My grandmother Margaretha Jatzek gave her debut as a dancer at the Vienna Opera at the age of eight. But times got worse, and classical dance was not the most in-demand profession. Therefore, she joined vaudeville shows under her stage name Gred Bassler to make a living in the 1930s. The advertisement poster for theContinue reading “Photos: A familiar Dancer”
Author Archives: Gerald Jatzek
Quotes for Art Lovers, Part 2
What is Mail Art (4) “Well, the idea is that it’s a way to convey a message or a kind of idea to someone which is not verbal; it is not a confrontation of two people It’s an object which is opened in privacy probably and the message is looked at.”Ray Johnson (1968) “The termContinue reading “Quotes for Art Lovers, Part 2”
Dante again
One year after the first exhibition, Dante’s fictitious journey reached its next stop: Stella Maris Velasco organized and designed the show in the beautiful premises of the Asociación Italiana de Belgrano. Moldes 2153CP C1428CRGBelgrano, CABA tel: (11) 4781 0371open: 9.6.-16.6., 9 am – 4 pm
Art for Surgeries
Jenny Rowbory is a young British woman who suffers from Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (inflammation of the brain and spinal cord). She has been bed-bound for the last sixteen and a half years. In May 2015, Jenny was also diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. This genetic disorder causes the body to produce faulty collagen. The biggest problem forContinue reading “Art for Surgeries”
Political Art
Words against system’s headaches/ Words for new utopia is the title of an exhibition in Namur. The show was curated by Laurent Wilmet and Anne Gilis for the the Belgian educational movement CEPAG. They state: “Indeed, words are not innocent. Words are not neutral, they are socially situated and criticism of their use, of theirContinue reading “Political Art”
A Short Introduction
What is Mail Art? (3) This video offers a brief introduction to Mail Art as a form of art that defies the global art market: See also: To learn more about this brainchild of Dada and Fluxus, you may want to visit the Site of the International Union of Mail-Artists.
Skurrile Geschichten
Die AG Offene Literatur gibt es seit 1996, und in der Zeit hat sie sich als zentrale literarische Vereinigung in Westösterreich etabliert. Im Gegensatz zum andernorts gepflegten Geniekult hat sie sich von Anfang an als Produktionsgemeinschaft verstanden. In einem Grundsatzpapier von 2021 heißt es: “Im Fokus unserer Publikationen stehen: Solidarität und Offenheit.” Zu den ProjektenContinue reading “Skurrile Geschichten”
Death of a Factory
Raphael Nadolny sent a triptych of photos of the old vodka factory Koneser which means connoisseur in English in the Warsaw district of Old Praga. The industrial complex was built around 1900 and at times employed more than 400 people. After World War II the premises were acquired by the Warsaw Spirits Industry Polmos which hadContinue reading “Death of a Factory”
By Chance
Melanie Reed from Seattle loves to produce hand-crafted media that reveals the three-dimensional process of its creation. Her excellent paper collages Meeting of Minds and Ship of State II reached me, while I was reading a book about Max Ernst who developed the three-dimensonal techniques grattage (scraping the surface layers of paint) and frottage (incorporating the structuresContinue reading “By Chance”
From Ukraine to Russia
The Arnolfini Archívum’s challenge no. 58 for Mini[e]MailArt is “packages”. And although this motto leaves ample possibilities for artistic interpretations, I felt that the Russian assault on the Ukraine could not be ignored. This is why: Russia’s supreme Leader Vladimir Putin calls the war on Ukraine a “special military operation”. Thus, he continues the traditionContinue reading “From Ukraine to Russia”
Last Home
This large card is a work of Raphael Nadolny, who lives in the small Polish town of Mosina. The picture shows a catholic priest visiting a jewish cemetery in 1946. Nadolny calls the photocopy with colored gravestones an archeology of culture.
Mit Leidenschaft
Den Thomas Nemec kenne ich seit, also das ist gar nicht mehr wahr, wie man in Wien sagt. Getroffen haben wir uns in einem wunderbaren, unterirdischen Etablissement namens Club Hoffnungslos. Das war ein selbstverwaltetes Refugium in der damaligen Ödnis Floridsdorfs, das auch Leute aus der Umgebung anzog, weil in der Brigittenau und der Donaustadt damalsContinue reading “Mit Leidenschaft”
Dadaistic Card
The postcard from the French mail artist Zack leaves much space fore interpretations. E.g., the text on the right side says in Italian and French: 20h combattimento. La théorie du cygne noir. In English: 20:00 fighting. The theory of the black swan. Other crumbs of text refer to a young conductor and to the storyContinue reading “Dadaistic Card”
Quotes for Art Lovers, Part 1
What is Mail Art? (2) “Mail art, also known as Postal art and Correspondence art, is an oddball in marketing terms. The whole movement values creating art, but in a sense it insists on not being taken particularly seriously by the established art world.”Xamou Art “La carte postale d’artiste est une œuvre indépendante, elle n’estContinue reading “Quotes for Art Lovers, Part 1”
Yesterday’s News
Sometimes yesterday’s news can be quite exciting. While searching for children’s songs I stumbled over the recordings of an excellent choir from Germany. I checked their playlist – and found one of my poems that has been set to music by the composer Claudia Nicolai. Of course, I knew the song. But I had neverContinue reading “Yesterday’s News”
Night Sky
It was a very nice surprise to find a letter from Canada on my return to Vienna. Inside a found a drawing by Awyn in the mail . I looked at it and a poem by Paul Lawrence Dunbar (1872-1906) came into my mind. I only had a vague memory of the text, but whenContinue reading “Night Sky”
Delay…
Jay Block’s Collage reached Vienna some weeks ago, but it was only after my return from Crete that I found it.
A little History
What is Mail Art? (1) So you want to learn about the history of mail art. Here are two great places to start: Angie Kordic’s story How Did Mail Art Develop into a Global Art Movement? (Widewalls) regards the mail art movement “as the anticipator of the cyber communities founded on the Internet today becauseContinue reading “A little History”
mail your art 