Postcard Mail Art Exchange: Works in Progress

MIT List Visual Arts Center invites community members to participate in a mail art exchange and share “Works in Progress.”  While students begin to move back to campus and community members keep in touch from afar, we hope to overcome physical distance with an offline project that encourages a dynamic conversation on how we keep afloat projects that have been interrupted or put on hold because of Covid. Participants of the postcard exchange can reflect on ongoing personal projects or community initiatives by decorating a blank postcard, and through the exchange will later receive one in return. This community project is inspired by correspondence art in Fluxus, which valued creative process over a  finished “product,” and obscured the boundary between art and life through ritualized everyday tasks. Mail art emphasizes day-to-day interactions, and provides community members a common medium to consider. This mail art exchange project also supports the United States Postal Service, which has a vital role at the heart of local communities to distribute important community resources.

To participate:

1. Please fill out the google form with your address to receive your blank postcard and mailing materials.

2. Create a visual text or drawing on the front of a card in response to a ‘work in progress’ that has been disrupted this year. This may be as abstract or literal as the creator chooses.

3. Return completed postcard to the List Visual Arts Center in provided SASE a week after receiving blank postcard.

4. In October 2020 you will receive another participant’s postcard in the mail.

5. All postcards will be scanned and digitally posted.  Participants may choose to sign their name or remain anonymous.  Postcards will be featured in an online gallery.

Limited to first 200 registrants.