Reply on 6-3-1996

JP: Your question about "atmospheric cookie" has an easy answer. I heard the phrase on a weather report & it stuck me funny. The description of pressures & counter pressures that followed reminded me of my life so I "borrowed it" Next?

RJ: : Together with your answer you sent me again some fluxus bucks. Thank you. The numbers on the bucks indicate that already lots of them are circulating. You always also send me some of the ones you got back yourself, so you are recycling the bucks again. Are you never tempted to collect the nice ones? Are you a collector of mail art items or are you recycling most you get?

Reply on 15-4-1996

JP: I do get some nice ones! Sometimes I have to keep a buck that speaks to me. Since I originally saw them as ever-recirculating I wasn't sure how I felt about keeping some. I mentioned this to M.B. Corbett and he told me not to worry about this and to consider the bucks I kept to be my salary. I liked it!

Usually though, I like to recycle. I'm seeing the Fluxus Bucks more and more as a networking tool. When I send out documentation of participants and their addresses I am often introducing mail artists to each other. That's why I started making notes about what I got from the people sending bucks besides the bucks. Then artists could get an idea of those who were doing things they might be interested in. I often hear from people who have contacted one another using the Fluxus Buck documentation and that is terrific! I didn't see, ahead of time, that this documentation would be so effective in this way. But it is! As much as I enjoy receiving the bucks themselves, I think the real contribution to the movement might be in the on-going documentation and the way it provides current information on active mail artists to other active mail artists.

Meanwhile the bucks give an opportunity to do some quick (or not so quick) art that generally goes back out into the network flow of things. More and more people are adding their address to the bucks so that sometimes their address will be out there even if they weren't on the current documentation. I don't think FB resemble most currencies much at all in the way they're used but I think they're every bit as valuable! Yesterday I stamped out 250 more of them - a time consuming project since each buck is stamped at least 4 times - and there are 3850 of them now! I know I'm not the only one saving them because more go out than come back. It's OK with me (people can do what they want with them once they leave here as far as I'm concerned), but I'm thinking about asking - maybe by issuing some sort of mail art call - for mail artists to tell me how RICH in Fluxus Bucks they are. Arte A la Carte (Joan Coderre) told me early on that she was keeping them & I know that John Held Jr. archives EVERYTHING. While I don't mind that some people are doing this collecting I'm sure glad so many don't!! I recently got some of this earliest ones I did (over a year & ½ ago) back an I was interested to see how the bucks have evolved as I stamp more and more of them.

My favorites are bucks that have managed to travel the world and have evidence of the many places they've been and the artists they've met. I think I've mentioned before that this is how I travel for the most part - vicariously through the movement of the bucks.

Your second question is about mail art collection in general - do I save stuff or recycle? Both. When I first got emersed in the mail art magic, everything I got took my breath away. I was so exited and amazed by the whole process that I just couldn't imagine sending ANY of it away and marvelled at those who did. Lately though, I'm re-thinking that. Practically speaking it's impossible to save everything without building another room on my house - and I can't afford to do that unless they'll let me pay for it with Fluxus Bucks. Also I really like the looks of mail art that a number of mail artists have added to; so more all the time I am recycling my mail art.

RJ: : All the mail art I get from you shows no trace of the use of computers in your mail art. Yet you mentioned with your first answer in this interview that you got hooked up to the network through Prodigy. What is a computer for you?

Reply on 18-5-1996

JP: Dear Ruud, I'm in the gymnasium of a Junior High school for my middle son, Sam, to start his basketball game. I'm not really a big sports fan (it's noisy in here & smells funny) but I like to see Sam play. I meant to bring your latest mail art interview question with me but forgot to. I remember enough to answer, I think you asked about me and the computer. My answer:

My computer was very important in my introduction to the mail art network. I was on-line in the early days of Prodigy and there were a lot of people there interested in mail art. For me the most important contact I made was arto posto. She opened the door to the vastness of the network. Now, however, I'm not on-line at all, and although I miss it occasionally, I find that for the most part I'm more than satisfied with all the great stuff that shows up in my mailbox. I really enjoy the tactile experience that's part of creating and receiving mail art. The potential magic of the computer doesn't escape me, though, and I anticipate plunging back into the on-line network again some day (fairly soon). Having had the opportunity to work with arto posto on artistamp sheets on her computer, I look forward to spending time doing that sometime, too. Next Question?

RJ: : It seems that your concept of Fluxus Bucks has been taken over by others too. Besides the Fluxus Bucks I produce myself (with your name on it), there are also: the Quid (A1 in England), the Winged Money (Dragonfly in USA), another Fluxus Buck (by Posto del Sol in USA). What do you think of this development?

Reply on 29-6-1996

NOTE: Julie's answer came as a computer print-out. She just entered the internet with her e-mail address and tried to mail her answer to me. She typed my e-mail address as [email protected] while it actually is [email protected], so the message bounced back, and the result of that Julie printed out and sent to me.

JP: I think it's great! There's some saying about "duplication is the sincerest form of flattery" (I know that's not exactly it, but you get the idea). That mail artists all over liked the Fluxus buck idea enough to endeavor to do their version of it delights me. There are a whole bunch more than you mentioned and as I write that, I think I've already answered this question. (Not part of interview -- Did I do that? If so, where were we....????)

Let me know if I've got a more current question, ok? Like I said, I can't find anything. If this IS the current question, I'll expound more. Bye for now, ex posto facto, the muddleheaded.

NOTE: After this part of the e-mail, some 'headers' followed to indicate the route the e-mail had taken. It shows that the e-mail was eventually returned, but a copy of course remained at the 'postmaster' of the NLnet.

RJ: : It is quite interesting that you entered the internet again during this interview. Your latest answer came by snail-mail just because of one single typing-mistake. That is typical computer-communication. A postman would just have brought it anyway. What are your experiences with the current status of the computer-communication?

NOTE: I mailed the new question in printed form in an envelope and also sent it to Julie's new e-mail address. The message bounced too, and a day later I found out that Julie had a new e-mail address. I remailed the complete text with all the addings by the computers again to Julie.

Reply on 2-7-1996 via e-mail.

JP: I'm finding it overwhelming, very exciting and inspirational all at the same time. Things haven't changed completely since I was last on-line, but there is MORE of everything: people, places to go, things to see and do, things to get (download). There aren't enough hours in the day to check everything out. It may take more self-discipline than I have to get anything else done. And since, like many mail-artists, I'm always thinking of MORE stuff I want to do through my mailbox, I'm going to have to work on that discipline thing so I don't get too lopsided.

RJ: : The word MORE is quite interesting. How much time do you actually spend each week now on mail art and the electronic communication?

Reply on 15-7-96 via e-mail.

JP: More each week.

RJ: : Could you be more specific?

Reply on 28-7-1996

JP: I don't think so. I don't keep track of hours and minutes very well. I've noticed that a lot of maintenance stuff (laundry, dishes, washing out the bathtub, etc.) goes longer and longer between getting done. What IS getting done is lots of art related tinkering (which seems to create even bigger messes), some mailings of documentation for the Bucks, and now--answering e-mail. I've found, with the help of my friend, arto posto, a group of people interested in discussing mail art (IMAT--International Mail Art Thread) on-line. I'm not fascinated by every word, but darn close. I'm wondering if this is a distraction from the stuff I'm interested in getting done or a great asset that will help me. Either way it's how I'm spending a lot of time these days.

RJ: : I myself have had e-mails from newcomers to mail art, and I must say that I never get a clear picture of someone 's work unless I get some snail- mail from that person. The electronic mail for me doesn't have that much information about the persons I am communicating with. Words and digital graphics are just a fraction of what I can encounter in the traditional snail-mail network, and for the time being I am focussing mainly on the snail-mail still and have the electronic part only for speed and quick communication and spreading text-information. How is this for you? How much has the electronic mail taken over the snail-mail?

Reply on 19-11-1996

JP: I agree wholeheartedly. E-mail and the electronic world seems more suited to information than art for me. I see art when I surf the net, but it's not a medium I'm comfortable with yet. It COULD happen, but I don't see that happening any time soon. Personally, I love the whole process of receiving mail art in my post office box. I like the look, the feel, the smell. I think I get a much greater sense of who I'm communicating with when I hold the artist's mail in my hands. One way that the electronic world has intruded on my mail art is that it takes over too much of my time. I know that I make the choice, but sometimes time just slips away when I'm using the computer (kind of like when I do art at times).

FLUXUS BUCKS UPDATE: I've been thinking about this all for a long time and I've come to a discussions about creating and documenting fluxus bucks. I'm done once I reach buck #5000 and participating artist #1000. Both of these numbers are right around the corner so I figure I can move on to other projects. This month marks 2 years of fluxus bucks! I'm thinking I might issue a special series now and then for events or non- happenings, but the amount of documentation is taking too much time for me to do some other thing I want to do. SOOoo... I guess I'll move along. many people are making bucks these days. I'm happy to participate with theirs (yours included) and whatever I see of the ones I've made.

RJ: : Yes, I guess there is always a good moment to end things. Also for this interview with you. We have take almost two years now to do this interview, so unless there is something more you wanted to say, it is time to publish these words and let others read them as well.

NOTE: Together with my question I sent Julie a print-out of the interview text so far, my latest design of a fluxus-buck value 100,000 and a copy of my report of the travel I did undertake to San Francisco in USA.

Reply on 12-12-1996

JP: Hi Ruud! Well, finally the interview is finished, at last! Wow. Thank you for your patience and persistence. Thanks also for the over-view of your SF trip you sent. I hope you are finding time to enjoy some things - you sound so busy!!

RJ: : Well, I must admit that I am busy, but I sure do enjoy doing those things that keep me busy. Thanks for the interview Julie, and may the fluxus bucks come your way.......

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