Ruud Janssen (born July 29, 1959 in

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

) is a Dutch

Fluxus Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finished product. Fluxus ...

and

mail art Mail art, also known as postal art and correspondence art, is an artistic movement centered on sending small-scale works through the postal service. It initially developed out of what eventually became Ray Johnson's New York Correspondence Scho ...

ist currently living in Breda in the

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Life and Work

Janssen studied physics and mathematics before he became active with

in 1980, doing several international mail art projects. From 1994 till 2001 he has conducted interviews with

and mail artists. These interviews have been published in booklets and on the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

since 1996. In later years, Janssen focused on

acrylic paint Acrylic paint is a fast-drying paint made of pigment suspended in acrylic polymer emulsion and plasticizers, silicone oils, defoamers, stabilizers, or metal soaps. Most acrylic paints are water-based, but become water-resistant when dry. De ...

ing and individual correspondences. Janssen was selected to publish an essay as one of eleven contemporary "New Fluxus" artists who are seen to 'inhabit the site of Fluxus, developing and interpreting the Fluxus tradition in a new way.' in a special double issue of the journal ''

Visible Language {{No footnotes , date=November 2016 ''Visible Language'' is an American journal presenting visual communication research. Founded in 1967 as ''The Journal of Typographical Research'' by Merald Wrolstad, occasional ''Visible Language'' issues are ...

'' on Fluxus. In 1994, Janssen began a series of mail-

interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" ...

s. He interviewed

and mail art personalities by using all the communication-forms that were available (

fax Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (the latter short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer o ...

e-mail Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic (digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...

envelope An envelope is a common packaging item, usually made of thin, flat material. It is designed to contain a flat object, such as a letter or card. Traditional envelopes are made from sheets of paper cut to one of three shapes: a rhombus, a sh ...

, personal meeting, telephone). The question traveled by one form and the answer could be sent back in another form. This concept resulted in a series of mail-interviews. These interviews were published in booklet-form and the complete texts are also available online. In 2008, a selection of the mail-interviews were published in book form. In 1997 Janssen had a solo exhibition of his mail art work and interviews in Guy Bleus' ''E-Mail Art Archives'' (Provincial Center for Visual Arts, now Z33) in Hasselt, Belgium.

TAM-Publications

Janssen publishes articles, magazines and booklets with his TAM-Publications and participates in international

projects, collaborations and exhibitions.

International Union of Mail-Artists

He founded IUOMA (International Union of Mail-Artists) in 1988 and is also the curator of the ''TAM-Rubberstamp Archive'', the result of a

Mail Art Mail art, also known as postal art and correspondence art, is an artistic movement centered on sending small-scale works through the postal service. It initially developed out of what eventually became Ray Johnson's New York Correspondence Scho ...

collection that has been accumulated by him from 1983 till now. The archive contains art prints, original rubber stamps, magazines and literature.

Fluxus Heidelberg Center

In 2003 Janssen and Litsa Spathi founded the Fluxus Heidelberg Center for which they are building up a collection of Fluxus material and where they also publish their own works.
Fluxus Heidelberg Center website

Publications

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References

External links

Official site of Ruud Janssen, IUOMA and TAM-Publications
{{DEFAULTSORT:Janssen, Ruud 1959 births Living people Fluxus Dutch bloggers People from Tilburg