| Mail Art Island in Brain Cell Ocean: A Korean Travel Diary. Jeju Island, South Korea October 9-28, 2001. by John Held, Jr. ****************** Tuesday, October 9, 2001: Leave on Korean Airlines flight at 2:00 PM. Due to increased airport security, check-in is at 10:00 AM. San Franciso International Airport is empty due to the public's unwillingness to fly after the World Trade Towers tragedy less than a month ago. For the first time ever, I see armed United States military personnel patrolling an airport. The security personnel examining my carry-on briefcase questions me about the nicorette gum I've brought along. I give her a piece. On the flight over, I read Geza Perneczky's book, "The Magazine Network: The Trends of Alternative Art in the Light of Their Periodicals 1968-1988," in preparation for putting together a collection of mail art magazines when I return. Watch Korean movie, "The Sassy Girl," (with the moral: "Love is a bridge to chance events from which we prosper"). Think about, "Mail Art in an Age of Coalition," indicating both unity, but promoting divisiveness. We need mail art in Korea. We need it more in the Middle East. Wednesday, October 10, 2001: Arrive at Incheon Airport, Seoul, South Korea, at 6:00 PM, after a nine hour flight. Exchange dollars into won. Approximately one-thousand won to a dollar makes financial transactions easy to calculate. Take a bus from Incheon, the international airport, to Gimpo, the domestic terminal some thirty minutes away. Take domestic flight on Korean Airlines to Jeju Island at 8:20 PM. Met at the airport in Jeju at 9:30 PM by Young Jay Lee (the independent curator I have been e-mailing since last June), Ki-Ho Park (Art Promotion Chief of the Jeju Cultural and Art Foundation, and to whom the works in the show have been addressed to), and Jang Eun Cheol (a Jeju Island artist friend of Young Jay Lee's, who has become interested in mail art and especially artistamps). We first go to a western restaurant along the waterfront to get coffee. Jang Eun Cheol then drives Young Jay Lee, Ki-Ho Park and I to a seafood restaurant, where we eat mackerel and drink rice wine comparable to Japanese sake-but better. I am surprised that instead of wooden chopsticks, like those used by the Chinese and Japanese, Koreans use silver. At every meal one receives them with a soup spoon to dine. After dinner, Young Jay Lee and I are driven to his house by Jang Eun Cheol. We have a beer and eat sliced pears (big, like melons). Introduced to Young's daughter Hari, who is six years old, already able to count to ten and recite her ABC's in English. Smart as a whip, and just as fast as the crack of one. Get to bed at midnight. Thursday, October 11, 2001: Wake up at Young Jay Lee's home at 8:00 AM. Young Jay Lee lives in Seoul, but has been in Jeju for several months working on the mail art show. His father is a retired police officer, who has retired to Jeju Island from Seoul. Young Jay Lee is a single father, his daughter living with his parents and going to school in Jeju. Hari is six years-old, and a bundle of energy. We click instantly. I love to hear her go on and on in Korean like she expects me to understand every word. I get the gist of it. Have breakfast of coffee, toast (best I've ever tasted-white bread lightly toasted with too much butter) and fruit salad, provided by Young's mother, which is served on a low table at which we sit cross legged (as I do for the entire stay of nineteen days). Talk to Young's father (through Young Jay's translation) about his rock collection, many of them lava rocks set on pedestals. There is a tradition in Jeju of "suseok," or viewing stones. He is a very hearty man with a shock of white hair, working out with dumbbells in the backyard most mornings. Take a taxi to the Jeju Cultural Foundation, on the seventh floor of an office building in downtown Jeju City. Taken into the office of the Director. I give him a stampsheet portfolio of six stampsheets that I have produced for the event with P.K. Harris, plus a rubber stamp that I designed and Picasso Gaglione produced for the occasion. Look over proofs of the mail art catalog they have produced in connection with the exhibition. I make some changes in the address list (never incorporated into the final catalog). The designer of the catalog agrees to make some business cards for me. I give some stampsheets in return. Business cards (and gift giving) play a very important role in establishing social relations in Korea, and I have mine produced in both Korean and English. Go to Jeju Folk Tourism Village to see the exhibition space the Cultural Foundation is renting for the week of the mail art show. There is an auditorium near the exhibition space, and I take a few moments to watch a rehearsal of a show being produced on the lore of Jeju Island. In it, diving girls and deer hunting play an prominent role. Women are famous here for deep sea abalone harvesting. Go for a lunch of beef noodle soup at a restaurant near the Cultural Foundation offices. After lunch, talk to the Director, Yang, Chang-Bo, about Mail Art. He has traveled to Mexico in the past and favors wearing bolo ties. In return for the gifts I have presented him with, he gives me a watercolor he has done of a Jeju Island scene. Gives me a pack of cigarettes too, when I ask for just one. A former art professor at Jeju University, the director is a model of generosity throughout the stay. He also made many of the major decisions that insured the success of the show. He wrote an essay for the catalog that was startling incisive. Relating the principles of mail art to ancient Jeju Island myth, he writes: "In mail art, there are good traditions such as activation of communication, equality, democracy and independent spirit. I think they are similar to the hidden meaning of 3 nothings (no beggar, no gate, no thief) from Jeju Island." The three "nothings!" Could Yang, Chang-Bo possibly have known that the "nothing" was a Ray Johnson signature work? I could write an essay on this one. Answer e-mails at the office, and inform participants of the weather, so that they can dress appropriately, unlike myself, who has brought clothing for a much cooler climate. Jeju is a tropical island culture. The weather is balmy, palm trees and flowers of all types thriving. Tangerines are the main agricultural crop. People dress up. It seems to be a matter of status, whether one wears a suit or not. The only jacket I've brought is a rather heavy sport jacket. And they wear suits anyway. I decide to play the artist and just wear what's comfortable. After eight months of giving up smoking cigarettes, I decide to take it up while I'm here. Everyone smokes, and cigarettes are about $1.50 a pack. Plus, it's fun smoking in restaurants, which is strictly verboten in San Francisco. Go to a public bath with Young Jay Lee at 4:00 PM. He grooms me in the proper etiquette of the Korean bathhouse. Men and women have separate bathing facilities. One showers and then uses the sauna. Shower again and use the whirlpool bath. Rinse and then relax in a smaller tub with hot water and a bag of dried twigs. Probably herbal. Toiletries are provided. I make this a habit for the next few days. After showering, I doze in a sleeping room (futon, rice husk pillow) until 6:30 PM. I'm still suffering from jet lag. Young Jay Lee has to shake me awake. Go to dinner with Young Jay Lee and three others from the Cultural Foundation. Go back to the Cultural Foundation offices after dinner and look at e-mails. Drive to the catalog designers offices with Young Jay Lee and Jang Eun Cheol to match up reproductions of works with correct participants until 11:00 PM. Korean's work hard and long. many from the Foundation have worked from 8:00 AM. Ki-Ho Park seems never to sleep at all. He often looks exhausted. Everyone puts pressure on him to perform. He's always good natured. Back to Young Jay Lee's parents home to sleep. Have beers with Young Jay and Jang Eun Cheol before turning in. Play with Hari. The bed I'm sleeping is Western, as opposed to the more usual practice of sleeping on the floor with a futon. But I have a traditional Korean rice husk pillow; the trick is to punch it a few times so to conform to the shape of one's head. Go to bed at midnight. Friday, October 12, 2001: Wake up at Young Jay Lee's parents home. Breakfast of toast, coffee and apple/cucumber salad. Taxi to Cultural Foundation. Taxi's are cheap here: a comparable $12.00 fare in San Francisco costs $2.00 in Jeju. And the drivers don't take tips; an additional saving. Young Jay Lee has prepared some questions for me about mail art, which he wants to incorporate into a press release. Here is the text: 1. What is mail art? Mail Art is an international network of artists who exchange art and ideas through the postal system, bypassing the museum and gallery systems. It consists of both personal correspondence between these artists, and collaborative projects, most notably the mail art show, where one artist will send invitations to his correspondents to participate in an exhibition on a particular theme. Mail art uses the mediums of the postal system, including artist postage stamps (artistamps) and rubber stamps. Most of all, mail art is an investigation about the ways in which art is communicated, and this can take many forms, of which the postal system is just one aspect. Mail artists also use fax and computer technologies to communicate, as well as personal meetings. Creative communication is the key aspect of mail art. 2. From when does mail art start? The "father" of mail art is Ray Johnson, an American artist who began to use the postal system for creative expression in the early 1950s. Johnson was a friend of John Cage, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, who were at that time challenging the dominant art of the Abstract Expressionists in New York City. Johnson wrote to artists, celebrities and people randomly selected. Sometimes he would ask his correspondents to "add to and pass" the letters and images they received from him. In this way a network began to develop, which in 1962 was given the name, the New York Correspondance School of Art. Johnson's use of the postal exchange became a performance; a waltz of correspondents through the mail. Johnson's mailing became an underground art activity, further popularized by the Fluxus artists, including Nam June Paik and Yoko Ono. 3. Which countries are popular in mail art nowadays? The best indication of this is to look at the mail art exhibition catalogs, which document the participants of a particular show. The United States has always had active mail art activity. In the early seventies, Canada was well represented, but participation has fallen off lately. Activity in mail art ebbs and flows. Mail art has always been popular in Western Europe. Italy has produced many mail artists since the late 1970s. South American and Eastern European artists are well represented. Spain, under Franco, was a blank land on the mail art map, but in the early 1990s, Spanish mail artists have proliferated. Mail art in the Soviet Union exploded just before it's fall, and is now still popular there. But there is very little mail art from the Middle East, Africa and China. 4. When have you been interested in mail art? In 1976, I went to Europe for the first time, and discovered a rubber stamp store in Amsterdam, Holland, that sold visual stamps. I began to use them in my art, and I became curious if other artists used them as well. Eventually, I read about a rubber stamp company in the United States, and asked them questions. They told me that visual rubber stamps were very popular in mail art, and they gave me the address of Ray Johnson. I have been involved in the medium since that time. 5. What do you think of the future of mail art? As I mentioned, mail art is not only confined to the postal system. Since the mid 1990s, mail artists have been using computers to communicate. many mail art shows now take place only on the Internet. Sometimes work for the show is sent by snail-mail to the organizer, scanned, and put up on a website. Sometimes the work is sent directly by computer to the organizer. But it is still mail art, because the strategies developed over thirty years in the postal system still apply to current activity. Again, mail art is about the creative use of communication, and is not limited by a particular channel. Mail Art is growing because of the long reach of the Internet. 6. How can ordinary people start mail art? The easiest way to begin is search the Internet for information on mail art. you will find many sites dedicated to the art medium, and will find addresses of artists to write to. Mail art can be artistic pen-pals. You can pick a country that you are interested in, and write to a person there. If you enter a mail art shows, you will eventually receive a catalog containing all the participants and their addresses. Then you can write to these people. There are mail art magazines that list forthcoming exhibitions, as well. and if you are lucky, you can attend a mail art show in person, see all the work on display, and write to the person whose work interests you. 7. How many mail artists do you think are there in the U. S. A. ? I think there are over 1,000. A large exhibition of mail art in the United States will list over 100 artists. some of the artists have participated in mail art for several decades. others come and go rather quickly. These artists are both young and old, male and female, professional artists and non-artists. Actually, it is better to call participants in mail art networkers, rather then artists. Mail art tries to eliminate the borders of art and life, and to eradicate the notion of artists and non-artists. Everyone is creative, given the opportunity. 8. Mail art emphasizes international communication. But language problems may hurt its promotion/ Do you think language barrier prevents its spread? I correspond with may artists who don't know English. They simply send art, or junk mail from their country, or bus tickets, other pieces of everyday life or finely crafted drawings and paintings. By sending their work, I know they are interested. I always answer mail from people from other countries. I figure that if they take the time to write me from afar, the least I can do is answer them. Art is an international language that transcends the written word. 9. Do you think mail art can contribute to world affairs or economy today except art? Mail art is about art and exchange, not politics, and yet the very act of communicating with others of a different culture is a political act. This was very important in the days before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Mail art was one of the few ways that Western European, American and Asian artists could communicate with artists in Eastern Europe, and visa-versa. Now that the Internet is extending the reach of mail artists, I hope that we can reach artists in other cultures that still feel isolated. I am thinking especially of Middle Eastern, Chinese and African artists. This is more important than ever after the events of September 11, 2001. It is important to remember, that mail art does not try to make a world culture, rather it celebrates our differences, and makes the enjoyment of them accessible to a larger audience. 10. As a curator of "Jeju International Mail Art show 2001," what do you think of the event? I am impressed not only by the large response from over 400 artists from 40 countries, who have mailed in works to the exhibition, but that some 15 foreign artists from the United States, Canada, Germany, Japan, Spain and Italy have agreed to attend the exhibition and festival on Jeju Island. This is the first mail art show in Korea in many years (the last was twenty years ago), and mail artists are eager to spread knowledge of their art medium. I hope that the exhibition will encourage Korean artists, and people from all walks of life, to participate in this exciting art form. It is very important that people from different cultures reach out to one another. The world is too small these days, through new communication technologies and fast transportation, for people to remain in isolation from one another. Invitations arrive for the exhibition. Help staff stuff envelopes. Go to Public Bath. Get boots polished. Shoes are lined up in restaurants as one goes to the table barefoot (and then cross-legged). My black cowboy boots sure do stick out in a line of Korean business footwear. Back to Foundation. E-mails from participants, keeping up with their arrival times and cancellations. Giovanni and Renata Strada, Emilio Morandi and his wife decide not to come because of the confusion in air travel. Hildago from Spain has trouble obtaining his ticket. Alberto Sordi from Italy e-mails that he is not coming, but later changes his mind and decides to come. I'm also in touch with Felter and Spiral. At 5:30 PM, Young Jay Lee and I go with Young's friend Jang En Cheol to the Folk Tourism Village, for an exhibition opening of a friend of Young's. Paintings of Jeju Island. Speeches. The artist introduces his parents, in-laws, wife and child. Stand around table laden with sandwiches, fruit (tangerines and pears), octopus, kimchi, while introductions are made. Then everyone eats. I stuff myself on octopus. Kambay! Walk around the grounds of the Folk Tourism Village, where the annual Halla Festival is being held. Lots of stands with barbecue and tempura. Tempura fish snacks are molded in the form of fish. I'm to see this on the street as well; a common snack food. Fireworks. Go to Jang Eun Cheol's studio. He is Korea's first artistamp artist, who makes his artistamps from carved chops on printed papers. He has a whole table full of chops he's carved from soft stone. He gives me a catalog of a previous show, "The 2nd Solo Exhibition-Life in nature," where he exhibited large scale chop marks. In the catalog Jang Eul Cheol writes, "Through large print(ed) works that introduce seal engraving (stamp) as an object, I intend to lead the audiences to the mixed feeling of familiarity and unfamiliarity." Very impressive artist, a very nice person, and extremely helpful throughout the trip. I use his chops, stamped in red wax, and calligraphy brushes to do some art. Pick up Hari and drive with Young Jay Lee and Jang Eun Cheol to a visit female ceramist Cho Yun-Deuk. Her home is traditionally Korean, with handmade papers used as wallpaper. Gives me a grandfather statue (tolharubangs) that she makes for the local museums, and three catalogs from former exhibitions. She mentions that she is interested in a ceramics residency program in Japan. Peter Voulkas has studied there. I pull up the web site of the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana, a residency program for ceramists my brother is affiliated with. Green tea. Drive back to Young Jay Lee's and go to bed at 12:00 AM, after a couple of beers obtained from the market around the corner of his house. Markets stay open very late at night. They open early in the morning, close in the afternoon, and reopen after 6:00 PM. Many shopkeepers have futons in a side room to rest when no customers are present. Saturday, October 13, 2001: Wake up at Young Jay Lee's parents home, and have breakfast of coffee, toast, and fruit salad. Taxi to the Foundation. Answer e-mails from Peter K�stermann, Mia Spiral and Alberto Sordi, concerning their arrival times. Interview with three newspaper reporters at the Foundation. Young Jay Lee translates. His English is perfect and he worked previously as a translator. Without his services, this trip would not have been possible. Go to newspaper office with the General Secretary to have photograph taken. Back to the Foundation, and then lunch: beef soup, at a restaurant down the block from the Foundation. Low tables, crossed legs, silver chopsticks, lots of side dishes. Always kimchi. Back to the Foundation offices for another interview with local reporter. Photographer also present . Take a picture of me with stamp on tongue, recreating cover of Crane's "Correspondence Art." Go to the exhibition space at Jeju Folk Tourism Village, and measure space for the show. Work well with Young Jay Lee, and quickly figure out the number of panels we will need to mount show. It was kind of uncanny how well we worked together. Take in a performance of Chinese acrobats at the Folk Tourism Village auditorium, which seats some two-hundred people. About twenty to thirty people are present for the performance. Back to the Foundation. Order pizza from across the street. The staff is amused, as this is a dish for children. But they eat it with gusto. Sort mail art contributions by country. Some 400 artists from 40 countries have contributed over 700 works. Some confusion waiting for the Director, who never returns from dinner. Back to Young Jay Lee's with Jang Eun Cheol to drink beer. Go with them and Hari to harbor breakwater to watch fisherman. Squid boats in the ocean. Recognized them right away, from seeing similar craft (with bright lights on) in Monterey Bay, California. Turn in at midnight. Sunday, October 14, 2001: Wake up at Young Jay Lee's home. Jang Eun Cheol comes over, and with Hari, we go for a drive in the country. Koreans work and go to school six days a week. Sunday is holiday time. Pass rice fields surrounded by lava rock stone fences. Tangerine trees everywhere. Our destination is Jeju Folk Village, a reproduction of a historical island village. An interesting feature is the circular rock fences where black pigs are contained. There are steps leading up to an opening into which one defecates. In olden days, the pigs were prized as a food delicacy. Back in Jeju City, we go for a buffet dinner atop a department store. Sushi, kimchi, fish, meat dishes and fruit predominate. Cheap and diverse. Go to Foundation. The daily newspaper has come out with an article and photograph of me. Reporter requests a Ray Johnson graphic she saw the day before. Go to Young Jay Lee's home to get it. Go to airport to meet Ryosuke Cohen. When Young Jay Lee and I first began discussing the exhibition, I suggested that Ryosuke be pulled in as a curator of the show. He one of the most active networkers in mail art, certainly in Asia, and his participation insures success in the event. Ryosuke is also among my best friends in mail art. We've previously met in Japan (twice) and in Dallas, Texas, where I formerly lived. Koreans and Japanese are often adversaries, but Ryosuke is a noble ambassador. Ancient rifts are mended with personal friendships. Back to Foundation. Reporter interviews Ryosuke Cohen. Takes photographs of Ryosuke, myself and Johnson material for newspaper graphics. Go to Young Jay Lee's with Ryosuke and Jang Eun Cheol. Drink beer. "Oriental art is like a mirror, but mail art is like a lens." says Ryosuke. Sleep in room with Ryosuke. I take the bed; Ryosuke a futon on the floor. He insists. I comply. Who am I to deny the Master of the Brain Cell. Monday, October 15, 2001: Wake at Young Jay Lee's with Ryosuke Cohen. Eat breakfast of coffee, yummy toast, fruit and cucumber salad. Go to the Foundation and start putting together boards for the exhibition. I fight to have the contributions pinned to the boards in the fashion of a collage, rather than the anticipated mounting of work in orderly fashion. This, I explain, signifies the global collage that mail art is. Young Jay Lee, Jang Eun Cheol and I collage the submitted artworks, and then pass the compositions to Foundation staff, who then fasten it with straight pins. I was a bit concerned about mounting all the mail art in one day, but the work goes fast. It takes awhile to get a decision made, but when it does-watch out. Pizza for lunch. They laugh at me. It's a children's food. But I need some variety. Stop at 4:30 PM. Another newspaper article comes out on the show, illustrated by works of Ryosuke Cohen (Brain Cell) and myself (an artistamp done for the occasion). Go to newspaper office to get copies. This is the only way to obtain the daily newspaper. They are seldom sold on the street, obtained primarily by subscription only. Take a short sightseeing tour of the city with Ryosuke Cohen, Young Jay Lee, and Jang Eun Cheol driving. Drop off Ryosuke at the airport at 5:30 PM. He flies back to Osaka to resume teaching school (secondary school special education). He will return the weekend of the exhibition. Snak-y from Sardinia, Italy, arrives at 6:00 PM. He is a retired physician, about sixty-five, who now practices alternative medicine. Alternative is his key phrase. He says he's been doing mail art for thirty years. His latest project has been the compilation of a, "Who's Who?: International Directory of (artistbook-arti/rubberstamp mailart-multi&mixedmedia-concrete experimental & visualpoetry-installation & performance art &artists)." Drive to Jang Eun Cheol's studio. Snak-y discovers his wallet is missing, containing his passport, money, credit card and airline tickets. Back to the airport to look for it. Try phone booth-not there. Go to Lost and Found. They have it. A security guard saw it in a restroom. I'm happy for Snak-y, and happy for myself that I don't have to deal with his misery. But I'm wrong. This man is walking misery, and it manifests itself throughout the stay. Out to buffet dinner. Back to the airport to get Mia Spiral. She is a fairly new mail artist from Portland, Oregon. A talented artistamp artist, I have been perforating her works, and have encouraged her to come to Jeju. Go to Young Jay Lee's house with Jang Eun Cheol, Snak-y and Mia. Snak-y sleeps at Jang Eun Cheol's studio. Spiral at Young Jay Lee's. Tuesday, October 16, 2001: Go to the Foundation at 8:00 PM. Continue mounting works on boards. Lunch at Korean restaurant with the Director, Young Jay Lee, Mia Spiral, and Snak-y. E-mail that Alberto Sordi will come. Show Mia Spiral where the public bathhouse is. She stays to sleep. While I have been at the baths, thinking things are under control, Snak-y has taken it upon himself to instruct the Foundation staff to pin the artwork in neat rows, rather than collaged, as has been previously done. So the United States and Korean contributions have a different look than the rest of the show. I voice my displeasure with Snak-y in no uncertain terms. Finish mounting boards at 3:30 PM. Catalog comes out. It has only taken two days to be printed and bound, which amazes me. 100 pages in color. Essays by Young Jay Lee ("A new inquiry on the entity of art"), and myself ("Mail Art: The Art Form that 'Excused Itself from History'"). Color reproductions of work by each participant in the show. Useful address list. One of the best mail art catalogs to come out in years. Jas. Felter comes in at 6:30 PM. Pick him up at the airport with Jang Eun Cheol. The author of "Artistamps," published by Vittore Baroni and Piermario Ciani (AAA Edizione, 2000), Felter is an experienced networker from Vancouver, Canada. We have met several times in the past, and I am glad that he has come to lend an experienced hand at the proceedings. Get newspaper article, which has come out today. Mentions me as a, "living legend of mail art," which brings hearty laugh from Young Jay Lee as he translates. This becomes a running joke between us. Business cards delivered with my address in English on one side and Korean on the other. Felter, Jang Eun Cheol and I meet others at a barbecue restaurant (Snak-y, Spiral, Ki-Ho Park and other Foundation staff). The platter holds varieties of meat, including ham, beef..and medallions of dog. Tastes more like beef than chicken. Go to the Hotel Alps, opposite the Folk Tourism Village, where the exhibition is to be held. Problem with Snak-y and his Korean-style room (with futon). he goes to sleep at Jang Eun Cheol's home. Go to Young Jay Lee's home to get bags, and bring them to the hotel, where I continue to sleep for the rest of the stay. Wednesday, October 17, 2001: Wake at Alps Hotel. Out for coffee at vending machine ("Coffee and Cans") outside of Hotel, where I meet Felter, who has been out for a walk. Go with Mia Spiral to look for breakfast restaurant, but can't find any. Later Felter tells us that he found a pastry shop, which sells donuts. Although breakfast is offered at the Hotel for free, it consists of rice, fish, kimchi, and broth. Not what I need to get started in the morning. I want Young's mothers toast back! Go to exhibition space across the street from the Alps Hotel at Folk Tourism Village and begin hanging the exhibition. Staff workers from the Foundation have brought over the boards, onto which the work has been collaged according to country. Young Jay Lee and I lay the show out alphabetically by country. It all works out as we had planned earlier. We are a team. The show looks great. I work on installing Ray Johnson materials in display cabinets. Then put together other sections on Nam June Paik, mail art catalogs, three-dimensional works sent to the show, and a final section of works by artists who have come for the exhibition. Page 2 |