Noah Lyon, “US, PS”, paint, stamped ink and postal stickers on found paper (up-cycled Printed Matter stationary) sent via United States Postal Service, 2020
In April and May of this year, Printed Matter/St Marks put out an open call for mail art submissions with the prompt We live in real time. Mail art has a deep association with Printed Matter’s mission of circumventing the institutional spaces through which art is usually consumed by widely distributing artworks to be experienced within our daily lives. As a medium, mail art felt especially relevant at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic—sending art through the postal system allows for a new type of physical connection between people, places, and ideas. On view now in the windows of the Printed Matter storefront at 38 St Marks Place at the Swiss Institute is an exhibition of selected mail art submissions that we received from around the world.
Over 43 days, we received 1207 pieces of mail and 613 email submissions from 1137 artists in at least 34 countries.
The mail art project was covered in Le Monde, Kunstforum International, Artnet, The Art Newspaper, and Atlas Obscura.