Send your work to emailart@flaneur.me.uk
Emailism – Art for the 21st Century
The Flaneur is starting a new arts project called Emailism. Email Art is the 21st century version of mail art and we are following in the tradition of pioneers such as Fluxus.
What is email art? It is open to debate, it is still being decided, it is exciting and free. You can decided what is email art and what isn’t. We are looking for entries from around the world.
What we do know is that email art is sent by email and is viewed by email. The artist sends it to Flaneur via email (emailart@flaneur.me.uk) and we display it in an email-only gallery which you can sign up to receive here:
Subscribe to the Email art weekly gallery email
Any artist who joins in is entitled to call themselves an Emailist and use the letters EMT after their name.
Like all great art movements we have a Manifesto. We’re still working on it so if you have any thoughts about what we should include please contact us. (By email of course)
EMAILISM: THE MANIFESTO
Written in Napoli, July 2012,
- We don’t believe in Manifestos and reserve the right to change, remove or add to this Manifesto as we see fit.
- If Michelangelo was alive today he would be an Emailist.
- We reject everything that deserves rejection.
- The digital era has been inaugurated and nothing so inclusive can be envisioned.
- The future has reached a limit that only the past can adequately explain.
- Emailism is an international movement. Spiritually based in Naples we sing loudest in English but eat only pizza and other foodstuffs.
- Emailism doesn’t come from the dictionary. In English it means ‘Have a nice day,’ in Swahili, ‘I believe you may be right but I don’t wish to discuss it further’, etc.
- To become an Emailist an artist must send a piece of email art to the email art email address, currently – emailart@flaneur.me.uk . He, she or it is then allowed to call him, her or it-self an Emailist.
- All Emailists may have their name inscribed on a list of Emailists.
- Smugness, smuggery and smugging is disallowed. Emailists can be struck off for displaying such tendencies more than thrice.
- On the whole we don’t want to demolish anything.
- But we do want to demolish ugliness. Everywhere.
- Beauty is as likely to be found on the street as in the museum.
- Leonardo invented email and used a rudimentary version to communicate with his mother.
- Our new art represents all that is excellent in the world.
- Emailism searches for the new meanings that artists worldwide intend to share with the global audience.
- Marinara is the best pizza topping there is. And it doesn’t mean seafood.
- We will meet every third Sunday of every third leap year in the caffe where we signed this document. Otherwise we will communicate by email.
- Terms and conditions of submission are necessary to avoid copyright claims. They can be read clicking here . Then send your work to emailart@flaneur.me.uk
- All work will be viewable by email. Sign up to receive the email here: Subscribe to the Email art weekly gallery email
Please read and accept the terms and conditions by clicking here and then send your work to emailart@flaneur.me.uk .
Selected works will be emailed to anyone who has signed up for our Emailart weekly email.
Fantastic website. Nice to discover some like-minded people out there. Bill Wahl
I am totally confused with this very “intellectual” and “arty” project proposal, which has been lauded by Bill Wahl with his comment “Fantastic website. Nice to discover some like-minded people out there”, and signed in blood by many stalwarts…..
Perhaps, my lack of having even heard about Fluxus or Mail Art – from which the Emailism is being developed – adds to my lack of understanding even the concept. E-Mail to me implies a great technical communication carrier over the internet – and one may send written text, images of different types – whether a photo or video, or drawings & paintings or computer generated. A well written text may be considered an art, as also images – do these qualify for this purpose?
The idea of “email art sent by email and viewed by email” fails to reach me, or explains what is meant! The vagueness is expected to give a wide coverage, but there has to be some clearer definition of “Email Art” stated to work on and provide a framework.
Sorry for my inability to understand this Emailism….
Hi Ashit,
Thanks for your comments. Currently everything is potentially acceptable. Emailism is in an early state and still defining itself – before becoming a pre-eminent part of the art world and art history. In the future theses will be written about this webpage, your comment will be analysed and Emailism will be codified and mentioned at length in the Encyclopaedia Britannica and Wikipedia. Don’t forget the Magna Carta wasn’t written overnight and the Declaration of Independence took a few days. The British Constitution still hasn’t been written down. Four cheers for Emailism.
Thank you, Flaneur. While I am still no wiser about emailism, I take your point that “it is still defining itself”. I am awed with the ‘future theses’ and enormous possibilities mentioned, and imagine being glorified one day being one to have questioned the concept! Art is in the eyes of the beholder, and therefore many can see much more nuances than some others (like me) is absolutely valid, and so can such individuals visualize the future of the currently ‘undefined idea’ – all success to emailism! To me, this debate itself is ‘artistic’ and enjoyable…