Also can someone please tell me who is Champe Smith and please send my address to them. It is Mark Bloch PO Box 1500 NY NY 10009. My email is panman@panmodern.com.

Thank you.

Mark Bloch

Here are the replies I received when I got home today:

On May 12, 2008, at 8:57 AM, John M. Bennett wrote:

Hi mark

Innaresting - i had not heard of this show either, even tho i seem to be in it, or at least my name is listed below. must be a dead network.

anyway, yr shirtboxes look great, and i'll read yr storage article, which is printing now.

o void o void

john

On May 12, 2008, at 9:02 AM, John M. Bennett wrote again:

Hah! yr storage manifesto is brilliant. to think all these years i've been a storagist! vast troves of secretist material, smirking in the dark folders and boxes!

this has made my day -

john

On May 12, 2008, at 9:20 AM, Reed Altemus wrote:

Mark,

good to hear news from you. I think the show at the Center for Book Arts is bullshit. The title puports to take the pulse of the mail art network and the show is full of nobodies. Which is why it makes veteran practicioners like you and me feel like nobodies. If I were you I'd find something else to do that evening: catch up on correspondence with old colleagues or watch rare Captain Beefheart videos, whatever.

Hope this finds you well, Mark. Take care.

Bestests, Reed

On May 12, 2008, at 9:36 AM, Michael Leigh wrote:

Hi Mark, If it's any consolation to you, I didnt get an invite to this this show either and if I had I probably forgot about it or it got mislaid and buried under all this crap which piles up on my work table constantly! Will possibly be in NY in August/Sept for a brief visit. Nothing finalised yet. It would be nice to meet up. I will let you know our plans nearer the time. All the best, Michael

On May 12, 2008, at 9:45 AM, Vittore Baroni wrote:

dear Mark, yes you are right, as soon as one stops answering mail he starts being phased out of the mail art map, I wonder how many remember Cavellini today, I guess it's part of the nature of this game you played so well for so long (yes, we miss you!), glad to read you are organizing shows in the fluxus spirit and more of the same to you... ciao, vittore (new invite attached, just in case you can overcome your mailboxphobia:-)

On May 12, 2008, at 10:13 AM, Rod Summers wrote:

Well Mark, I was invited to do some do-a-bit-and-send-it-back by Ken Montgomery for this show. I sent some 'mail-art collaboration' CDs directly to the Book place but received not a word of notification of receipt. Of the list of participants I know less than ten names, I would not have known about it had it not been for Ken's invite, and to be honest I wouldn't normally give a shit. BUT your beautifully written note is accurate about how we original networkers have been superceded by a bunch of wanabees, but let us not give a shit. Yes it was mostly yer own fault, as H.R. Fricker so smartly says 'Only senders can be located' and you haven't mailed me since I replied to your last mail 0n 16 November 2004 when I sent you a CD (Bunde dawn chorus #35) and a couple of computer graphics! Don't fret Mark, it's not worth the effort. I notice a lot of us old networkers are active on Open Fluxus so, to cheer you up I'm inviting you to join us there. Hope you are well? rod

On May 12, 2008, at 10:56 AM, Bill Wilson wrote:

I learned about the show from Lutz Wohlrab, after the opening, and only just in time to go to the evening when some people spoke. I was invited to speak on a panel in June, but the invitation told me nothing about the show or the prior panel. I figure, "Two different worlds, we live in two different worlds." I noticed a May Wilson postcard in a vitrine, but don't yet know how it got there.

On May 12, 2008, at 10:59 AM, Pedro Pescador wrote:

Ahem, ...when is the show and where?

On May 12, 2008, at 12:00 PM, ArtnAnts@aol.com wrote:

Often mail art shows are put on by well-meaning but ignorant people who don't understand the ethics of mail art. I actually heard about this show but was not invited to participate either. For reasons I don't quite understand art seems to always have the tendency to exclude. Perhaps people just want to feel special. You should direct your concerns to John Held Jr as I think he is moderating a discussion panel at the show. I think it would make a good topic of discussion for the panel.

your dawg, Madawg

On May 12, 2008, at 12:10 PM, Ken B. Miller wrote:

Hi Mark, I didn't hear about this show either until my friend Roger Cook, who is not a mail artist, forwarded me an e-mail from a friend of his who is in the show (and who I don't think is really a mail artist either). Then Pistol Pete told me went to the opening, which I would assume since he's in the show. But I'm definitely not connected to anything anymore... other than hanging around with Pete now and then, and meeting the occasional mail artist in NYC.

thanks Ken

On May 12, 2008, at 12:45 PM, Mike Dickau wrote:

I know what you are talking about!

Thanks for the e-mail!

Best wishes, Mike Dickau aka Captain Biology

On May 12, 2008, at 12:46 PM, Stewart Home wrote:

Hi Mark

Nice to hear from you and trust all is a groove apart from the little omission in your invites... If its any consolation I never heard about this show until I opened your email just now.... that's the way it goes... yeah I don't put in for most stuff I get invited to now... but I didn't get invited to this...

oh and in case you don't know it my website is still www.stewarthomesociety.org -

and you may find interest in at least some of the older stuff on my youtube profile (includes two videos I made with Pete Horobin in 1986, and one I made on my own at his place at the same date)... to that's www.youtube.com/stewarthome -

and I'm also on Facebook and Flickr if you are... I used to have more than a dozen profiles for different personas on MySpace too, but after I was made first blog of the month there I gave that all up (for reasons I won't bore you with now)...

Keep on bumpin'. Ciao, Stewart.

On May 12, 2008, at 1:37 PM, Judith Hoffberg wrote:

Number one: Champe Smith was introduced to me at Yale, I believe, by Doug Beube--she knew nothing about Mail Art, but made a proposal to a Book Arts Center--so you can imagine--she was digging for information from everyone--and I guess she landed on John Held--and some other NYC people--but.. why do you alphabetize by first name (for instance) on the announcement--secondly, she had each person invited include three names of others--I was not even included until I told her I occasionally do mail art after all these years--so I nominated foreign names to cover the "map"--Anna Banana was snubbed until she finally got an invitation and I was snubbed altogether until I said I'd participate--I don't think it's an important show--but who am I? I don't blame you for complaining--but....

jah

On On May 12, 2008, at 2:45 PM, Anna Banana wrote:

Dear Mark,

Glad to hear you are not blaming anyone for anything. RE: If anyone, I blame myself. Good. Reason you didn't hear about it from me, is that I have taken you off my mailing list since you haven't responded to any of my mailings in the past couple of years. While it's obvious you're still active creatively/artistically from your email, what you've been doing appears, to fall largely outside MANetworking . . . seems to me I did receive some notice about the Robert Delford Brown: Meat, Maps and Metaphysics show . . . can't remember if it was from you, Judith H or ????

Anyway, as far as Champe Smith is concerned, I'd never heard of her, and have not heard of many of the folks listed in the show. Judy H. said Champe emailed her for info on the network, and I hassled the hell out of Champe about the need to send participants a catalogue from the exhibit . . . if, in deed, she's interested in NOT alienating mail-artists. In the end, the Center agreed to do so, but it hasn't happened yet. Judy H. Says that many, if not most of the names on the list are BOOK ARTISTS, not mail-artists. Champe's friends felt I was "attacking her" with my persistent demands that a catalogue must be sent to participants!!! I said I don't participate in mail-art shows that don't promise (and deliver) some form of catalogue . . . and that mail art is all about EXCHANGE, and here she was asking us to send our works, to donate to the center, and for which we were to receive nothing. Eventually, as I said, the center agreed to do a catalogue.

Are you aware that there are going to be two panel discussions? One for the participants (oops, long past), and one for the art historifiers . . . Here's a little correspondence on the matter, between John Held, (who will be moderating the panel) and me:

AB: I heard from Vittore Baroni that "at the Mapping Correspondences show in New York, John Held will soon hold a panel involving several key figures (AA Bronson, Bill Wilson, John Evans, etc), it looks like there will be a catalogue after all..."

JH: I got in touch with the curator of the exhibition, Champe Smith, and she mentioned they were having two panels, one on May 2 for the contributors to the show, and another, June 13, on the history of Mail Art. I volunteered my services to moderate the later. They had no money for fees or travel, so we decided (HMMM???) on five local New Yorkers who had backgrounds in the field - Martha Wilson and Barbara Moore are also on the panel (In addtion to Bill Wilson, John Evans and A.A. Bronson). I have no plans to prepare questions. I see it as an informal discussion. Everyone involved is so competent, I see no need for prodding. I'm hoping a good transcription results from it.

AB: Thanks for filling me in on the panels for the Mapping Correspondence show at NYCB . . . interesting panel, with only one actual mail artist . . . ie. John Evans . . . and I guess Bronson WAS way back when, before FILE decided it was all a load of kwik-kopy-krap. I know the Franklin Furnace hosted a show, but in what way did Barbara Moore interface with the network?

JH: Barbara Moore can talk knowledgably about Fluxus postal activity. This is an attempt not to have mail artists talk about THEIR activity, but to put Mail Art into a larger perspective, and how different streams of activity (Fluxus, NYCS, alternative art [Martha Wilson]) impacted Mail Art.

CONSIDER yourself informed!

Anna

PS, I briefly investigated the possibility of getting an invitation to be on the panel and try to get Canada Council funding to attend, but John said the publicity was "already out" on the panel, and when I got his description of the purpose of the panel (to academically historify mail-art) I decided there was no place for me in such a discussion AND I probably would lhave trouble getting grant funding to attend since it's not in the field where I've usually got funding.

PPS I DO HOPE you will attend and put in a few words about the practice of mailart.

On May 12, 2008, at 1:51 PM, Arturo Fallico wrote:

Mark,

Many thanks for your electronic communication - MANY shows or projects involving Mail-Art activity are going on ALL over the place as you know. I have been in the 'Net-work' since 1976 when Vittore Baroni first introduced me to Mail-Art activity, while 'we' were at UC Davis one summer. Baroni's volume of mail, Mail-Art philosophy and shear 'energy' when it comes to Mail-Art is amazing - and I am STILL amazed by his commitment to excellence.. I STILL do Mail-Art but since Cavellini, Ray Johnson, and many others have passed on - many people have dropped out. I STILL find it, creative,funny, motivational and a TRUE Art form.

Many address lists are circulated thought the 'Net-work' - ONE BIG one is Rysuke Cohen. My name as well as yours is circulated All over the world.

I guess the show In NYC , what you mentioned, was NOT publicized for some strange reason. Did they want to 'limit' the participants perhaps? It should be FREE to ALL right? maybe Vittore B. heard sabout it? I'll have to ask him. BY the way I have NOT heard from you in years! Here is my address :

Arturo Fallico P.O. Box 2487 Saratoga CA (5070 USA Joel Cohen made some Sticker-Art for me , I'll send you some examples, Okay? Again it was great to hear from you. Arturo F. Mail-Art Visionary since the age of 3.

On May 12, 2008, at 4:00 PM, John Held Jr. wrote:

scroll down to June 13

http://www.centerforbookarts.org/events/

On May 12, 2008, at 6:58 PM, Ken Friedman wrote:

Dear Mark,

Thanks for your note. This only goes to show you that the network doesn't do very well. I observe that those who are not continually engaged in promoting their work and their own contribution to the history of the network vanish.

Then again, you could say it shows that the network does well in another way, at least in that it preserves some kind of ongoing life at the price of deleting inactive nodes. This does not do much for the account of history -- but the network does not do well with information on things that happened thirty or forty years ago. That is for historians and archeologists.

Yours,

Ken

On May 12, 2008, at 9:25 PM, shirk@riseup.net wrote:

mark hi-

i hope that you are not feeling unwanted in the network. i do not know your work. i respond mnore to work from artists i like, rather than are uninterested in. i do not think the network is a real thing. honestly. to me, that is unreal, it's just acts people participate in when they not working, or whatever- and it's more a solitary - feeling act than anything, fr communication. i have a better conversation at my local pub or restaurant than the network. or at work.

i wouldn't be too upset about not being invited to a local show. ny's a big place, people are chaotic creatures, there are more mail art shows than i could ever know about or know what to do with.

i just hope we continue to do art in a spirit of joyish relaxation. it's not always our most immediate reaction. we should be getting paid for our artistic imput! ot at least, allowed to 'slave' a bit less more.

feel free, jessy kendall po box lewiston, maine 03243

On May 12, 2008, at 9:38 PM, Reed Altemus wrote again:

I just spoke with Pete Fischer on the phone who also got your email. to tell you the truth Mark I'm not sure I get what you were trying to do with that email. I mean do you really feel bad/at fault/inadequate because you were not included in the Center for Book Art show? I think they are claiming an authority they have no right to. Saying they claim to know the shape of things to come in mail-art in the 21st c. is just a lot of the usual curatorial hooha. The people who speak for the network should be the practicioners not curators. And I really don't think we need representation by an outside source. I don't need or want exposure. I just did a little show at a neighborhood coffee house and people love to see artistamps, they were a big hit (did I send you a copy of the blue Maciunas stamps???). And I love to make artistamps. I think the fact that I practice that specific medium definitely makes me more of a mailartist than any poor soul sending out postcard paintings. I'm a bigot for print even at this late stage in the game. But I digress... glad you liked the photobooth performance I think that particular image should be (and will be) made into a rubber stamp and the whole sequence made into a stampsheet. So are you planning on going to the CBA show? Actually, my bileous half says to boycott it but another part of me says to go just out of curiousity. Let me know if I sent the blue Maciunas sheet and I'll send you one if you like. For now... ciao, Reed

So today was a good day in the network. I enjoyed hearing from many old friends and a few new ones. I appreciated the supportive messages. No, I certainly did not feel bad/at fault/inadequate. Annoyed is more like it. I wish I had heard of it and sent something. Not only am I a person who has done a bit of mail art and not only do I live in New York, but I also love maps and used to make them professionally. So I was sad not to hear about this show, just I am when I don't hear about other New York exhibitions until after the fact. And I found it particularly ironic that this was supposedly about mapping the network. As I said, it would appear I and others are not registering on the radar. My only real regret is that I can not reach all the people who will never see this web page but, for whatever reason, wish to hell they could. Their disembodied spirit hovers between these letters mysteriously in their eternal absence. Perhaps I was asking two fundamental questions in this age of viral communications: How does one reach the people one means to reach? How does one attract the information one wishes to receive?

--Mark Bloch

This morning, May 12, 2008, at 4:52 AM, Lutz Wohlrab, a new correspondent of mine and a German mail artist who is coming visit New York, wrote this email to me:

In response to finding out about the MAPPING CORRESPONDENCE SHOW, I created this email and quickly sent it via e-mail to about 150 people I chose at random from a few mail art e-mails: