Mail Art News #11: Hammering on the Door of Art History, with Nonlocal Variable
Prepress Stream of conscience word salad from looking at things on the desk & screen, then highlighted a word per line, which turned into a not-so-coded message. TB: Hi Nonlocal Variable. How did you get into mail art? And your name indicates that you're into programming. To what extent does your interest in technology influence your art? NV: I’m a child of the 60s and tend towards the experimentaI and fringe culture. I found mail art through music. I love avant-garde music and writing – John Cage, LaMonte Young, etc., and corresponded directly with musicians. I learned about Fluxus, Ray Johnson and others. Someone sent me a card that said “Post Card Art,” and before I knew it, I was stuck in. Nonlocal Variable is a quantum mechanics term as well as a coding term. Einstein discovered the idea of “spooky action at a distance,” where 2 particles can communicate simultaneously. Bell’s Theorem solved the math about this by plugging in a “nonlocal var...