Bruno Capatti, ITALIA

Dear Cristine, I send to you the translation of the text BXA

BrunoBXA project by Bruno Capatti

I conceive Mail Art as a meta-comunication with aesthetic function so Mail Art concerns all that is communication and its mechanism in terms of aesthetical experimentation.In that way it’s possible to think about alternative, horizontal and symphathetical way of communication.My projects has always been and regards still now investigations about propteries, characteristic and opportunities of Mail Art.In every project I tried to go always deeper in a particular process, tecnique or point of the work.As regards the BXA project ( BXA stands for Bruno capatti Xero-basis Alterations ) started in 1990 (1), the main idea that aimed the work concerned the thorough examination of ‘ADD & PASS’ projects and how well document that work so I can say that BNETzine is the result of this documentation, artzine (2), Network and Personal Bruno’s Net (3).The editor of such a work is in a word a person who co-ordinates a process that involves many people and that keep all that the net of ‘Add & Pass’ produce.In conclusion zine is the informative bulletin of all is happening but only people that intervene on the base know something about it (4).The ‘Add & Pass’ project hasn’t been choose by chance but it’s due to the first Mail Art (5) with the intention of capture it’s deepest meaning.First of all in all of these projects we are overcoming an individualistical conception of the artist in favour of an idea of artist who is meaning singularity that become part of a creative stream.The overcoming of the self as a way of searching the ‘comprension’ is one of the assumption of the ZEN philosophy that importance has influenced all the movements in wich Mail Art has been developed in the 60 ies (6).By the ‘Add & Pass’ pj it’s possible to come back to the basics and recovering that such basis I have transposed all that in my performance (7).So it’s not a case that in the initial base the central image is one of my selfportrait as Ray has already done.That imagine changes quickly up to disappear for giving space to someonelse (9).All this is something more of what is the meaning of work of art. The work of art become ‘endless’, every step is not final, every passage crew to another, going so far of their basics in a kind of cycle of continous revival.All this is not a pure process as can be think but something objectively new. There isn’t the final overcoming of the object but the reaching of it’s maximum limit that probably is insuperable.At the beginning the work was aimed to follow all the work transformations creating by this evolutive’s tables that schematise the multiple ways in ways which the work of art can envelope or voyage (10).Because of many difficulties this kind of work have had a stop after a public exposure at the Decentralized Worldwide Networker Congress of Ravenna in 1992.The almost 2500 interventions received by now have been collected at the Mail Art Archives at Dogato (FE), Italy (11).Note1.Started in 1990, the project restarted again in 1997 after a stop between the ’93-‘97’s. The Basis elaborations have yet always circulated.2.Artzine – laboratory-review of aesthetical project was the name of my first heading of micro-magazine dedicated at Mail Art (1986).3.One of the main characteristics of BNETzine is which of maintain the mail letter model with the aim of underline even more their mail nature. Every envelope is decorated with self made stamps that refers at the contents of current BNETzine. In regards of my stamps production see also John Held Jr., L'ARTE DEL TIMBRO - Rubber Stamp Art, AAA ed. pp. 40-43.In 2000 BNETzine had also a brief appendix in the web but nothing go on.http://digilander.iol.it/wwwart/bnetzine4.In the new edition of BNETzine (since 2000), it can be find all About BXA project and something about my personal Net : meetings, performance situations, event about Mail Art Network; where you can find other web site, expositions or meeting informations about BXA project or BNETzine. In that new edition it can also be finded the survey RAY CLUB, LETTER BOX COLLECTION, BNETfriends and so on.5.In his “ ARTE POSTALE” Vittore Baroni has catched the connection between BXA pj and the Ray’s work – pp. 126-127. For Vittore those are Chained Projects. Vittore Baroni “Arte Postale—Guida al network della corrispondenza creativa” ’97, AAA ed.6.it refers at Cage work, at New-DADA, Happenings and at the FLUXUS that regarded Ray.7.The relation between my personal experience and ZEN culture has gone always deeper participating at SHODO session, the way of writing, realized by the Japanese master Norio Nagayama.8.The basic was on a A4 Photocopy with in the centre my face inside a frame and above written “artslides”, All this was in a little setting where there was put the request “alter, pass and send a copy to” and the address where to send the work. From this other Networkers made many B basics. Also Ray participated at the project and I spoke about this in a meeting in Florence in 1998 called “Quello spirito folletto di Ray Johnson”. Can be look in the Artpool of Budapest website: http://www.artpool.hu/Ray/RJ_addto.html9.At this can be linked a critical vision of art system , of the communication and more in general of the capitalist society. For this reason ‘Add & Pass pj’ can be connected with the neoist projects of multiple names Monty Cantsin, Luther Blisset, WU MING.10.The elaboration also regarded typological tablrs of different ways of intervention/alteration.11.MAIL ART ARCHIVES, via Bordocchia 69, 44020 Dogato (FE), Italy