In 2015, Artpool launched a research project – long needed in an international context as well – with the aim of creating a complex digital historical chronology of mail art, based on Artpool’s continuously expanding collection. The current results of this process can be viewed on the Artpool website, organised by year, starting in 1962 (when Ray Johnson founded the New York Correspondence School). As part of the research, a collection of texts on mail art has also been published. Additionally, the project has had a rather notable impact in terms of collection expansion as well: since its launch, several artists who have been actively engaged – both creatively and organisationally – in the field of correspondence art, have made significant donations to Artpool’s collection.
Image source: Ray Johnson: Untitled (CHRO NO LOGY), n.d. Ink on paper, 29.7 x 21 cm, Richard L. Feigen & Co, New York. A reproduction can be found in the collection of the Artpool Art Research Center, in the publication ± 1961 (Julia Robinson, Christian Xatrec [eds.]: ± 1961 La expansión de las artes, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 2013, p. 246)