10-02 | amazing citizens in dadaland and mail art gifts in the you are the artist – bags. As part of the social-dada project we are offering guests in our actual art shows some You-are-the-artist-bags to join the project. Each bag contains all material to join this project and it contains also 2 extra artworks ready to frame. Next chance to catch up a bag is in Barcelona!
One artwork is a gift from the mail art archiv from CASAdelDRAGON in Spain and related to one of the artists who also participating in the social-dada project.
You could safe and pre-order your bag now, write a mail to DeSouza Gallery and pick it up in the opening in Barcelona or get it by mail soon.
2023-10-01 | the first tweet about artworks, received from creatives form all over the world: “X“
2023-09-27 | New artworks from Bruni Stockinger, Germany
2023-09-25 | catalan artist Sonia Eva Domenech joined with many works in a huge workshop session in the house of the dragon last week
2023-09-08 | Social art event in Germany – WORDSPEICHER gallery in Quedlinburg
2023-09-07 | The German artist Rolf Habel joined the project with a whole collection of works. Habel is working in the field of social sculpturing since many years.
He is one of the first artists to address the discussion about gender in his contribution.
2023-09-06 | Communication in times of troubles – an overview on what we did so far in reaching artists and other creatives in the world
At the end of summer 2023, many art production projects will come together in CASAdelDRAGON. The frequency of communication is high. This was foreseeable in this project. At this point I would like to report on how we proceeded and what we have done and when so far.
Most of the contacts who were actively contacted come from the IUOMA network. After a year of use, around 5% can be identified as active users. Another 5% appear to use the network sometimes or rarely. A very small minority, perhaps 5% of that 5%, use the platform intensively. These users start projects themselves and invite other artists to discuss and exchange ideas, even beyond mail art. This very small group is easy to reach. It has a high natural frequency of using digital media. This group also selects very quickly and easily identifies the projects that seem interesting to them. Questions are targeted, precise, and usually very helpful in uncovering and correcting your own weaknesses in communication.
As a result, some colleagues were contacted directly via the IUOMA network. A focus was placed on countries with a low proportion of registered mail art artists. The largest country was Brazil. Another filter was new registrations and another “friends in the IUOMA network” in the period up to October 2023. The “birthday” filter was added in September.
All of these filters are evaluated; in total, they should result in a randomized use because the aim of the Social-Dada project is to show the diversity of creativity in the world using a simple example: what do many creative people do with a very simple, simple and inexpensive template to ship. The feedback is phenomenal. Some have already been described and shown here. We receive new works from artists almost every day. Some also announce this via email.
No matter how you evaluate the low response rate, the artists who request material are so numerous that I’m reaching my limits when it comes to the financial side. For this mail art project alone I calculate over 250 euros in postage costs per month. And the project will run for another 3 months.
Since September 1st, sets of multipliers have been sent out. These are colleagues who hold their own event at one location and invite other people to take part in the project. This optimizes the postage costs somewhat because, in the best case scenario, 10-20 mailings are generated to moma from one mailing. So far, a gallery in Kansas (thanks to Coco!) and a gallery in Valencia have confirmed. Another gallery in Germany will also be holding an event soon.
This will also be reported here later.
It is wrong to draw a conclusion in the middle of the action. But you can see a trend. The saturation of people through social media overload probably means that personal contacts, real conversations at events and exhibitions, real physical encounters, make the greatest contribution to a) inviting more creative people to this project and b) to more mail art that will reach the moma.
The – probably artificially caused – scarcity of direct social contact opportunities in a society has consequences. So I ask myself how such a project can be realized if the transmission of a depeche (an old word well chosen) far exceeds the hourly wage of a worker.
Everyone who took part and those who are still taking part are invited to formulate their own thoughts about this project. Because these thoughts are also a reflection of social sculpture, and therefore part of this social art project. I look forward to your contribution to this!
2023-09-05 | We are happy to announce the first gathering / happening in Germany. The evnt take place in the gallery WORDSPEICHER in Quedlinburg on 2023-09-08 at 6pm (PDF).
2023-09-01 | KOSMO VINYL was sent in one of the first envelopes to reach the MoMA in New York. The artist lives and works in New York.
The “hot” phase of the project has now begun. So far, over a hundred artists from all over the world have requested material and many will be sending their selected masterpiece directly to the museum in the next few days. Creative people can still join in. I need a postal address. One email is enough.
The project will run until December 31, 2023. After that, no new “blanks” will be put into circulation.
2023-08-24 | After a little road trip in Europe I returned to the CASAdelDRAGON. The mailbox was full! Many submissions from all over the world to the project. I am happy about the participation of some long-time active mail art artists and also about contributions from completely unknown new colleagues.
M. Goetz’s ingenious solution to place his cloth drawings on the back (sik!) of the stamp imprints is simply GENIUS. I am very happy about the extraordinarily great creativity to explore the limits of such a project. Along with this, the idea of appropriately documenting these special technical and graphic solutions also matured. This will keep some art historians busy.
2023-08-14 | I write a mail to 33 danish mail artists and the first positive reply i got from Marina Salmaso. For the record. she is the first from Denmark joining the project!
2023-08-10 | After a Zoom-Chat with Coco i am happy to announce that she will host an event in a US based gallery in Kansas on 03.09.2023 (more information soon) to invite other mail artists to join the project directly.
2023-08-03 | i wrote a mail to 60 New York based mail artists and invited them to join the project and to join a zoom meeting (ext. link to the zoom meeting, 10.Aug. 2023 03:00 PM MEZ Amsterdam, Berlin, Rom, Stockholm, Wien). If you are a mail artist and based in New York or nearby you could join this meeting. We will talk about a kind of gathering / happening / performance in front of MoMA on 30.08.2023 ! Any idea for such an event are highly welcome!
2023-07-25 | i was sending out the first 15 envelopes with material to target MoMA directly. Hopefully all participants understand the importance of synchronicity and send their work after 01. of September. I used also IUOMA network to find creatives and received around 3% of positive response (5 out of 165 listed German mail artists joined this project).
2023-07-24 | Invitation letter to creatives – free to share with other creatives now (!) : ENG, GER
2023-07-23 | The great American mail artist sticker dude promised to make a visit at MoMA on 30. of August in NEW YORK. Now we try to figure out how we could use this date to give more power to the project.
Please re-visit this page in a while for new updates.
