P22 Mail Art Project

Although I've had an idea for a mail art project kicking around in my head for over a year, I find it unlikely that anything will come of it, mostly because I live in a place where everything, including postage, is prohibitively expensive. Maybe next year. Anyway, when I talk about mail art, I mean doing something like what these guys do. Billed as "A correspondence between Daniel Farrell and Richard Kegler", the P22 Mail Art Project was a seven-year art project designed partly to test the postal system, and partly to see what would happen.

I'm not sure how many pieces they sent through, but there was some interesting stuff to be sure. For example, my favorite is The Dilemma Box. It was a transparent box with a sliding top. The stamps, however, were on the inside, clearly visible. The question is, would the post office open the box (illegally opening mail not addressed to them) to cancel the stamps (required by law)? According to the site, they did. Convincing federal workers to break laws? Good times! Other works include a fragile paper cast of a human head (with postage and addresses printed right on), a disposable camera (with instructions to postal workers to take some pictures before delivering), and a paint stirrer (usually just a flat piece of wood or metal) with the words "The Unabomber killed mail art." That one didn't go through. Its whereabouts are unknown. Check out the website here.