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Correspondances

Jef Lambrecht was an inveterate correspondent – not only in the journalistic sense of reporting on worldwide affairs, (also his day-job) but as writer of letters, open, half-open, hermetic artistic... in all manner of form and medium... pushing the boundaries of definitions, one can call him pamphleteer, commentator, publicist, publisher, communicator... He produced a wide range of publications from classic non-fiction books to loose-leaf flyers and just about everything in between.

One can say he was a adept of the new York Correspondence School and with that lands squarely in the Mail Art scene... Though there are many and diverse product that fit this bill we concentrate mainly on a few pertinent series:

“Het Orgaan” was a series limited to a number of addressees and a specific timeframe: dates with multiple eights in 1988; it was an interlocking series in which elements from one could flow into the next – and later on Jef produced 'special editions' (hors serie) which became multiples / combinations and led to further developments such as...

“La Lanterne de Lantin” which had a much broader base, was sent from various origins (both geographic as persons/publishers*) and had a variable run both in terms of numbers per edition and distribution... Many were sent from far-flung continents and were part of communications for the various 'institutes' of departments thereof... making it difficult to define the actual extent and period of this publication... morphing partly into

“Halensee” which came into being at the canonization of Vincent van Gogh (the pope of Halensee being a literary figment by local writer Paul van Ostyen which was appropriated for the purpose) and which then began to lead a life of it's own... as did

“Original Imaginaire” becoming somewhat the mouthpiece of the 'Intercontinental Entrepot' series of activities... and could tak on any form whatsoever, including just an officializing stamp. (O.I.)

Aside from these mainstays there were countless occasional publication in various forms connected to exhibitions, performances, happenings, campaigns etc... The regular letter-correspondence in function of the various artistic projects are in themselves important elements in these projects and were often displayed in enlarged form during exhibitions and presentations – a lot of research still has to be made of these elements...

Correspondents / editors LdL

(*co-editors (aside from JL als ‘Gina £ire’ were Monica Droste & Guy Rombouts (AWAWA), the Belgian Institute for World Affairs (en departementen) Vered Ben-Kiki, Feather Bros. Society (Karel Schoetens), Rolf A. Kluenter, Mondial Pix (T. Geirlandt) Robert Montoya, Meeester X (D. Grégoire) en Wout Vercammen, amongst others..)

Closely related were the smaller visiting cards and index cards, labels and tickets that he liked to hand out during exhibitions or manifestations, usually provided with the (significant) date of issue and in a specific and limited edition (based on the number 8). Especially in the period when print-card automats were found in stations and the like, Jef Lambrecht was a prominent producer and publisher: these were provided with (occasioned) stamps and handwritten notes and drawings. The limited edition thus created a small circle of privileged correspondents. Some of these small cards were works of art in themselves, especially the (laminated) drawings on cigarette paper are each unique.