Mail art has been widely accepted as a contemporary artistic movement. It should remain an open, non-hierarchical structure. It is both a new medium (mail art) and a movement (Mail Art). Mail art offers a new and tremendous possibility of making art in the new millennium. Mail art is an established tradition in North America, Europe and Australia, and is experiencing new expansion in South America. The Peace Island Jeju International Mail Art Show 2001 represents an historic moment in spreading mail art in regions like Asia. Such shows give us the chance to develop an international language and imagery against the challenges of violence.
- Mail art is the indigenous art of the global village. Categories of mail art include: 2-D & 3-D work, film, video, sound-tape, and visual poetry, art mailed to another artist as a gift or as exchange, envelopes used to mail art (either inside or on the outside), postcards as surfaces for art works, Artistamps and images used as postage stamps, photo-copy art, e-mail images and/or sound attachments, fax art and other communication art, such as mail art congresses, mail art tourism, networking and personal meetings. Mail art is artistic communication through various media. It overlaps occasionally with other art forms. We experience mail art as a venue for alternative art forms. In contrast to main-stream art, mail art accepts all contributions to a project on an equal basis without selection or evaluation or set quality standards (no jury, no fee, no return, documentation to all participants).
- In spite of the rapid increase of electronic mail, as well as letter bombs and posted envelopes containing Anthrax, mail art will survive because it is not dependent on the postal systems. We affirm Robert Filiou's concept of the Eternal Network in Mail Art in which participants come and go, while a certain core remains. We encourage individuals in the Middle East, Africa and Asia to join the Mail Art movement. Then and only then shall we have a truly global art movement, open to any individual wishing to participate in the international free exchange of artistic expression. We agree on the necessity to take mail art to the general public through exhibitions, catalogues and venues. We encourage mail artists to curate shows with due respect to the artists represented and to regional cultures, and to make creative use of their archives for scholarship, for representation in art institutions and for increasing public awareness of the art mail movement.
- Mail art is based on a free exchange of art and communication without censorship. The production, exhibition and presentation of mail art should remain non-commercial. We are aware, however that there should be no barrier for mail artists to cover the costs of mail art production through mail art itself and to raise public and private funding for exhibitions and events alike. We support and are ready to defend the artistic freedom of every mail artist against any kind of censorship.
We the undersigned, in agreement with the above and with due respect to all international mail artists, do affirm our dedication to the philosophy behind the PEACE ISLAND Jeju International Art Show 2001 sponsored by the Jeju Culture and Art Foundation on October 18 - 27, 2001 as expressed in the Exhibition Catalogue by the Governor of Jeju: Woo, Keun-Min, Yang, Chang Bo, Chairman of the Jeju Provincial Congress and Kim, Jae-Ho, Chairman of the Jeju Culture and Art Foundation. We express our appreciation to the above, the staff of the Jeju Folk Tourism Town, the artists and the other citizens of Jeju for their open and warm hospitality.
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