Frieden, Scherben, Nebel

Sowohl von Gabriele Müller wie von Gerald Jatzek sind in jüngerer Zeit Texte in Zeitschriften und Anthologien erschienen.

Zwei Zeitschriften aus Niederösterreich

Erinnerung wird nicht von alleine sichtbar. Es braucht Akteure, wie den Historiker Robert Streibel, der seit 30 Jahren in der Region Krems konsequent die Verbrechen der NS-Zeit aufarbeitet. Mit seinem Essay “Wann sieht man die Erinnerung?” leitet er die aktuelle Ausgabe der niederösterreichischen Literaturzeitschrift etcetera zum Thema Erinnern ein.

Naturgemäß ist die eigene Vergangenheit beim Nachdenken über das was einmal war, besonders präsent. “Die Freude”, “Bilder vom Weggehen” oder “Suppe mit Knochen für alle” sind einige der lesenswerten Beiträge des Genres autobiographisches Schreiben in dem Heft.

“Bilder vom Weggehen” heißt die Geschichte von Gabriele Müller im „etcetera“ zum Thema Erinnerungen. Einzelne Fragmente zeigen das Bild einer skurrilen Familie, die es nicht mehr gibt, die aber in den Texten der Autorin wieder präsent wird.

Etcetera, Heft 96, Juni 2024, € 8,00, ​

Mit dem “Nebel: von Noiwi bis Navi” befasst sich das DUM, das ebenfalls in Niederösterreich erscheint. Die Dialektausgabe ist wie immer eine interessante Herausforderung, wobei lautes Lesen die meisten Verständnisprobleme ausräumt.

Gabriele Müller begegnet in den Donauauen dem schwarzen Mann – mit einer überraschender Wendung.

DUM, Das ultimative Magazin, Nr. 110/24, € 4,00

Deutschland und USA

Gerald Jatzek ist in zwei internationalen Anthologien vertreten.

Das ist einmal eine von Ingo Cesaro herausgegebene und exquisit gestaltete Haiku-Sammlungen. Die Beiträge zum Thema Frieden stammen aus 17 Ländern, darunter Bulgarien, Israel, Kroatien, Montenegro, Nordmazedonien und Serbien.

Sehnsucht nach Frieden, Neue Cranachpresse, Kronach 2024

Und schließlich kann er sich über einen Beitrag in einer australischen Anthologie freuen. Die Sammlung beschäftigt sich mit den shards (Scherben), in die bloß scheinbar festgefügte Strukturen zerbrechen.

Geralds Gedicht “Objection” untersucht, wie ein kollektiver Mythos und das Pathos der nationalen Geschichte die Bruchstücke im Leben der Schwächsten verdecken.

Shards, The Ravens Quoth Press, Melbourne 2024, 485 p.,
ISBN: 978-0975667231, erhältlich als Hardcover, Paperback und eBook.

#Navalny Exhibition: Participate in the Mail Art Call

Ruggero Maggi and the group Matera International Photography have started a call dedicated to the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny (1976 – 2024) who was killed in the infamou  “Polar Wolf” prison in Kharp on 16 February 2024.

They state:

“One cannot look, know and turn away. Reacting is a moral obligation for everyone. (…) The ordeal Navalny has had to endure leaves one speechless. The truth wil be known sooner or later, but the responsibility for what happened is certain. He died in the IK-3 maximum security prison in Kharp, after three years of suffering and torture. He was kept in a rigorous prison, in an isolation cell, a concrete box a room of 6/7 square metres where there is nothing except a stool, a sink, a hole in the floor and a bed that is attached to the wall to prevent lying down, a glass, a book, a toothbrush. Nothing else. (…)
Sometimes absence screams more than presence.”

Exhibition in Milan

The call’s theme is Navalny: Absende/Presence. Please send a postcard (10.5×15 cm) by September 15 with your work in any technique you like to:
Ruggero Maggi
Corso Sempione 67
20149 Milano Italy

If you send your work from outside of Europe, please stete on the envelope: No commercial value document / documento senza valore commerciale.

The exhibition wil take place in November 2024 in Matera.

The works will remain in Ruggero Maggi’s Amazon Archive or at any other entity that will be deemed appropriate.

The Movie

Navalny is a 2022 American documentary film directed by Daniel Roher. The film revolves around Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and events related to his poisoning. It was produced by HBO Max and CNN Films.

Credits

The photo on top of the page shows Navalny on  26 March 2017 at a rally in Moscow. The photograph is CC 4.0 by Evgeny Feldman / Wikimedia Commons.

Permutations, Pertumations, Partemutions …

This is a call for mail art that is open to artists from all over the world on the theme permutations. Participation is free, and all artistic, pictorial and graphic techniques, both analogical and digital, are admitted.

The works must be sent as letters by ordinary mail. Parcels are not allowed.
The works will not be returned.
There is no jury and no selection, but racist, pornographic, blasphemous, sexist etc. works are not accepted

Please indicate

  • title of the work
  • name and surname
  • postal address
  • and e-mail address

Send your works to
Mathart Mail Art
Lara Favaro
Via E. Ferrari, 31
30037 Scorzè (VE)
Italy

The deadline is 30 September 2024. 

Virtual Exhibition

The works received will be published on the page http://www.mathart.it/permutazioni , in the Instagram account @mathart_mailart and on the page facebook.com/mathart.it.
The images of the works sent will be used in the ways and for the purposes that will be deemed appropriate for the virtual exhibition and for the promotion of the project online, without any economic rights on the part of the artists invited to participate.

Copyright: The title graphic is © by OctaveO (CC 4.0).

Roll the Dice

Everyone has played board games at one time or another, whether it was Catan, Monopoly, Scrabble, or Snakes and Ladders.

Board games have been around for thousands of years. The ancient Royal Game dates back 4,600 years to the Sumerian city-state of Ur in Mesopotamia where the ancient cuneiform writing system was developed. Perhaps because the players wanted to keep track of their wins and losses …

Archaeologists have found boards of the Royal Game of Ur in Crete as well as in Sri Lanka, about 6.400 km (4.000 mi) apart. Traces and mentions of the game habe between found in Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and Cyprus.

Call for Mail Art

If this sounds interesting to you, then you might want to consider participating in a Mail Art Exhibition that is organized by Fernando and Maria João from Portugal.

Here are the rules:

  • theme: board games
  • participation: open to everyone
  • format: standard postcard 148 x 105 cm (in card or envelope)
  • technique: any (illustration, photography, collage, etc.)
  • address:
    Dice Portugal
    Bairro António Sérgio, Bloco C1 – 2Esq
    3020- 078 Coimbra
    Portugal
  • sender: include name / address / city / country / email
  • no deadline: “It’s an ongoing project.”

Alternatively, you can send a print’n’play board game with rules in english and the game board as .pdf files )

Exhibitions

The Photo

The photo on top of the page shows the Patolli game, depicted in the Codex Magliabechiano, and the Royal game of Ur in the British Museum (photo: BabelStone – CC0)

Strong Contrast in Turkey

“Black and white stories” was the theme of an exhibition in memory of Mustafa Okan at the Painting and Sculpture Museum – Kültürpark Art Gallery in Izmir in early July. The show featured more than 700 works by artists from 44 countries.

Mustafa Okan (1963-2016) was a Turkish artist with a keen interest in politics and the history of his country. In the online catalog of the Canakkale Biennial, he is characterized as follows:

“In terms of art history, Mustafa Okan has a neo-expressionist style
and he is indirectly exposing political history of Turkish Republic in his painting series entitled ‘Fire Stories’.”

Gabriele Müller’s art print “o.T.” (without title) takes up the expressive gesture of Okan’s works and confronts the viewer with the eye of the state, which he cannot escape.

Unfortunately, Gerald’s card got lost somewhere between Vienna and Izmir.

Kaleidoskop

Sie sagt, sie versteht nicht,

dass er sie nicht versteht.

Er versteht nicht, dass sie nicht versteht,

dass er sie versteht.

Sie sagt, er versteht sie nicht,

weil er nicht versteht, wie sie ihn versteht.

Er sagt, er versteht, wie sie ihn versteht,

aber nicht, wie sie ihn nicht versteht.

Sie versteht nicht, wie er verstehen kann,

was sie nicht versteht.

Er versteht nicht, wie sie nicht verstehen kann,

was er versteht.

Sie versteht nicht,

warum er sie nicht versteht.

Er versteht nicht,

warum sie ihn nicht versteht.

Beide verstehen nicht,

wie man jemand anderer sein kann.

Beide verstehen nicht,

dass man jemand anderer sein muss,

um jemand anderen zu verstehen.

Gerald Jatzek

(Bild: Wolfgang Beyer – CC 3.0)

Convocatoria “la muerte”

El Ayuntamiento de Avilés y ANMinvestigación invitan a creativos de todo el mundo a participar en la VIII Exposición Internacional de Arte Postal, que con el lema la muerte, se celebrará en el Palacio de Valdecarzana, en Avilés, Asturias (España), en el mes de noviembre de 2024.

Envía tus tarjetas postales en las que, de alguna manera, esté presente este lema, sea personificado en figuras como la Parca, Güera, Petateada, Catrina, Bruta, Pelona, Canica, Desdentada, Huesuda, Patas de Catre, Patas de Alambre, María Guadaña, Segadora, Igualadora, Pepenadora, Polveada, Chingada, Tiznada, la Novia fiel, o representado por calacas, calaveras, esqueletos o de cualquier otra forma.

  • Tamaño libre
  • Soporte libre
  • Técnica libre

Importante: tarjetas sin sobre

Envía tus tarjetas postales por correo postal sin sobre. Pon tus nombres y apellidos, dirección, país y correo electrónico.

Documentación, exposición y catálogo

Se enviará documentación por vía electrónica a todos los participantes.
Las contribuciones se recopilarán en un catálogo digital y se realizará la exposición arriba mencionada.

Dirección de envío

VIII Exposición Internacional de Arte Postal en Avilés «la muerte»
Palacio de Valdecarzana
Calle del Sol, 1
33402 Avilés
Asturias
España

Fecha límite

30 de septiembre de 2024

Más


Hommage an Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt

Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt (1932-2024) war eine wichtige Persönlichkeit im Bereich der Mail Art und der visuellen Poesie, die aber auch in anderen Bereichen, etwa als Malerin und Zeichnerin, künstlerisch tätig war.

Bekannt sind vor allem ihre Typewritings, die sie seit den 1970ern – noch in der DDR – anfertigte. Geoff Cowart charakterisiert diese pointiert: “Wolf-Rehfeldt used the typewriter with frightening – and often humorous – precision.”

In ihrer Gesamtheit waren sie 2012 im Museum für Moderne Kunst Bremen zu sehen. Wer sie nicht kennt, findet ausgewählte Werke auf der Website der Londoner → Galerie Richard Saltoun.

2015 fand eine Einzelausstellung in der Berliner Galerie ChertLüdde statt, wo sich auch das Archiv der Mail Art von Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt and Robert Rehfeldt befindet.

Eine Würdigung

Mimeograph (1918)

Die von Petra Schulze-Wolgast herausgegebene Zeitschrift ToCall widmet Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt eine Doppelausgabe mit Hommagen aus der internationalen Kunstszene.

Die 100 Stück des Sammlerobjekts wurden mit den historischen Gestetner-Mimeographen 160 und 320 vervielfältigt.

Links

Video

Mail Art Collaborations (Documenta 14, 2017)

Bildnachweis

Das Portraitfoto stammt von Lutz Wohlrab (CC BY-SA 3.0 de) und wurde 2012 aufgenommen.

Zwei Künstler in einem

Rittiner & Gomez ist ein Schweizer Künstler mit zwei Identitäten, was wohl seiner Vielseitigkeit geschuldet ist. Der in Hondrich bei Spiez (etwa 890 Einwohner) lebende Maler, Zeichner, Druckgrafiker und Comiczeichner erstellt auch Collagen und Kleinplastiken. Darüber hinaus zeichnet und schreibt er ein Blog, illustriert Bücher und versendet Mail Art.

Eine solche langte kürztlich in Wien ein, eine nostalgisch wirkende Karte in Grau- und Gelbtönen. die wohl bald ihren Platz an einer Wand finden wird.

Heuer hat Rittiner & Gomez übrigens selbst ein Mail-Art-Projekt entwickelt. Er sammelt dazu künstlerisch gestaltete Postkarten, die sich mit dem Kaffee beschäftigten.

Links

Get Rhythm

An Anthology with an enhanced Reader’s Connection

Update 11/24: The anthology “Cadence-Life’s Poetic Rhythms” has been nominated as a finalist for the American Writing Awards. Congratulations to all who have contributed to this anthology!

In various places on the web, the Raleigh-based Prolific Pulse Press is characterized as a micro-press. In terms of output, however, it would be considered an average publishing house in Austria. Prolific Pulse Press is managed by Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld and publishes poetry and short prose by writers from Belgium, Canada, Nigeria, and the United States.

They recently published a truly international poetry anthology titled “Cadence: Life’s Poetic Rhythms,” which you can find on Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and Bookshop.org.

To enhance the reader’s connection with the authors, the anthology is accompanied by thought-provoking discussion questions. These questions delve into the inspiration behind the poems, the creative process, and the personal experiences that shaped the writers’ work. Readers are encouraged to use them to explore the depths of each poem and gain insight into the minds of the poets.

The Authors

The collection includes poems by Sarfraz Ahmed, Rita Anderson, Nanci Arvizu, Bartholomew Barker, arlene bice, A. C. Blake, Susi Bocks, Yasmin S. Brown, Lin Marshall Brummels, Stephen W. Buchanan, Anupama Sham Budhrani, Migel Bung, Joni Karen Caggiano, Theresa Carlie, Elizabeth Esquerra Castillo, Carla M. Cherry, Lauren M. Clemmons, Ambika Devi, Richard Fireman, Nolcha Fox, Carol Coven Grannick, Joel Haas, Mark Andrew Heathcote, Duane L. Hermann, Chyrel J. Jackson, Gerald Jatzek, Zaneta Varnado Johns, Cody Jones, Eftichia Kapardeli, Jill Sharon Kimmelman, Teresa H. Klepac, Barbara Harris Leonhard, Donna McKinney, Danielle Martin, Karuna Mistry, Howard Moon, Michelle Ayon Navajas, Nimitok, Gypsie-Ami Offenbacher-Ferris, Thomas King Oloo (Babs), K. Ann Pennington, Dawn Pisturino, Sarah Merritt Ryan, Pratibha Savani, Shiela Denise Scott, Richa Dinesh Sharma, Nicole Smith, Ivor Steven, Gabriel S. Weah, Lynn White, Charlotte Alexandria Williams, Lindsay Soberano Wilson, Chanah Wizenberg, and Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld.

Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld & Zaneta Varnado Jones (eds.): Cadence – Life’s Poetic Rhythms, Prolific Pulse Press LLC, Raleigh, NC, USA, ISBN: 978-1962374903

Copyright note: The illustration uses the book cover and an edited version of a pulsar model (©NASA / public domain).

Music to make Mail Art by

“I hope you have fun going through the list and listening to something that you may not have otherwise known about or something you my have forgotten about.”

In January, Adam Roussopoulos, a well-known and very active mail artist, started his project The Ultimate Mail Art Playlist. He asked the community two questions:

  • “What is your favorite band?
  • “What is your favorite song?

Adam collected all votes in a brochure with a nice cover [enlarge photo] with a preface that states:

“I wanted to create a worldwide playlist with the hope of being able to connect to those within the eternal network in a different way. (…) I imagined each person coming up with their own internal criteria for determining this.”

Beatles forever

Gerald voted for Loreena McKennitt’s “Marrakesh Night Market”

The results prove the lasting importance of the Beatles. A total of six songs by the band appear on the list; five in their original versions and, of course, “With a little help from my friends” in Joe Cocker’s version.

There were two mentions of Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan (one cover), the Residents, the Rolling Stones, and Frank Zappa.

Fantasy / Fantasia

Imagination in Power

The Museo Bendandi, under the direction of Dr. Paola Pescerelli Lagorio and in collaboration with Roberta Savolini, organizes a mail art project as well as an exhibition in December 2024.

  • Theme: Free space to imagination
  • Size: Postcard (10 x 15 cm / 4 x 6 inches more or less)
  • Technique: Free (watercolor, painting, drawing, collage, photography, and so on)
  • Rules: Open to everyone without restrictions of age or skill level; no jury, no return of the works, not-for-profit, only original works, no copies. It is up to the artist to send his work in an envelope or not; one or more works for each artist.
  • Works must arrive until the 30th of November 2024.

Please clearly indicate name, address and/or e-mail address on the back of the card/s.

Send your card/s to:
Paola Pescerelli
Casa Museo Bendandi
Via Manara, 17
48018 Faenza (RA)
Italy

The facebook album will be followed by an exhibition of the received works in December 2024 at the Casa Museo Bendandi.

l’immaginazione al potere

Casa Museo Bendandi, sotto la direzione della Dott.ssa Paola Pescerelli Lagorio in collaborazione con Roberta Savolini, organizza un progetto di arte postale con una mostra nel dicembre 2024 c/o la propria sede.

  • Tema: Libero spazio alla fantasia
  • Dimensioni: Cartolina (10 x 15 cm circa)
  • Tecnica: Libera (acquerello, pittura, disegno, collage, fotografia, etc.)
  • Regolamento: Aperto a tutti senza limiti di età né livello di abilità, no giuria, no restituzione di quanto pervenuto, no fini di lucro, solo cartoline originali, no fotocopie. E’ lasciata libera la scelta di spedire in busta o fuori busta, uno o più lavori per ogni singolo artista.
  • I lavori dovranno pervenire entro il 30 novembre 2024.

Per favore indicare chiaramente nome, cognome, indirizzo postale e/o indirizzo e-mail sul retro della/e cartolina/e.

Inviare la/e cartolina/e a:
Paola Pescerelli
Casa Museo Bendandi
Via Manara, 17
48018 Faenza (RA)
Italia

All’ album su facebook seguirà mostra dei lavori pervenuti nel mese di dicembre 2024 a la Casa Museo Bendandi.

Bad Luck, good Luck, whatever …

13 is not just synonymous with bad luck. The number stands for different and sometimes contradictory things in various cultures . It is the number that follows the – often positively connotated – twelve: the number of lunations per solar year (12,41), the first number outside the Babylonian base-twelve numeral system, the number of the 13th apostle, Judas Iscariot, a.s.o.

The call states that “some even enjoy playing with the number’s reputation by taking a tongue-in-cheek approach. Take Finland’s National Accident Day, for instance, is always Friday the 13th”.

I do believe that my whole success goes back to that time I was arrested as a wayward boy at the age of thirteen. Because then I had to quit running around and began to learn something. Most of all, I began to learn music.

Louis Armstrong

Helsinki waits for you

Mail artists are invited to send in a postcard (10 x 15 cm / 4 x 6 in) on the topic before Friday, September the 13th (!) to:

Nr 13
Taivaanvuohentie 3 B 13
00200 Helsinki
Finland

Don’t forget to include your contact information (email).

All works received will be exhibited at this blog.

Bücher mit Verspätung

Die meisten Schreibenden freuen sich, wenn ihre Texte in Schulbüchern erscheinen. Allerdings erfahren sie nicht immer davon. Zwar ist vorgesehen, dass sie die Fahnen überprüfen, doch das funktioniert mal besser, mal schlechter.

So kommt es zu überraschenden Entdeckungen: Die Seite mit dem Troll-Gedicht von Gerald Jatzek stammt aus Lern-Express: Deutsch 3, Arbeitsheft B vom Delta Media Schulbuchverlag. Der Band kam bereits 2017 heraus, die Kunde davon erreichte aber erst jetzt den Autor.

Die Informationen über die anderen beiden Bücher mit Geralds Gedichten wurden hingegen zeitnah übermittelt. Die Rechtschreibgeschichten für die vierte Klasse erschienen 2022 bei Schubi / Westermann. Flex und Flora 2 kam 2021 bei Westermann heraus.

Elitärer Kreis

Moderne Lyrik in der Schule
Gedichte in der Schule

Informationen über die Sammlung rechts drang ebenfalls mit langer Verspätung nach Wien. Der Band bereitet dem Autor vor allem wegen der Integration in die versammelte Kollegenschaft Freude:

  • Rose Ausländer: Italien I
  • Vera Ferra Mikura: Regenschirme
  • Ernst Jandl: im delikatessenladen
  • Max Kruse: Künstler
  • Gerald Jatzek: Das Geheimnis
  • Erich Kästner: Die Entwicklung der Menschheit
  • Klaus Kordon: Wenn du ganz allein bist
  • Bertolt Brecht: Die Vögel warten in Winter von dem Fenster
  • Peter Hacks: Der Herbst steht auf der Leiter
  • Peter Huchel: Wintersee

A Goodie Bag from Hanna

We recently received mail from the USA: a thick envelope containing a plethora of objects. There were drawings [enlarge] as well as photos from magazines. We found a sketch explaining the function of a dredging boat and some of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous anatomical studies. (Unfortunately, not the originals.)

The colorful envelope

The sender was Hanna Marie Dean Wright from Kentucky, USA. Hanna is a folk artist. Being young and dynamic, she refuses to let a few experts and leading galleries decide what the rest of humanity should consider art:

“Art is something people should be able to relate to. Art is a visceral experience that can be accessed by all regardless of race socioeconomic status, gender, religion or identity.”

Links to Hanna’s Works

Keep smiling

Matera is a town in the Basilicata, in the Deep South of Italy. The region has been conquered and reconquered many times and has been under the rule of Romans, Lombards, Arabs, Byzantines, Swabians, Angevins, Aragonese, and Bourbons. The name is of Greek origin and means mother (μητέρα), and the high ground with the cathedral is still called acropolis.

In 2023, the Scuola Primaria (elementary school) “G. Pascoli” raised a mail art call for postcards with the theme sorridi! / smile! that was open for everybody.

Card by Gerald Jatzek [enlarge]

Right now, you can visit the online edition of the exhibition, commissioned by Tina Festa.

Exhibitions

Copyright: The title photo is @ Luca Aless – CC 4.0 / Wikimedia

Perspectives of Global Citizens

Broma Arte Correo is the pseudonym of a mail art initiative in Santiago de Chile*). Last year, he ran an art call for submissions with the theme mi país (my country).

The theme could not be more timely. While aggressive nationalism is on the rise, many creative people see themselves as global citizens. The Venusian People Project, mentioned here recently, is a good example of artists demonstrating the absurdity of organizing states in the face of global threats.

click to enlarge

Among the works on display is a photomontage by Gerald Jatzek, that uses a military cemetery to depict the recurring tragedy that results from the combination of imperialism, chauvinism, and subservience.

The contributions that arrived in Chile were collected by the students and will be on display on May 31st in Quinta Normal, a community in the metropolitan area of Santiago.

*) Broma Arte Correo was founded in 2016. In its early days, Broma began with the participation of Italo García and Claudio Lozano, both teachers and artists. Later, mosaic artist Belén Morales took on responsibilities within the project.
(from: Diccionario illustrato della mail art de César Regolero Campos and Maya López Muro)

Copyright Notice

The photo at the top of the page is a work of tommileew. It is used under the pixabay content license.

Mail Art Call: Birds and Nature

COA-PoA (Clube de Observadores de Aves de Porto Alegre) was the first birdwatchers’ club in Brazil, and it is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year. To celebrate, they are launching a mail art call with the theme birds and nature.

Maximum dimensions are 297 x 210 mm or 11.7 x 8.3 in.
Minimum dimensions are 100 x 150 mm or 3.9 x 5.9 in.

The submission address is:
Maria do Carmo Both
Rua Concórdia, 484 | 92120-140, Canoas
RS Brazil

Contributions must be received before September 30th.

Copyrights

© of the photos: Charles J. Sharp and Rhododendrites (both CC 4.0)