Two Hundred and Forty-three Postcards in Real Colour.
Decent nosh. Good for the calf muscles. Many regards.
Georges Perec’s postcard messages, dedicated to his friend Italo Calvino, appeared as a long list, with not a single image. Written in 1978, they were translated into English by John Sturrock in Species of Spaces and Other Pieces, in 1997.
Constructed with mathematical precision, they describe hedonistic vacations that we can only dream about. Perec’s holiday-makers travel through alphabets, relaxing and sunbathing, making historic and literary connections on the way, with no mention of the journeys nor the bills. The messages seem a little repetitive and formulaic, but as both the men were members of Oulipo, that is perhaps hardly surprising. The first clue to unravelling the secrets is to ask why 243? Our aim is to respond to this work as artists by making a postcard, adding the missing image to the message, and then posting the physical postcard. So please contact me via this site if you would like to take part and be sent your message for a postcard. You can draw, paint, sew, collage, stencil, stamp, buy or print, it’s all up to your imagination. We will exhibit the postcards at UWE Bower Ashton library in 2021.
Postcards images have already been offered to the project from Russia to USA, Finland to the Isle of Wight. Join the Republic of Postcards, and take part in this post-modernist Grand Tour while we are all staying at home.
