Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei (Budapest, 2007)

ANNUAL REPORT - A 2007. ÉV - KATA BODOR: Parastamp Four Decades of Artistamps from Fluxus to The Internet

According to the generally accepted definition by Peter Frank, everything that has any one of the characteristics of philately (perforation, denomination, adhesiveness, being attached to a postal envelope, etc.) may be regarded as an artiststamp. Besides revenue, propaganda and charity stamps and tax stamps of the same shape philatelists list artistamps under the category of so-called parastamps, i.e. stamps not used for SURFING IN THE "ARTISTAMP" COLLECTION OF THE ART POO I postal purposes. The artiststamp genre is perhaps the most restricted form of correspondence art but it is also an enigmatic and emblematic genre with heraldic conciseness. The coining of the term artistamp is linked to the name of Michael Bidner, who through his intensive, organisational work struggled to have the genre recognised in its own right. Fie donated his collection to Artpool in 1989. Bidner used the term he himself invented for stamps that individual artists (or groups of artists) made with the intention of creating a work of art in the context of mail art. The major increase in artistamp-making (and mail art) is the result of the proliferation of widely accessible simple, fast, cheap duplicating machines and the increased communication demand their use has generated. Modern duplicating machines have opened a new era in correspondence brought about by the explosive development of technological means that are becoming increasingly inexpensive and generally accessible, and by "snail mail" becoming more expensive. Mail artists of the twentyfirst century send electronically created letter- or stamp creations via electronic mail, which the addressee then prints. In this way the original and the copy are no longer distinguishable and the value is embodied by information, replacing tangible material. Kata Bodor