Zaumland. Serge Segay and Rea Nikonova in the International Mail Art Network

In the Fluxus-inspired idealistic self-understanding of the mail art network, transgression and a destructive relation to stable forms and structures are important elements. Nevertheless, the mail art community is constituted by certain mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion. Thus, on one level, economical and political factors are limitations, which make joining the network difficult and sometimes impossible for artists in poor countries or in countries with a totalitarian regime. On another level, an artist's belonging to the network community relies on how well he or she recognizes and (re-)produces recognizable signs of subjectivity. This "subjectivity" takes the form of signs of authenticity and internal memory, which are used and reused by its participants and, thereby, create a certain communicative language within a group. More than any of the Soviet artists who have been participating in the network, Rea Nikonova and Serge Segay achieved some success in becoming a part of the mail art community. This success relied on how well the artists performed according to the rules by which the network works. © 2006.