Networking and Projects
Impressive are the numerous international art projects which Bleus has organised, such as Are you experienced? L.H.F.S. (1981), W.A.A.: Mail eARTh Atlas (1981–83), Telegraphy (1983), Cavellini Festival 1984, Art is Books (1991), Fax Performances (1992), Private Art Detective: Sealed Confessions, and Building Plans & Schemes (1993).
He wrote many essays on the subject of networking art. About his essay Exploring Mail Art (1984), Géza Perneckzy wrote: “The study of Guy Bleus outranks all other publications with its theoretical weight and conciseness.” Moreover, he contributed to significant publications, such as Piotr Rypson’s Mail Art, Chuck Welch's Eternal Network, A Mail Art Anthology, or Vittore Baroni’s Postcards – Cartoline d’artista. He participated in many artists' periodicals.
From 1994 till 1999 he opened the art gallery E-Mail-Art Archives. In this non-profit space more than 40 events of mail art, fax art and Internet art took place. In 1995 he edited The Artistamp Collection, the first mail art catalogue on CD-ROM. With the participation of networking artists such as Vittore Baroni, Ken Friedman, John Held Jr., Ruud Janssen, György Galántai, Pawel Petasz and Géza Perneczky, he published in 1997 the first E-Mail-Art & Internet-Art Manifesto, an issue of his electronic zine.
After a bureaucratic venture of 20 years he realised in 2003 (together with Jean Spiroux) the very first postage stamp on the theme mail art edited by an official Postal Service. It was an edition of 4 million copies realised by the Belgian Postal Service.
In 2005-2006 Bleus organised the olfactory mail art project Scents, Locks & Kisses with 778 artists from 43 countries in the arts centre Z 33. The website is a slideshow with all the works of the participating artists.
A retrospective of his work was held in the Cultural Centre of Hasselt in 2010. The publication Pêle-Mêle: Guy Bleus® – 42.292 had bracts perfumed with lavender essence and included a re-edition of his ID from planet Mars of 1979.
Read more about this topic: Guy Bleus
Famous quotes containing the word projects:
“One of the things that is most striking about the young generation is that they never talk about their own futures, there are no futures for this generation, not any of them and so naturally they never think of them. It is very striking, they do not live in the present they just live, as well as they can, and they do not plan. It is extraordinary that whole populations have no projects for a future, none at all.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)