Report on the Mail Art Networking Congress with A-rna Banana and Ten)r Reid In Vancouver, Canada about " The social Impact of networking "

A discussion (relaxed) over bananas (delicious) and starllpsheets (8lossy) :

The social value of art in general and mailart in specific seems to be growing with the amount of free time in the age of automatization and rationalization.

All participants report experience with less money for more people, the lack of adequate pastimes in their capitalist societies (Canada, Australia, Germany), even feelings of guilt caused through new poverty. Also they try to think of ways how to show fellow citizens on the dole how they can find a happy and fulfilled existence outside the rat race. A-rna reports about the high satisfactory level of free creativity courses in Vancouver, e.g. in video and filmmaking for independent TV stations - open chances for networkers. Peter gives examples of Iris and Angela's documentary features about networliers as shown on New Orleans and Brooki)rt7 local stations and festivals, also in our home-town Minden/Get-t-nany, self-organized at our Civic Culntre Centre.

The function and value of networking as PR outlet and valve forfringe groups (like e.g. the unemployed) tnakes it necessary to keep the nenuork open and address a greater public, as we all agree .

A glimpse at the social niches in \Yhich we find our fe.llo\Y networkers squatting like ourselves is highly interestin8, especially how they use them for- "creative sponsoring": from Kyoji Nakatani's and Antonio Tregnaghi's and Lon Spiegelman's computers throu8h Marcello Diotallevi's rich maniage to Peter's pension and Guy Rleus' dole, to Klaus Groh's support from the Cultural Ministry to the ads in Joki's Smile magzine etc. etc.

The history of the Network sociology has still to be written, and it sure will have as i-nuch suspense as a thriller.