Call for 'artwork by mail' leads to a truly international exhibition at Lancaster University

MIGRATIONS: An International Mail Art Project opened to the public on Thursday May 15 in the foyer of the Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts (LICA) building on the Lancaster University campus.

The exhibition is the result of an open call for artworks to be sent through the post on the theme of MIGRATIONS (human, animal, vegetal, geologic and more).

It is curated by LICA’s visiting researcher Prof Sait Toprak from Dokuz Eylül University in Izmir, Turkey, and LICA senior lecturer Gerry Davies.

The exhibition will include postcards, collages, etchings, lithographs, photographs, documents, drawings, paintings and artworks in mixed media.

Gerry said: “People will be able to see an international response to a global question – What migration do you see, and what do you think about it?

“From Japan to Argentina via Syria and the UK, the exhibition includes images that are generous, beautiful and also tough and heart-rending.”

‘Mail Art’ as an art genre emerged in the 1960s as a way for artists to use postal services to share artworks, collaborate and curate international exhibitions.

Artists like Marcel Duchamp and Kurt Schwitters, as well as the Italian futurists, contributed to the early development of mail art.

It continues today as a quick and democratic means to create and communicate across countries and continents.

The exhibition is open to the public and runs until May 26.