The Old Generation is Going

 This year has been a strange year.  Lots of Mail-Artists I have known for years leave us.  Most recently Clemente Padin from Uruguay died.  Also Ruggero Maggi from Italy died.  Very recent Alison Knowles died. Not a Mail-Artist, but the Fluxus roots are very close to Mail-Artists.

Last year also Anna Bana died, and on Facebook things are published quickly, but the news vanishes even quicker with all that is happening in the world.

Also my own website on IUOMA.ORG had to go.  Started this in 1996 as a free website service from Yahoo.  Later arranged the Domain Name, and when Yahoo was gone and new Domain firms took over the price went up as well,  Last price was 30 euros each month.

Also The P.O. Box 1055 in Breda was a well known address. But the postal office made it impossible for private persons to have a P.O. Box.  I live in the centre of Breda, where my P.O. Box was also very nearby.  After a vacation I discovered the location was now outside the centrum (30 minute walk). Also the price was risen again and would cost also 30 euros each month,

So again something to sacrafice since in Mail-Art there are now financial sources available from the Art-World.  You are financing all yourself.

The last factor are the postal rates.  They increased every year and sending out mail-art has become a costly activity for a lot of people.

But informationj online still is valuable. That is why I started this blog with more details about Mail-Art in general. Also people can comment on a blog, so I hope some kind om communication still will survive outside the Facebook and Instagram platforms. These last platforms are commercial ones with advertising. We will see how long Blogger survives.

What I still do a lot is making drawings. I developed my style in a way that it is fit to publish and exhibit. I even made blog for the drawings, and lately also a Facebook group to show the developments.

If interested have a look at those blogs at: https://tekeningenruud.blogspot.com/ and on Facebook: drawingsruudjanssen

So the digital world continues as the old generation dissapears. Since I have always worked in the world of IT the digital world isn't difficult for me. We trained programmers, IT-managers, and still use the new digital tools as good as it goes.  

But we all get older and there always will be a point where you can't keep up.