Merci Facteur! Mail art #4

Presented alongside the Brognon Rollin solo show, a new exhibition in the francophone Belgian Mail Art cyclebrings together Stephan Barbery and Guy Stuckens. Two artists fascinated by sonic research whose work bear­swit­ness to the diverse approaches that exist within Mail Art.

Guy Stuckens (Brussels, 1955), musician, poet and trained painter, is one of the foremost proponents of Mail Artin Belgium, supporting the movement’s development with his theoretical con­tri­bu­tion and organising exhi­bi­tion­sand events. He played an active part in enlivening the Belgian sections at the inter­na­tion­al Decen­tralised Mail Art­Con­gress­es in the 1980s. A presenter for several free radio stations, par­tic­u­lar­ly through the MAM asso­ci­a­tion­which promotes encounters between artists from diverse cultural spheres, he extended his Mail Art into radio artthrough the exchange of sound sequences between free radio stations all over the world. This practice some­time­sal­lowed him to dabble in field recording (sonic landscapes featuring sounds recorded outside the studio) such asex­per­i­men­tal sound poetry, putting together a collection of sounds and occa­sion­al­ly including the political con­cern­schar­ac­ter­is­tic of the times.

A multi-dis­ci­pli­nary artist, or more accurately a rejecter of disciplines, Stephan Barbery (Brussels, 1961)subscribed to the DIY spirit of punk, of which he was one of Belgium’s first prac­ti­tion­ers, especially with his groupDig­i­tal Dance. He is also the creator of numerous vinyl record covers (The Legendary Pink Dots, Parade Groundor The Neon Judgement), as well as producing the graphics for the PIAS (Play It Again Sam) label. He sim­i­lar­lyedit­ed several fanzines that featured the con­tri­bu­tions of inter­na­tion­al cor­re­spon­dents, while taking part in MailArt projects around the world. In addition to his careers as a musician, which he currently pursues with the bandsINK. and Babils, and graphic artist, producing the poster and visitor guide for this cycle of exhibitions, he producesan unusual body of painted work, dominated by processes that decompose and recompose the image.