Tracy Herrity : Is there something like a "Free Gift?"

Tracy Herrity: Your Mail-Interview Project prompted me to send out a few questions of my own! I would like to ask you if you have read Marcel Mauss "The Gift" which discusses wether you can truly give a gift freely. I would like to find out your opinion on "a free gift".

Ruud Janssen: No, I haven't read that specific book. A gift is never free. It costs other things. It is exchange of energy. receive it & pass on or return. In physics there is the law that explains that energy never gets lost. The energy you invest in a gift (it isn't free, you did something to get that gift....) is passed on to the receiver. He can react on that, pass it on, or even ignore it. But somehow it will cause something for sure.

Luciana Tamas: gAsPexT isn't

Hal: Are you still interviewing Mail-Artists?

Well Hal, it is a question that I get more often. Sometimes I do start an interview but only rarely and only when I have the time. People who request to be interviewed by me were also not choosen during the Mail-Interview project. Just because otherwise all contacts I have could be asking that. I did think out a system back in 1998-2000 where mail-artists could indicate who I should consider (they could not mention themselves), and that brought me hints on people to interview that I wasn't even aware of. Actually that turned into a kind of startistical event where I would find out about the existing networks outside my own network.

Johnny Boy: anything else you may want to add.

Well, sure. I am currious to what kind of question you really would like to have answered after reading my answers. Just leave a comment and I will answer that as well.

Johnny Boy: has your opinion about the network changed, and if yes, why.

Seems like I already answered that in connection to your previous question. Life is always full of changes. Networks too. They evolve, change, loose members, gain new members, change shape. The digital networks change even faster.

My opinion of the network. Has that changed? Not really. A network is a group of people who work together to reach a certain goal. That goal is mostly not fixed. It might be an idea by some which evolves too. The good neworks start with a good idea and live long. When the goal is reached the network has no function anymore. Maybe look for an unreachable goal, and the network lasts forever.

In digital networks the goal is sometimes hidden. When money gets involved the secret agendas are there. Large networks that are digital costs money which is earned by advertisings. That tends to get commercial also when they say they are not. In Mail-Art Lon Spiegelman claimed "Mail-Art and Money don't mix", and he has a very good point there.

Changes are part of life. So networks change too. The question is simple and always answered by yes.