Exhibition: Mail Art at Hyperallergic, Brooklyn, June 19-29
"...wish you were here"
each piece = google map printed on yupo, watercolor, gloss on vellum, cut plastic, stringfive pieces of mail from me to HyperallergicJune 2011
Showing as a part of Hyperallergic HQ's "Presents," Co-curated by Kate Wadkins and Hrag Vartanian. June 17 - 29. Links to show info & pics at end of this post.
As I thought about how I would participate in this mail art project, I thought about being Here in the Bay Area, about what is Here, and about how Hyperallergic & all their associated art world is There, and how there is so much to being there... and so much to being here. I wished they were here, that I was there... And yet, there is another place where we are, there is another kind of Here. We are in that place already. So, "...wish you were here"? Yes. We are. In doing this, I loved the duality of place, the notion of online presence & the physicality of connecting from here to there by posted mail. Big thanks to Hyperallergic for the generosity of putting this together.
This group of five works include these details...✩ envelopes with return addresses using my name above 5 different corporate addresses. I'm guessing you can figure out which HQs I worked with, using the information below. (No pics of sealed envelopes, too harried at post office.)✩ postmarks from (almost) those 5 locations (curse you Palo Alto post office!) (am I allowed to say that?) I'd hoped for a stamped post office zip code thing that you usually see on mail... so I went to the local post offices for each of the 5 zip codes I worked with, but who knew they sent their mail to a separate zip code for mass processing? So I opted for the sticker print-out stamp which was the only way those HQ zip codes could appear on the envelope. I had to keep stopping the postal workers from slapping regular stamps on them. I wanted my zip code! "It's an art thing!" I emphasized. None of them cared. "Next!" (Funny!!)✩ I posted pictures of each HQ location using photo sharing to twitter; I then immediately retrieved the link using a mobile app & hand wrote on back of each piece the link to the particular photo (I used 5 different photo sharing sites.) Used my phone to take pics, post photos, and retrieve link URL's... Oh, my phone. My phone with the ever slowing "it's thinking!" kinds of pauses, oh it's peculiarities & idiosyncracies associated with advanced onset mobile phone age. Phone, you be technically old. 
✩ these separate statements on the corresponding pieces, visible under glossed aged vellum with text partially obscured... here are links to original twitter postings... with the return address I used under my name on the upper left corner of each envelope...
#1: Craigslist
Mailed from Craigslist Headquarter's zipcode (or closest public one I could find)here we buy lives for sale/ or sell them:Here 1381 9th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122http://twitter.com/marzkim/status/77862134414974976
#2: Twitter
Mailed from Twitter Headquarter's zipcode (or closest public one I could find)here we follow the endless stream/ passing time:Here 795 Folsom St., Ste. 600, San Francisco, CA 94103http://twitter.com/marzkim/status/77877689133965313
#3: Apple
Mailed from Apple Headquarter's zipcode (or closest public one I could find)here we await/ our imagined future:Here 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA 95014http://twitter.com/marzkim/status/78164171673436161
#4: Google
Mailed from Google Headquarter's zipcode (or closest public one I could find)here we find/ what we are/ looking for:Here 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View, CA 94043http://twitter.com/marzkim/status/78179734948818945
#5: Facebook
Mailed from Facebook Headquarter's zipcode (or closest public one I could find)here we craft/ the life we want seen:Here 1601 S California Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94304http://twitter.com/marzkim/status/78196160535330818
* not included: all the entertainment and side trips because my junior assistant is five years old. (My senior assistant is seven, but he was at school.) In junior assistant's own words: "I'm a great helper!" Payment = treats and app games for the ride. It's shocking that these mailed things weren't ruined while in my care; I'm certain the postal service was more careful with them than I was. It seems they made it to Brooklyn easily. In fact, CA to NY seemed to be much easier than from my home to each of these five locations & matching post offices. Despite the insanity of it, my assistant loves an adventure. You may notice his little fingers & toes sticking out of the #3 pic above.http://hyperallergic.com/presents/http://hyperallergic.com/27287/photos-presents-mail-art/?ref=nf