Keep in touch

Cabinet exhibition at the Center for Artists’ Publications

Letters, invitations, faxes and postcards from artists are often works of art themselves. John Cage transforms his message into a mesostichon, in which the middle letters of the text, read one below the other, represent their own verse form related to the recipient. Andrzej Dudek-Dürer uses his graphic works simultaneously for his correspondence. Robert Rehfeldt writes and draws letters, which he reproduces as art letters and then adds individual greetings and stamp impressions. Takako Saito designs her exhibition invitations herself in the form of small objects and adds personal messages to them. A selection of artist’s mail by other authors completes the presentation.

Handwritten transcripts of famous personalities, so-called autographs, have been collected in archives and libraries since the 16th century. As public and private collector’s items, they are especially valued when they bear a signature.

The archive and collection holdings of the Center for Artists’ Publications contain a large number of autographs, created from the 1960s onwards. In addition to purely written documents, postcards, faxes and letters, these include in particular letters or archival documents of an artistic nature. These are artistic correspondences intended not only for information but also for exhibition – artwork and letter at the same time. They originate as personal invitations to exhibitions, events and mail art projects, as well as in the form of New Year’s and vacation greetings, and include more or less brief messages or even thank-you notes for works of art received – often with the appeal: keep in touch!

The works on display come from various collections of the Center for Artists’ Publications: Archive for Small Press & Communication, Archive Kees Francke, Fonds Regine Beyer, Fonds Gertrud Meyer-Denkmann, supplemented by a loan from Udo Seinsoth.