Over the past year as we’ve been deprived of tangible human contact, many people have been seeking out innovative ways to connect meaningfully with each other that don’t involve the dreaded Z-word.
For some artists this craving for tactile connection unmediated by screens has manifested itself in the form of mail art. One such enterprise has recently been launched by Danish agency Creator Projects which has recruited 12 major artists to contribute work to its latest initiative, M.M.S. (Much. More. Shit.).
A limited-edition portfolio, M.M.S. (Much. More. Shit.) features small artworks from artists including Jenny Holzer, Tania Bruguera, Daniel Buren, Martin Creed, Katharina Grosse, and Alicja Kwade. With only 1,000 copies made, each shoe box-sized set can be purchased for just €200 (£173) and will be delivered straight to your door.
“For some years, we reflected on how the art that we see in museums and art fairs could become affordable to a broader audience,” said Creator Projects’s founder and director Simon Friese in a statement.
“When the pandemic hit and the world entered into lockdown, these concerns became imperative because many understood how essential it is to experience art. Suddenly, mailing artworks directly to a person’s home seemed the most effective way for art to reach people when everything would be closed.”
A form of artistic expression involving sending mail inscribed with poems or drawings through the post, mail art was pioneered by Ray Johnson in the 1950s as a way of bypassing the conventional commercial channels of the art world and democratising dissemination.
M.M.S. (Much. More. Shit.) pays homage to the 1968 mail art project S.M.S. (Shit.Must.Stop.) conceived by New York-based artists William N. Copley and Dimitri Petrov. A magazine available via subscription, S.M.S. was an egalitarian initiative created in reaction to the increasing prices in the 1960s art market. The magazine featured both known and unknown artists, who were presented and paid equally.
M.M.S. (Much. More. Shit.) is available for pre-sale now and is expected to ship in May 2021
