1. Reflection Journal for Blue Moon Letters 24th July- 24th October 2020
Planning The conceptualisation of Blue Moon Letters first came about when Jiong Ling and I were discussing how we were burnt out from the virtual art events such as webinars and events during the COVID-19. We also sent each other letters through the mail as we could not physically meet-up. As we were both unable to get an internship, we wanted to incorporate this idea of having a pen pal in a time of isolation. The name Blue Moon Letters encapsulated how special it feels to get a letter/art from someone as it provides a corporeal experience of holding a physical piece of letter/art. We wanted to create a space where people offer each other comfort and solace through art even though they are strangers. On top of that, we wanted to build a community of art practitioners where art has no singular definition of being good or bad and redefine the notion of art having to be grandeur or stick to one medium. Our expectations of the project were to build genuine connections among a community of art practitioners and nurture a collective intimacy through the exchange of artworks. We aimed to reach a minimum of 20 participants throughout the project. We first drafted out a project proposal and sent out an online survey on whether there was a demand for an art exchange via mail to our immediate group of friends. The major limitation of this survey was that we only managed to receive 23 respondents over 3 days. However, the respondents were the exact target audience we hope to achieve, with 65.2% of respondents being of 18-23 years of age, and the other 34.8% being of 24-29 years of age. 100% were interested in forming connections with other artists, and 91.3% of the respondents stated an interest in doing so via snail mail. Although the number of respondents were limited, the results show that this is a promising concept of great interest within our target audience. With the addition of Crystal to our team, we embarked on our Blue Moon Letters Project. Blue Moon Letters is essentially a pen pal matchmaking service for artmakers in Singapore. Our open call was an invitation to anyone who is interested in regardless of skill and did not limit to professional artists. The artworks could be of any medium such as painting, drawing, zine, photography and fabric works, as long as it fits an A4 envelope. I did a rough budget for the project which took into account our mailing expenses as we wanted to ensure the safety of our participants by not sharing their mailing information to their pen pal partners directly. We provided a designated address for our participants to mail their letters to and we forwarded them to their pen pal partners afterwards. To cover for our mailing expenses, we decided to crowdfund through Ko-Fi (Fig 1). We also did a project timeline by doing a Gantt chart (Fig 2) and used Trello (Fig 3) to keep track of the tasks that each person had to do. However, we switched to Google Calendar as the project progressed and pinned our updated to-do list in our Telegram Chat group. This was due to the team members not being used to
the site Trello and it was more convenient to use the platforms we were more familiar with as we use Google Calendar and Telegram on a daily basis.
Fig 1: Blue Moon Letter’s Ko-Fi Page
Fig 2: Gantt Chart
Fig 3: Trello to keep track of the progress of the team’s to-do list Project Timeline Date/Month
Tasks
July 8th July
Planning of Social Media Launch - Marketing Plan - Graphics for social media posts and logo - Drafting emails for participants - Setting up of Website and Discord server
14th July
Sending out Market Research Survey
24th July
Launch of Social Media Platform - Launch of open call - Application form to be uploaded onto website
31st July
Deadline for application - This was shifted up due to the overwhelming response; we aimed for 20 participants and set a limit of 50 participants due to financial limitations
August 1st August
Email participants to confirm their application
14th August
Deadline for participants to mail out their letters
15th August
Forwarding of mail to penpals
20th August
Charades Game Night
September 6th September
Email feedback Survey to participants
25th September
Post compilation of artworks and envelopes from the exchange Contact Misty of firstdraftnewsletter for collaboration
October 10th October
Launch of second round of art exchange
Execution Instagram account We launched the Blue Moon Letters Instagram account on 24th July along with our open call post and an instructional comic on how to apply to be a pen pal (Fig 4 & 5). The first few posts on our account were important in gaining new followers and interest in the pen pal art exchange. We also linked our website in our Instagram account’s bio which redirected users to different links including our application form and our donation page (Fig 6). This is to collate information to be easily accessed for our followers, especially for new followers who may not have seen our first few posts on how Blue Moon Letters came about. The prompt for our first round of art exchange is “Touch” as it succinctly summarizes the physical and emotional experience of the idea behind Blue Moon Letters. The posts for our Instagram account were planned beforehand and updated in our marketing plan document (Annex 1). During the process of the launch of our open call and the deadline for our open call, one of our main content for our Instagram was the series of posts on the History of Mail Art. We researched on different artists that engaged in the mail as an artistic medium and featured the ethos behind why they chose to engage in mail art. One of our account followers even suggested a Chinese artist, Datong Dazhang, who practiced mail art whom we featured as part of our series as well (Fig 7). In our process of content creation for our account, we also
produced a video which explored different variations of Touch (Fig 8). The intention of the video was to provide an audiovisual experience for our followers as an extension of our prompt as the content that we were posting were all pictures. We found various ways to engage and interact with our account followers, including the reposting of stories that our participants documented during their process of making art for their pen pal (Fig 9). We managed to get more applications than we expected for the pen pal exchange. Due to financial limitations, we had to shift our application deadline to 31st July instead of 15th August and had 52 participants that signed up to be part of our pen pal exchange.
Fig 4: Our Open Call post on our Instagram account
Fig 5: A comic on how the penpal matchmaking service work
Fig 6: Blue Moon Letter’s Carrd via our Instagram page https://bluemoonletters.carrd.co
Fig 7: HIstory of Mail Art feature on Datong Dazhang
Fig 8: Instagram Video on Variations of Touch
Fig 9: Reposting of stories from participants who documented the process of artmaking for their penpal Discord Server In addition to our Instagram account, we also established our Discord channel as a means to build up a community of art practitioners. We have different segments under our community hub such as art happenings which we featured current exhibitions in Singapore, pet therapy where our members can share photos of their pets, and chefquarantino where members can share pictures of the food they have cooked up during the COVID-19 lockdown (Fig 10). We featured these aspects of cooking and pets as part of our server so that they can bond on different interests that were not limited to art. We also hosted a charades game night where we used an application which allowed users to draw and guess what the drawing represented. However, this activity only managed to attract one participant for the event and our discord server became inactive after mid-October.
Fig 10: Blue Moon Letters Discord Channel Matching and remailing of Artworks We matched participants based on the similarity of the bios that they have put in their application forms. This is to ensure that they have common interests to converse about in their process of making art and mailing it out to their pen pal. One of the challenges we faced was the vagueness in some of their bios as they wrote really short phrases that did not effectively capture what they were interested in. We tried to counter this by looking through their Instagram accounts and match them based on their interests or artistic practice. We provided a designated address for all the participants to mail to as we did not want to immediately give them their pen pal’s address. This was to safeguard the privacy of our participants in case they were not willing to share their address to a stranger whom they would be exchanging art with. After documenting the mails that we received, we repackaged the letters and artworks with a handwritten note and a sticker and mailed it out to their pen pals (Fig 11, 12 and 13).
Fig 11: Repackaged mails to be sent out to participants
Fig 12: Repacking of mails that we received
Fig 13: A sample of our handwritten note and logo stickers
Crowdfunding The project was initially funded by us and we only sought crowdfunding after our first round of art exchange. This was to ensure that our participants found value and trust in what we have organized. The funds are to be used for the stamps when re-mailing the letters and envelopes. We aimed to raise 100SGD through our Ko-fi and managed to receive 75% of our goal. This covers the first round of our art exchange and potentially the second round of exchange. The budget of our project is as follows:
Feedback Survey from participants We asked our participants for their feedback on the first round of art exchange. The following are our questions in the feedback survey form: Q1: How did you hear about Blue Moon Letters? Through seeing it on a friend's social media (IG post, IG story, IG message etc.) I found Blue Moon Letters by accident. (i.e: recommended account algorithm, explore page on IG etc.) Blue Moon Letters followed me on IG, and I took interest in the account from there. Through a post shared in chat groups (Whatsapp, Telegram, etc.) I was looking for similar opportunities to connect with others during COVID, so I did a Google search. Other (please specify)
Q2: Have you participated in an art/penpal exchange before? Q3: If this was your first exchange, can you let us know why you decided to participate? I resonated with the prompt that was presented. (Touch) I liked the concept and branding of Blue Moon Letters. I resonate with what Blue Moon Letters stand for: that anyone can make art. I tend to be shy in meeting strangers, but the idea of connecting through mail makes me feel more safe. I craved social interaction due to COVID restricting social activities. Other reasons:
Q4: How would you describe your experience of participating in Blue Moon Letters? Q5: On a scale of 1 to 5, how fulfilling was the penpal experience for you? Q6: Would you be interested in participating in this type of mail art exchange again? Q7: As a participant, do you think the additional safety precaution of withholding your address from your penpal (through the re-mailing process done by us) was necessary? Q8: If the sustainability of the mail art exchange project is reliant on crowdfunding, would you be willing to contribute to this project?
Q9: Apart from our "History of Mail Art" series, are there any other type of content/programming you would like to see on our platform? Feel free to suggest any topics or things you are interested in! From the results of the survey, most of the respondents found out about Blue Moon Letters through their friends’ Instagram and 74% of the respondents rated the pen pal experience a 5 out of 5. The participants of the art exchange appreciated that there was a prompt provided for the art exchange as they could choose to base their artwork on either their pen pal’s bios or the prompt. Many of the respondents also preferred not to share their addresses to strangers and liked that there was a precautionary step of safeguarding their address. It was heartwarming to see that some of the participants decided to continue correspondence with their pen pal and that most of the participants really resonated with what Blue Moon Letters. Featuring artworks by participants of Blue Moon Letters At the end of the exchange, we posted a round-up post of some of the artworks that the participants created for their pen pal partners (Fig 14 and 15). We asked for their consent on whether they were comfortable to share their artwork on our platform before compiling their artworks. It was heartening to see the effort they put into making something for a stranger and the connection they formed through the experience. It's a way to promote their artworks as well as show appreciation for participating in the art exchange.
Fig 14: Round-up post of artworks from participants
Fig 15: Round-up post of the envelopes we received from our participants Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) document Before embarking on the second round of our exchange, we had an evaluative discussion on what worked in the first round of our art exchange and what could have been done better. Based on our experiences from the first round of exchange, we crafted a standard operating procedure (Annex 2) so as to compile a protocol on how to approach certain challenges that we faced, such as participants backing out of the exchange at the last minute and how to forward the mail that we received. This provides us a good reference for our consecutive exchanges as we would be able to predict certain situations and know how to handle them better. We also made some changes in our email to be sent to our participants and the application form to mitigate participants from backing out of the exchange, such as asking them to reply to the email we sent as
a form of acknowledgement. Additionally, we got feedback from a participant who recommended a more sustainable approach to mail out our letters (i.e using secondhand poly mailers/envelopes) as we used new poly mailers to forward the letters of our participants. She even recommended an initiative, package.pals, that was advocating for circular packaging and we started highlighting the initiative on our Instagram stories in order to encourage our participants to reuse our poly mailers as well. We took her feedback into consideration and fully implemented this sustainable approach of mailing in our second round of art exchange. Second Round of Art Exchange Our open call for the second round of art exchange was posted on the 10th October 2020, which fell on World Mental Health Day (Fig 16). We collaborated with Misty of First Draft Newsletter, a digital newsletter that celebrates unrefined acts of creativity. Misty first reached out to us through our Instagram direct messages offering to help our project in any capacity. She wrote a prose based on the open call prompt of our second round of art exchange which was care. For this round of art exchange, we only managed to get 22 participants which was lower than our previous round of exchange.
Fig 16: Post on Second Round of Art Exchange
Organizational Structure We did not have any strict roles and responsibilities set out from the start but the roles rather came about organically as the project progressed. We played to our strengths and took on tasks that we were good at (Fig 17). For example, Jiong Ling did the design of most of our social media posts as she was very skillful in illustration and design. Crystal did copywriting for some of our posts on social media and the email to be sent out to our participants as she has previously taken on this role at work. I managed the social media account as I was the most responsive in communicating with the followers of the account. We also took turns to record minutes during the meetings and establish a to-do list in the group chat. There was no clear hierarchy in the group which allowed us to collaborate in a more dynamic manner. For example, I would work together with Jiong Ling to design some of our social media posts. Jiong Ling did the illustration while I colored in the illustration in order to match with the rest of the colours on our Instagram feed (Fig 18). Our decisions were usually made in a democratic manner where everyone in the group has a say in how we would like to carry out certain activities. This allows us to analyse different approaches that we suggest and decide on the best possible solution that all of us agree on. Due to the organisational structure of our group, it takes longer to come to a unanimous decision as we account for everyone’s input in the decision-making process. However, there were some instances where one of us may not be available to respond in the group chat and two of us would make a decision if it concerns a small matter. As the social media manager of the group, I interacted and replied to messages on queries about how to join the art exchange on top of seeking new followers for our account. I managed to publicize the account and reach out to a few people in the local art scene. I also kept track of our social media insights to evaluate why some of the posts garnered more attention than the rest and when to post our pictures to maximize our reach on Instagram. I maximized the reach of our posts by always posting our content on weekends at 9pm based on the statistics provided by the Instagram Insights (Fig 19 and 20). On top of that, I did research and wrote the captions for the posts in our series History of Mail Art and created some of the posts on our account. I managed to hit our goal outlined in the marketing plan of gaining 100 followers on Instagram by 25th August.
Fig 17: A breakdown of the tasks we took on as a team
Fig 18: A post Jiong Ling and I worked on together
Fig 19: Our social media insights showing that our followers are the most active on the weekends
Fig 20: Our social media insights showing that most of our followers are active around 9pm Reflections In the process of the project, I enjoyed working with my team the most. Due to the lack of hierarchy and our friendship, it made working easier and we were able to contribute ideas and act on them organically. It was really nice to see our ideas coming to fruition and getting positive feedback on what we were doing. The most heartwarming part would be people reaching out to us offering to collaborate with us. On the flipside, it was hard to approach people who did not mail out their letters or decide to back out of the exchange last minute. This was because their pen pals have already sacrificed their time and effort in creating a piece of artwork for them and it was unfortunate that their efforts won’t be reciprocated. One of the key learning points I got from this incident was to be adaptable. We decide to create an artwork based on the bio they have given us on behalf of their pen pal. This was a way of Blue Moon Letters team saying sorry for the failed matchmaking. I enjoyed my role as the social media manager as communicating and interacting with audiences was something I was comfortable with. I also learnt the importance of carving out a voice in the process of building up a brand identity. It also helped that I knew a small network of artists in the local scene who helped spread the word about Blue Moon Letters. In addition, it is necessary to build a strong rapport with audience members as they are the key stakeholders who are essential in spreading a positive word of mouth about Blue Moon Letters. I do believe there is room for improvement as I would like to learn more about marketing techniques in diversifying the audience of Blue Moon Letters and how to effectively encourage our followers to participate in the subsequent art exchanges. Throughout the process of the project, I
discovered a newfound interest in PR and Communications and building relationships with people. I would also like to equip myself with illustration and design skills on Photoshop as it would be vital skill to have as a PR and Communications Manager. It would also help to always keep up to the latest art events and evaluate how they market their campaigns so as to cultivate new marketing ideas to adopt.
Annex 1 – Marketing Plan Current Marketing Objectives / Brand Purpose 1. 50 followers on Instagram by 31st July 2. 100 followers on Instagram by 25th August Target Audience
Our target audience for the art exchange is youths who practice art either professionally or as a hobby. Channels Instagram o Ask if starving.artist/QZF can give us a shout out :) o Post ideas: inspirational stuff based on prompt Carrd (Linked in Instagram bio) o To collate information that can be easily accessed o Include: Application info, About BML, Application form link, about the team, donation info Email o Contact the people from our Typeform Market Research Design Moodboard: https://pin.it/2HJGXIf Child-like doodles Gradients, vibrant colours Content Planning: Instagram Posts Week 1 (20 - 26 July 2020) No .
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“We are live”
Blue Moon Letters is founded by a couple of friends who squealed with joy when they received handwritten letters from each other during the pandemic. Inspired by the emotional intimacy of sending personalised snail mails, we hope to deliver that same warmth and connection through the medium of art—from a stranger, to friend.
Image: Postcard with graphics, animated. Date: 24/7/2020
Many art activities have shifted to occupying online spaces, and one can’t help but to feel a sense of emptiness as we crave for the physical and experience of attending workshops, visiting exhibitions, and immersing ourselves in multi-sensorial plays with our family and friends. Blue Moon Letters was created to bridge this gap by providing
budding art enthusiasts with a platform to spark a connection with fellow like-minded artists, as we do our best to support and care for each other during this liminal time. � 2.
“About BML” Image: Coloured comic, 8 panels.
A mini comic about how the Blue Moon Letters system will work, featuring our best froggo boi, ___. For more information on how the mailing process will work, check out our “FAQ” section on our stories!
Date: 24/7/2020 3.
“Open Call”
Our penpal registration is now open! �
Image:
The prompt for our first art exchange is “Touch,” a word that encompasses both tactility as a way of using mediums that engage with our sense of touch, as well as a connection across physical, mental, and emotional spheres. Go forth and let your creative juices flow thru any medium you can possibly think of (as long as it fits in the envelope!)
Grainy postcard, stickers. Text on image: Open Call
You can find our application form in our Carrd (link in bio,) and the closing date is 25 Aug. Get cracking, froggos! �
Prompt: Touch (Keywords: tactile, sensorial, ?) Date: 24/7/2020 Week 2 (27 July - 2 August 2020) Feed: No .
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Ray Johnson
History of mail art: Ray Johnson (#pleaseaddto) https://www.aaa.si.edu/exhibitions/pushing-theenvelope/alternative-art-worlds https://art.icity.ly/events/p582ns0
Image: Picture of one of Ray Johnson’s mail arts, photoshopped on
Copy (27/07):In the next couple of weeks, we will be introducing a couple of artists who explore mail as an artistic medium that embraces the interpersonal.
a bright coloured BG. Date: 28/07/2020 (Tuesday)
Ray Johnson (1927-1955) is recognised as the pioneer of Mail Art, known for his trademark bunny head and references to pop culture icons. Since the 1950s, his practice greatly consists of collaging text and images from a plurality of sources in his attempt to bridge art and life together. Johnson formed a large network of friends and strangers by exchanging ideas and artworks through the postal system, which later came to be the “New York Correspondence School”. Through this platform, he often instructed his correspondents to (please add to and return...) his “how to draw” and “brief histories” mails. By bringing attention to systems of production and reproduction, Johnson explored collaborative art making as an alternative to individualistic notions of authorship and the institutional commodification of art. Image credits: Ray Johnson Estate
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Closing Early Text: Open Call Deadline: 15th August strike through 31st July
We are OVERWHELMED with your support! The open call has garnered more sign-ups than we initially anticipated for—and while we are over the (blue) moon for all the support, we have to regretfully announce that we will be closing penpal applications earlier than the planned date. If you couldn't make it for the first sign-up, don't sweat it because we're working on bringing you a second round of open call submissions. Keep your eyes peeled! Once again, a big hearty THANK YOU to everyone who has signed up! You will be receiving a confirmation e-mail shortly with details on your matched penpal, and the general guidelines to abide by. �
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Discord live
Graphic design
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Our Discord server is now live! �The Blue Moon Letters discord is a virtual community hub for local art lovers and artists alike. Hang out in the various clubs we have for our art nerds, find like-minded pals to join you on your next art hopping trip, or share with us what you’ve been up to in your studio—we’d love to hear! Head on to our Carrd to chill out with us in the town hall by the lake. �
Hand-drawn showing 3 smiley froggo holding hands Text in image: “Join our community hub on discord!” Date: 29/07/2020 (Wednesday)
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Carol Schenck
http://pic.yupoo.com/fotomag/HvKxXPoH/rtrBc.jpg
Date: 1/08/2020 (Saturday)
Copy (31/07): This piece of mail art by Carol Schneck echoes the fundamental ideas behind the Mail Art movement which is that the network of communication is of value rather than the individual pieces of mail. Mail Art is regarded to be ‘transitory, intimate and implicitly social’ as it requires the participation and physical handling by both the participants and the postal system. The work featured the former Whitney Museum of American Art (now Met Breuer) in a trash can adjourned with “Mail Art is Not Museum Art” and “Mail Art is Disposable Art”. These statements likely referenced the 1970 exhibition by the New York Correspondence School (founded by Ray Johnson) held at the Whitney Museum, which was criticised for diverging from the ideals of Mail Art. Image Credit:Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
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You’ve been Matched Date: 1/08/2020 (Saturday) 7pm
A lil announcement to everyone who has signed up! You’ve been matched to your penpal and would have received an email from us with details on how to proceed—drop us a message if you registered but didn’t hear back from us. The deadline to post out your mail to the designated address is 14th August. Have fun in creating your art! �
IG Story:
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Support us!
Blue Moon Letters is currently crowdfunding for stamps! If you like what we’re doing on Blue Moon Letters, you can consider donating to us by buying us a Ko-Fi!
Frog drinking coffee? Cuz Ko-fi Texture paper bg? Date: 02/08/2020
All participants will initially be posting their mail art to one designated address, after which is where your donated funds will come in. With your help, we will be able to secure additional safety stamps & mailing labels, and they will be attached onto all submitted letters before being mailed out to your matched penpals. This additional step ensures that ALL our participants stay safe throughout the exchange, such that the details of residential homes remain entirely confidential. As we are a student organised non-profit project w/ no prior funding, every donated dollar counts towards
increasing the number of people who can participate in an art exchange at any one time. � If you’d like to see the detailed breakdown of how we are going to use your funds, please refer to our Ko-Fi page (link in bio!)
Week 3 (3 August 2020 - 9 August 2020)
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Datong Dazhang
http://www.royalasiaticsociety.org.cn/wpcontent/uploads/2017/01/RAS.Journal2016.pdf
Date: 12/8/2020
Datong Dazhang: Art is intentional, and there’s nothing sincere about it. In 1993, Dazhang began to drift away from painting, edited and published personal mail art works. For every edition, he created about 50 copies and each contained about 13 pages. Despite the limited number printed, it reached important art critics and artists in the big cities across the country, including Yuanmingyuan, Dongcun, and Songzhuang. In 1994, he divided his mail art into two parts: one includes drafts of installation and performance which he called “things,” and the other mostly includes poems, notes, and proposals, which he called “The Right Guard.” This exhibition presents a relatively intact look at Dazhang's mail art between 1995 and 1998, and his other sketches of art projects not included in his mail art. Four installations are produced from his drafts for this exhibition. https://www.nationalgallery.sg/magazine/history-teachers-ask-curator-awakenings-artsociety-asia-1960s%E2%80%931990s [pic]
http://yishu-online.com/wp-content/uploads/mmproducts/uploads/2016_v15_03_xiang_l_p006.pdf [lots of examples with translations in this link] Mail art gave him the possibility of changing from being passive to being active. It gave him a voice. His mail art elevated conceptual art and performance art to a new level. It became an integration of conceptual art, performance, painting, installation, text art, and publishing, as well as a social movement and event, because those artists, art critics, and institutions that received his mail artworks either were influenced by his thoughts or executed his proposals— just as in the 7000 Oaks project of Joseph Beuys that he began in 1982 at documenta, Kassel. In 1994, Datong Dazhang divided his mail art into two parts: one includes drafts of installations and performances that he called “Things,” and the other mostly includes poems, notes, and proposals, which he called “The Right Guard”
In 1997, he published his “Honest Manifesto,” stating, “Starting from
July 1, 1997, all of my artwork, drafts and ideas can be carried out by anyone, or they can be altered arbitrarily by anyone (of course including myself). The right of authorship belongs to whoever does it first.”13 http://www.randian-online.com/np_review/datong-dazhang-the-way-outfor-small-town-art-youth-and-for-decentralization/ In 1993, he created a periodical called The Right Guard, which involved mailing manuscripts of artistic proposals to people in the scene. Interesting chinese translations: 1. On his name:
CHI: 大同大张, 本名张盛泉，生于 1955 年，山西大同人。由于他那一米九 的身高，人们多呼之为“大张”。的江湖称号，加上生在山西大同 他便索性 以“大同大张”为名。 Trans: Datong Dazhang, whose real name is Zhang Sheng Quan, was born in 1955 in the northern Shanxi province. His staggering height of 1.9m earned him a nickname within his province—”Da Zhang,” which translates to “Tall Zhang.” Being born and raised in the prefecture of Da Tong in northern Shanxi, he began to adopt the name “Datong Dazhang” in his artistry. 2. On the emergence of his mail art series: CHI: 1993 年，大同大张开始有意识地封闭自己，除却日常的工作，他减少外 出。这种物质生活中的封 闭并不意味着他将自己与外界绝对封闭。他开始选择邮寄艺术，自行编辑刊印邮 寄艺术，每本约 13 页，每期寄出约 50 本。大张是渴望交流的，他试图开始通过 邮寄建筑自己与外界对话的通道，那些行为装置的草图，大张称它们是“东西”， 与所谓概念化的创作形成区隔，而在邮寄背后，大张为自己构建了新的身份—— 以“右兵卫”之名。这种对于作品概念和个人身份的模糊化，指向大张已然不将作 品所带来对个体声望的关注作为某种期待，而更纯粹地集中在对于方案的交流本 身。
Trans: In 1993, Datong Dazhang started to intentionally isolate himself, ditching his day job and reducing the amount of contact he had with the outside world. This form of isolation from the material world did not mean that Datong gave up on connecting with the outside world, as he began to adopt mailing art in his practice, taking on the role of editing and publishing his own mail art. Each edition of his mail art had about 13 pages, and each time he mailed out 50 pieces of them.
Dazhang craved for social interaction—which is why he attempted to design a system of communication with the outside world through his mail art, even when he was isolating himself. His mailart included sketches of his installations and performances, which he named “Things,” which places them in a separate category from his other conceptual creations. Behind each of his mail art, Dazhang would sign it off not with his name, but with a new identity that he had created for himself—“右兵 卫“ which translates to Right Guard.” The blurring of lines between his works as well as the creation of his new identity points towards Dazhang’s growing disinclination towards gaining recognition for his works at the time; rather, it highlights his shifted focus towards producing and facilitating his new mail art process. Datong Dazhang’s proposals for installations and performance art demonstrate an emphasis on democracy with the premise of being entertaining. The materials and instruments utilized mostly came from finished products of day-to-day life, with simple modifications or combinations
Datong Dazhang, The Expansion of Details Leads to the Collapse of the Whole Entity, 1998, sketch, inside page of Mail Art 98. Courtesy of Wen Pulin Archive of Chinese Avant-Garde Art, Beijing, and Power Station of Art, Shanghai. Note from the sketch: The Expansion of Details Leads to the Collapse of the Whole Entity. The length can be 30, 50, or 100 metres. The pickaxe is hard and strong, with the will of iron; so even if the pickaxe handle extends past ten metres, it has a power of refusing to retreat. This makes the connecting and disassembling of the handle very thought-provoking. It needs to produce power and rhythm. The bolts need to be big.
Datong Dazhang, The Fear of Math, 1996, sketch. Courtesy of Wen Pulin Archive of Chinese Avant-Garde Art, Beijing, and Power Station of Art, Shanghai. Note from the sketch: • Welded with square stock, angle iron, and steel pipes. • Use fresh pigs' heads.
Datong Dazhang, Unforgiven, sketch, inside page of Mail Art 97, First Half of Year, 1997. Courtesy of Wen Pulin Archive of Chinese Avant-Garde Art, Beijing, and Power Station of Art, Shanghai. Note from the sketch: Unforgiven, Installation Sketch 1. Yellow sand 2. Steel screen mesh with wooden frame to screen the sand, 2 m x 1.3 metres. Put the closely woven iron wires between two wood frames and nail them together tightly to a thickness totaling 4 cm. Cover the edges with an angle iron, and add a wood and iron stand at the back. A glass shop should have a waste wood shipping box that can be used as the frame. 3. The thinner screen can be made freely of thick galvanized wire. 4. The sparser the screen is, the thicker the galvanized wire should be. 5. There is no screen, only a wooden frame.
Datong Dazhang (1955-2000) contributed significantly to the Chinese Contemporary art scene in the 1980s and 1990s. He started experimenting with mail art in 1993 by editing and publishing mail artworks, producing 50 copies of 13 pages for each edition. He later divided his mail art into “Things”, sketches of installations and performances, and “The Right Guard”, comprising poems, notes and proposals. Datong Dazhong’s proposals for installations and performance art emphasises on democracy as they often call
for the utilisation of everyday objects which were accessible to many. In 1997, he published his “Honest Manifesto,” stating, “Starting from July 1, 1997, all of my artwork, drafts and ideas can be carried out by anyone, or they can be altered arbitrarily by anyone (of course including myself). The right of authorship belongs to whoever does it first.” Thank you @claralikesart for letting us know about this great artist who adopted mail art during the course of his short-lived artistic pursuits. Image Credits: Wen Pulin Archive of Chinese Avant-Garde Art, Beijing, and Power Station of Art, Shanghai. ____________________________________________
Pic 1: Unforgiven, Installation Sketch 1. Yellow sand 2. Steel screen mesh with wooden frame to screen the sand, 2 m x 1.3 metres. Put the closely woven iron wires between two wood frames and nail them together tightly to a thickness totaling 4 cm. Cover the edges with an angle iron, and add a wood and iron stand at the back. A glass shop should have a waste wood shipping box that can be used as the frame. 3. The thinner screen can be made freely of thick galvanized wire. 4. The sparser the screen is, the thicker the galvanized wire should be. 5. There is no screen, only a wooden frame. Pic 2: The Expansion of Details Leads to the Collapse of the Whole Entity. The length can be 30, 50, or 100 metres. The pickaxe is hard and strong, with the will of iron; so even if the pickaxe handle extends past ten metres, it has a power of refusing to retreat. This makes the connecting and disassembling of the handle very thought-provoking. It needs to produce power and rhythm. The bolts need to be big. Pic 3: The Fear of Math • Welded with square stock, angle iron, and steel pipes. • Use fresh pigs' heads. 2.
Charades Game NIght
Psst!! Join us for a night of charades on 20th August at 8:30pm (we promise it’ll be fun)!!! The link to the game will be posted on our bio and we will be hanging out on our discord channel’s voice chat (join us on discord if you haven’t already). The game is open to everybody so do save this auspicious date, grab a couple of drinks & have sum fun! xx
1.
Ryosuke Cohen
http://www.ryosukecohen.com/ http://www.ryosukecohen.com/japan.html
Date: 21st August
Ryosuke Cohen (b. 1948) is an artist who has dedicated most of his life to connect with his international mail art networks through the Brain Cell Project, Fractal Portrait Project and Orion Soup. Ryosuke connects to his network by
sending out three issues of “Brain Cell” every month where he features artists’ stamps that he later screens onto oversized pieces of paper and inks out the edges. Ryosuke believes that mail art could potentially solve current barriers in the art world such as class divides, access to information and mainstream consumer-centric art. He treats art as information rather than material and rejects traditional notions of viewing art (pitching one art to be better than the other). Image Credits: Ryosuke Cohen 3.
Video
Variations on touch. We chose touch as the prompt for our first art exchange because we wanted to reimagine ways of experiencing art that embraces the tactile. Our sense of touch is the gateway to feeling, learning, and connecting with the world around us. What histories may our skin bear witness to? What are the small intimacies found only through touch?
4.
Les Petit Bon Bons
In the mail-art scene, identities could be multiple and fluid precisely because the form afforded such freedom for construction. The practice was, in the main, a literary form of identity—the creation of character. their art is synonymous with their lives, available to be seen wherever they are, and framed as an “exhibition.” Alluding to their life-as-performance, the Bonbons claimed, “We aim to be a walking exhibition.” In so describing themselves, they admit their desire to be seen, to become a spectacle, an embodiment of the glitter ethos. Yet their goal also calls to mind a different kind of exhibition, that of artists seeking to share their work with various publics—“Out of the closet/galleries & into the streets!” they exclaimed. The Bonbons translated the give-and-take relationship fostered by the correspondence networks to a larger arena. They sought to realize their art through this lived practice—it wasn’t that they staged a performance, but that they lived their practice. 27
The Bonbons reinforce this understanding of identity in several mailart works that quote the philosopher Murray Bookchin: “Our being is becoming, not stasis.”46 Here they celebrate a view of identity as collective (“our”), always in a state of negotiation, and never fully realized. They had been engaged in the gay-activist scene in Milwaukee and in
mail art, sending their manifesto of sorts, called “bon bon mots,” and other printed, stickered, and glittered items to correspondents and figures The Bonbons, a band of Milwaukee transplants seeking fame and fun in Los Angeles, sent this work and other Xeroxed, handmade, and collaged items through the mail to participants in what was known as the Eternal Network. blur the boundaries between art and life Moreover, with their elaborate, often effeminate costumes, makeup, sexually provocative stage antics, and, of course, glitter, glam musicians underscored the sense that gendered and sexual identities, in particular, were active constructions rather than natural embodiments. Les Petit Bon Bons was a collective from Milwaukee who were part of the 1970s gay activist movement, the emerging Hollywood glitter-rock scene and the international correspondence network. They often collaged, stickered and glittered items onto their manifestos, termed “bon bon mots” to send to the participants of their Eternal Network. They found value in the mail art movement for it catalysed the formation of an alternative scene through organic collaborations and word of mouth publicity while effectively being low cost. The Bon Bons took up several aliases when signing off their mail art, such as Private Partz, Mr. Peanut and Baby Bonbon which channels to the multiplicity and fluidity of identities that the medium allows for. They often blurred the boundaries between life and art as they aimed to be “a walking exhibition”, often embodying camp personas and sought to share their work with various publics. “Out of the galleries/closets and into the streets!”
Instagram Stories:
Section Name 1 “About The Team”
Illustration
Copy
Date to be posted up
Bg can be a plain bright colour with white lineart of rando froggos, no need to colour in.
First image text:
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Blue Moon Letters is started by 3 froggo friendos who love art and hanging out with each other.
2 “FAQ”
Text accompanies in the empty spaces.
We think that art shouldn’t be measured by skill alone, because the intention and thought process behind each creation gives each an every artwork an inherent sense of value.
Text on grainy textured paper background
Q1: What happens after I sign up as a penpal? Upon signing up, you will receive an email & DM confirmation for your application. After that, you can chill out with other froggos in the discord server, eat some chips, and await the next email where we reveal the name of your partner, their self-intro, and the mailing address to post your mail to! Next Story: From there, all participants will have 2 weeks to brainstorm and create a unique piece of art for your buddy. When you’re done, just drop your mail in the post office to the designated address by 28 August, and we’ll take care of the rest! Next Story: Your snail mails from your penpals should be reaching you by midSeptember—keep your eyes peeled for when they arrive! Q2: Is Blue Moon Letters free to participate in? A: Yes, it’s free to join! We recommend looking around in your own homes for existing stationary, &
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upcycling scrap papers/cloth for the crafting of your art piece. As this is a student organised project with no prior funding, we only ask that you pay for your normal postage stamps that you will be attaching onto your letters! Next story: However, if you’d like to help us out, we are also crowdfunding for the costs of additional safety stamps! All of your letters will initially be posted to one designated address. There, they will be re-attached with a new shipping label of your penpal’s home address & sent out to your respective frogg budds! This is to safeguard the safety and privacy of all of our participants, where only the organising team will have access to the details of your residential address. Next story: As all the funds for this precautionary measure will be coming out of our own pockets, it’d be really awesome if we could get some additional support to alleviate the costs! If you’re interested in helping us out (even a dollar or two goes a long way!) you can check out our Ko-Fi for how you can help & the full transparency on how your funds are going to be used. Q3: I can’t draw/I’m not an artist, but I wanna participate! What should I do?
A: Don’t fret, lil’ froggo! You don’t have to be a professional artist or skilled illustrator to join the art exchange. So long as you have a big heart & an interest in connecting with other likeminded art enthusiasts, you can throw all your qualms about skill level out of the window, because we love and appreciate all art here! Next Story: Off the top of our heads, here are some non-illustrative art mediums we could think of: 1. Doing a blackout poetry with a page from an old book 2. Decorating a postcard with stickers and doodles 3. A handwritten copy of your favourite poem 4. Collaging from old magazines and photographs Q4: Is my residential information going to be safe? All information collected during this process will only be accessed by the organising team, and all residential addresses provided to us will be promptly deleted after the end of the penpal process. If you have any worries about providing us with your personal info via the sign-up link, feel free to DM/e-mail us and we can find a workaround for you! �
3 “Crowdfunding”
Text on background
Blue Moon Letters is currently crowdfunding for stamps! If you like what we’re doing on Blue Moon Letters, where we explore how emotional connection can be delivered through the medium of art in a mail, you can consider donating to us by buying us a Ko-Fi! All participants will initially be posting their mail art to one designated address, which is where your donated funds will come in. With your help, we will be able to secure additional safety stamps & mailing labels, and they will be attached onto all submitted letters before being mailed out to your matched penpals. This additional step ensures that ALL our participants stay safe throughout the exchange, such that the details of residential homes remain entirely confidential. As we are a student organised non-profit project w/ no prior funding, every donated dollar counts towards building a safer exchange environment for everyone. � If you’d like to see the detailed breakdown of how we are going to use your funds, please refer to our Ko-Fi page (link in bio!)
4 Discord!
Repost of our Discord IG post Next story: Create a discord account and a username, you can start interacting with the organising froggos, as well as the other community members. We are constantly updating our discord server with new channels based on requests,
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Annex 2 – Standard Operating Procedure Marketing Flow 1. 2. 3. 4.
Design of graphics Copywriting Engagement events Social Media Interactions
Open Call (2 weeks max) 1. Open call Instagram post 2. Pen Pal Application form on Typeform/Google form 1. Require verbal confirmation that they would have to notify us if they are unable to commit to the penpal exchange b. Close applications once the target is hit OR after 2 weeks, whichever comes first.
Applicant Matching 1. Results of application form are transferred to Excel sheet 2. Matching based on applicants’ preferences on whether they would like someone with a similar profile or not. 3. Email each applicant the instructions + bio of their penpal + optional prompt + deadline to mail art (2 weeks from the date of the email) 4. Give applicants 3 days to get back to us on their availability to participate 5. 2 days before the deadline, send applicants a reminder to send their mail out
Procurement of Materials (depending on need) 1. Required materials: stamps, envelopes, poly mailers, stickers, post-it notes 2. Sources: Shopee, Tao Bao, Package Pals
Remailing 1. Write short note on post it + slip in a sticker 2. Check the value of stamp & make sure the address is correct
Email Templates
Penpal Matching Email (Sample)
Dear Shafina, Thank you for applying to be a penpal for Blue Moon Letter’s first art exchange! �
Do let us know if you are unable to participate in this exchange by 3 August 2020, 23 59 as we have to inform your penpal partner and match them up with another penpal. We’re so excited for you to start creating, so without further ado, here are the details of your first matched penpal! Stephanie " ENFP/ interior designer/ I collect Russian doll stuff and craft beer cans and burger toys/80s music/satire"
What’s next? You are now free to start working on a piece of art for your penpal! We encourage you to go wild and create whatever you want (so long as it fits within an A4 envelope) but if you need some extra inspiration, you can base your work on the prompt of “Touch” or some of the information provided by your penpal for this round of exchange. Guidelines & important dates to note: 1. When you are done with your work, please follow this format on your envelope when mailing out your letter, and address the letter to the designated address below: Front of envelope: To: Stephanie Address: Blk-457, Choa Chu Kang Ave 4, #12-185, 680457 Singapore Back of envelope, bottom left hand corner: From: Shafina Return address Please also note that the designated address listed above is NOT your partner’s address, as all participant’s addresses will be withheld at this stage for the safety of everyone involved. Upon your letter arriving at the designated address, your return address will be blacked out to ensure your privacy. Your letters will then be attached with a new label of your penpal’s address, and remailed out! 2. The deadline for mailing out your art is 14 August 2020. Please make sure to drop your letter in your nearest post box latest by this date, so that we can facilitate the second part of the mailing effectively! 3. Throughout the re-mailing process, the contents of your mail are kept confidential and we do not open them, only attaching a new mailing label onto the envelopes that are sent to us—this is done out of respect for every participant’s privacy. However, we really enjoy finding & admiring new types of art—so if you’re not shy about sharing what you’ve made, please send us a picture of it before you seal it in the envelope; we’d love to see! �
Your image may be posted to our IG page after the event ends—in doing so, we’d like to showcase the potential of mail art in creating new works, as well as to encourage people to participate in future art exchanges. Proper accreditation will be given; however, please let us know if you’d prefer to remain anonymous, un-tagged, or represented by your initials in the crediting process. 4. Do drop us a dm or an email when you have received the letter from your penpal! � Love, Blue Moon Letters� Sample Email Round 2 Dear (name), Thank you for applying to be a penpal for our second art exchange! � Do let us know if you are unable to participate in this exchange by Monday, 19 October 2020, 11 00 as we have to inform your penpal partner and match them up with another penpal. We’re so excited for you to start creating, so without further ado, here are the details of your first matched penpal! Stephanie " ENFP/ interior designer/ I collect Russian doll stuff and craft beer cans and burger toys/80s music/satire"
What’s next? You are now free to start working on a piece of art for your penpal! We encourage you to create your work around the prompt of “care,” but if you need some extra inspiration, you can base your work on some of the information provided by your penpal’s bio and the way they imagine care to be for this round of exchange. Guidelines & important dates to note: 1. When you are done with your work, please follow this format on your envelope when mailing out your letter, and address the letter to the designated address below: Front of envelope: To: Stephanie Address: Blk-457, Choa Chu Kang Ave 4, #12-185, 680457 Singapore Back of envelope, bottom left hand corner: From: (name) Return address:
Please also note that the designated address listed above is NOT your partner’s address, as all participant’s addresses will be withheld at this stage for the safety of everyone involved. Upon your letter arriving at the designated address, your return address will be blacked out to ensure your privacy. Your letters will then be attached with a new label of your penpal’s address, and remailed out! 2. If you have any old poly mailers/envelopes lying around and you would like to give it a second life, please include them in your envelope to us! We are exploring more sustainable options as we want to continue this art exchange for a long time. :) We will make sure to remove your addresses from these old mailers before using them—for more information on how this would work, you can check out the “FAQ” section of @package.pals on Instagram. If you do send us old packaging, please remember to inform us either through DM/e-mail, so that we can remove them before re-mailing your art to your penpal. Rest assured that we will only be opening your envelope just to retrieve these packaging, and we will promptly repackage the contents of your letter. We respect every participant’s privacy, and understand that any and all correspondences remain private between you and your penpal (unless you decide to share them with us! <3) 3. The deadline for mailing out your art is Saturday, 31 October 2020. Please make sure to drop your letter in your nearest post box latest by this date, so that we can facilitate the second part of the mailing effectively! 4. Throughout the re-mailing process, the contents of your mail are kept confidential and we do not open them, only attaching a new mailing label onto the envelopes that are sent to us—this is done out of respect for every participant’s privacy. However, we really enjoy finding & admiring new types of art—so if you’re not shy about sharing what you’ve made, please send us a picture of it before you seal it in the envelope; we’d love to see! � Your image may be posted to our IG page after the event ends—in doing so, we’d like to showcase the potential of mail art in creating new works, as well as to encourage people to participate in future art exchanges. Proper accreditation will be given; however, please let us know if you’d prefer to remain anonymous, un-tagged, or represented by your initials in the crediting process. 4. Please reply to this confirmation email to let us know that you’ve seen who your penpal is! drop us a dm or an email when you have received the letter from your penpal! � Love, Blue Moon Letters�
Rematch Email (Sample)
Dear____, Due to unforeseen circumstances, your matched penpal, ____is no longer able to take part in the exchange.
Don't worry about it though we have matched you up with a new penpal! Here's the details of your new penpal; Amy " i love art, design and frogs :) a little of a coffee snob, and love all the whimsical and beautifully mundane things that make daily life worth living"
Do remember to address the mail to Amy when you post it out. Thank you for your support and we look forward to your creation! Have a great week ahead. Love, Blue Moon Letters �
Reminder Email (2 days before deadline of mailing)
Dear ________, Hey there, we hope you are doing well!!! We just wanted to drop a lil' reminder that the deadline for mailing out to your penpal is this Friday, 14th August. Do let us know if you are unable to mail it out by then!! Thank you and we can't wait to see your creations!! xx Love, Blue Moon Letters �
Last Minute Backout (Sample Mail)
Hey Aqilah, Thank you for replying! Our original intention on asking was to actually let you know that your matched penpal, Megan, actually had to drop out due to personal reasons. We were thinking of rematching you with another buddy, but we wanted to run things through with you to make sure you're ok with any new arrangements! The original intention we had was to mail out the art to Megan, since the art you made is specific to her bio; and to match you to a new buddy who will make you art based on the bio you provided. But after discussing, we wanted to provide you with a second option as the art you've made belongs to you, and we absolutely wanna respect your decision! 1. Would you still be keen to mail the art to Megan even though she will not be making something for you, or 2. Would you rather get what you've made back (return mail will be paid by us!) and re-do art based on the bio of your new matched partners? These new partners are confirmed participants, and no matter which choice you choose, you will still be getting a piece of personalised art back��
Feel free to let us know which option you'd like, or if you have any alternate suggestions. We're all ears!
Continuity of Correspondence (Consent from penpal)
Hello ______, Your penpal, _____ has expressed his interest to continue exchanging art/letters with you. Do let us know if you consent to sharing your information and address with your penpal so you two can keep in touch with each other!! Cheers!! xx
Love, Blue Moon Letters �
Email for Survey
Hello ____, Thank you for participating in Blue Moon Letters. You should have gotten your mail from your penpal by now & we hope that you enjoyed your experience with us! We are planning for a second round of art exchange and would really appreciate it if you could complete this lil’ feedback form by 10th September, Thursday. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/N3RDVZ3 Thank you! YoU beAutiful hOOman!!! MUACKS xx
Love, Blue Moon Letters� Checks To Do Before Mailing Out: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Check the front package to see that individual addresses are written correctly & legibly. Check the back of the package to ensure that every mail has a return address written. Check that the addresses written are waterproof and smudge proof. Check to see that stamps are properly adhered. Lastly, check your own emotional state � Don’t get too stressed doing this, ask someone to help you double-check if you’re swamped!
Missing Mail
1. Scenario 1: Mail art has been sent out from participant to our address, but it has not reached us in 2.5 weeks. To resolve: Ask participant to send us a photo of the package they mailed out, front and back. File a case with Singpost and await investigation. Follow-up with them after 2 weeks to hasten their reply. If there is no resolution visible after 3 weeks of filing the case with Singpost, proceed to Scenario 2’s resolution. 1. Scenario 2: Mail art has been mailed out from us to participant, but participant has yet to receive it after 2.5 weeks. To resolve: File a case with Singpost and await investigation. Follow-up with them after 2 weeks to hasten their reply. If there is no resolution visible after 3 weeks of filing the case with Singpost: Artist team to do a small piece of art according to the bio of the participants as a small thank you gesture for participating.