[JEANSELLEM VIEWER] — DICK HIGGINS 30.8-11.9.1974 — Categories: letters, press — Keywords: Galerie S:t Petri, Jean Sellem, archive — — — — — January 7, 1974Dear Jean Sellem:Happy New Year. I am enclosing Dick’s bio/biblio for your information. The period from Aug. 30th–Sept. 11th seems fine. However, Dick will not be able to be there. The amount of pieces we will send will depend on how much you think you can sell. I would say somewhere between 30 and 60. They are not very heavy and I can ship them airfreight to you. In that way it will get there in about two days and it is not that expensive. Please let me know how much to send. Best wishes from Dick.Sincerely,Nelleke Rosenthal — — — Category: letters — <p><span style="color: rgb(17, 17, 17);">January 17, 1974</span></p> — Dear Dick,Thank you for your quick answer with the bibliography. You asked me about what to send to Sweden.I must tell you that Galerie S:t Petri is not a selling gallery. It’s more a place where you make experiments, a sort of an art-laboratory. In Sweden it is known for having just these kinds of exhibitions where you get to know something new, where you present a philosophical idea, etc. I cannot guarantee any selling. But the gallery is a good place for public relations, intellectual discussions and the like.Your exhibition should not weigh more than 5–10 kilograms. Send documents, photos, writings or any other things that are very easy to ship from U.S.A. From the plan of the gallery you can see exactly how many pieces there would be place for.I am counting on your exhibition at the period August 30th – September 11th.As I told you in my last letter the material should be in Lund at least two months before the exhibition begins to prevent unexpected things to happen.I am very happy for this exhibition.In Sweden it is rainy nowadays. I hope it is better overseas.My best wishesJean Sellem — — — Dear Jean Sellem,Okay, now I understand more about your gallery. In the meantime I've been hearing good things about you from Mats B, Bengt af Klintberg, etc. All will be fine, very fine.One thing I should say is this: a good deal of my work is hard to ship. Other things require my presence. To do a show this August is a little ironic, since I will be in Europe next year: Berlin, on a DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) from January through June (a quickie to Stockholm in January will be my only visit to Sweden, however), and I plan to spend late June, July and probably August in Sweden. If you would prefer to postpone my show until next year, there would certainly be advantages to this.However, I will certainly make up a grouping of pieces from my graphic series, 7.2.73, including various multiples and prints on mirrors, and also designs for projects and ephemera. Please just confirm as soon as you can that this is what you would prefer for me to do, and I'll make the shipment in a few weeks, roughly at the end of April.Looking forward to meeting you, I don't know when, in the course of our mutual peregrinations, I don't know where, but I do know soon,With best wishes, — — — June 17, 1974Dear Jean Sellem:There are 18 works underway to Sweden for Dick's show at your galerie. They are:# 402, DOZ# 408, BGB# 410, SFS# 417, RK#1# 418, RKL# 419# 422# 384, CUL# 365, FGMA# 357, ID# 29# 47# 323, B#2# 4# 88# 154# 198# 227 — I realize these are just numbers to you, but it is important for us to know which part of the series they are, so please keep this record. The letters behind the commas are the titles, the rest are untitled. I sent the works uninsured, with no commercial value so that you will have no trouble at the border with customs. I think it is best to return them this way also. The works are however valued at about $350.00 each. You will probably have to pick them up at the airport (Lund has an airport, doesn't it?). I think it should arrive this week. If you hear nothing from the airport, write me immediately so that we will be able to trace the shipment. If you do receive it, please let me know that too.Good luck.Sincerely,Nelleke Rosenthal — — — Category: press — <p><span style="color: rgb(17, 17, 17);">June 26, 1974</span></p> — Dear Dick,The parcel has arrived at Malmö airport. The material seems very nice to exhibit in the gallery. I am happy having this show in August - September and will prepare it in the best way.I have also received the letter explaining numbers, titles and prices. However, I had to pay 65 dollars at the customs for getting the package and would very much appreciate you sending me this sum because the gallery is no commercial one and has no economical background as Bengt af Klintberg and Mats certainly have explained. If you prepare to send me collections of books from Something Else Press for the same amount, I would be glad to show them to friends in my gallery. But please send them by boat!!!Regarding the exhibition, I would like you to send 15 photos, black-and-white, for pressinformation and also, if possible, a text which in short terms explains the philosophy of your work.I heard from some friends of mine that you have been in the hospital. Are you quite all right now? I hope it was not too serious. I look forward to seeing you at your next visit to Sweden and maybe we could concretize something else together.Med bästa hälsningar frånGalerie S:t PetriPS. A friend just gave me Something Else Yearbook 1974P.S. 27.VI.74 - I now know that I have to pay another 90 dollars in taxes to the customs for getting your work. The customs always values your parcels — — — — Category: press — July 19, 1974Dear Dick,OK. I’ll fix it somehow with the customs.Please send me 65 dollars, shipping costs by flight for your work from the U.S. to Sweden, which I mentioned in my latest letter. Or, if you prefer, books from Something Else Press for the same sum.Thank you for the nice photos.I hope to meet Alison Knowles soon at her presumed action in Copenhagen.I’ll make my best for your exhibition.Best regards,Jean — — — Category: press — <p><span style="color: rgb(17, 17, 17);">August 21, 1974.</span></p> — Dear Jean:Well, your letter took more than a month to reach us. Unfortunately Dick did not get to see the invitation cards, he left for South America to do a show there. But thanks a lot. I'll forward a few to him. About the S.E.P. Books can be ordered through Jan Herman, Something Else Press, P.O. Box H, Barton, Vt. 05822. I am including their catalogue.bests,Nelleke Rosenthal — — — <p><span style="color: rgb(17, 17, 17);">November 6, 1973</span></p> — Dear Dick,We met in Stockholm last year at Bengt af Klintberg’s.I am very much interested in receiving more complete information concerning your work and activities as well as some documentation about you. I have a gallery in Lund which is very fascinating in many aspects. Perhaps an exhibition of considerable interest here could be arranged.I hope to hear from you soon.With best wishes,Jean Sellem — — — Category: press — Dear Dick Higgins,It’s OK for a two-week exhibition in Galerie S:t Petri during the period August 30th – September 11th 1974. I am very happy having you in my gallery.During almost three years I have been trying to create a point in Scandinavia where people with avant-garde ideas can show their things. For example Kirkeby, Gette, Boltanski, Annette Messager, Kallman, Roualdès, Mallander and many others have been here.The gallery is very appreciated and well-known in southern Sweden and situated in the most cultural part of the country.Could you please inform me immediately if the exhibition time suits you? Please send the letter by air mail. Otherwise it takes one and a half months to get it.The best would then be to send a not too heavy exhibition (one which would not weigh too much since you are sending it from the USA). It should be in Lund at least two months before the exhibition starts, just in case something unexpected might happen and so that I will have plenty of time for preparing it in the best way.I am highly interested in receiving all possible material – books, records, newspaper articles – about you and your activities. Since I have a rather large archive of material on various artists, I would appreciate this information about you. — — — — — — — Category: press — Avant-garde artist shows his graphic workLUND: Dick Higgins is exhibiting graphic works at Galerie S:t Petri from 30 August to 11 September. Dick Higgins lives and works in the USA and has never before shown his works separately in Sweden.At a Fluxus concert in Stockholm, he participated together with Bengt af Klintberg and Staffan Olzon in 1963.At the end of the 1950s, Dick Higgins became acquainted with the American composer John Cage’s aesthetics. In 1957–59 he attended Cage’s composition class together with, among others, George Brecht and LaMonte Young.● HAPPENINGSSince 1958, the versatile Higgins has been active in happenings. He is also one of the initiators of Fluxus. It is an art movement founded at the beginning of the 1960s whose participants seek to convey that “everything is art and art is life”.In 1964 he founded the publishing house Something Else Press, which publishes avant-garde art and music literature. He introduced European avant-garde to Americans. During the whole of the 1960s he also wrote so-called Something Else Newsletters. They dealt with various artistic activities. Among other things, the concept of Intermedia was launched in such a “newsletter”. The year was 1965.● FILMMAKERIn addition to numerous books, Dick Higgins has also made around ten films. He is described as an extremely dynamic person with a constant flow of ideas. Moreover, he is an important theoretician within the avant-garde.The exhibition is open weekdays from 15:00 to 20:00, Saturdays and Sundays from 12:00 to 17:00. — — — Higgins at S:t PetriThe artist Dick Higgins, USA, is exhibiting separately for the first time in Sweden. He is doing so at Galerie S:t Petri in Lund, 30 August–11 September. In 1963 he did, however, take part together with Bengt af Klintberg and Staffan Olzon in a Fluxus concert in Stockholm.At the end of the 1950s Dick Higgins became acquainted with John Cage’s aesthetics, and since 1958 this versatile artist has been active in happenings and is one of the initiators of Fluxus, an art movement founded in the 1960s which, among other things, tries to say that “everything is art and art is life”.Higgins has also written several books and made a number of films. He is also an important theoretician within the avant-garde. The exhibition is open weekdays 15–20, Saturdays and Sundays 12–17. Higgins’ graphic works are on display. — — — Mr Avant-Garde in LundLUND (KvP) Now Mr Avant-Garde is conquering Lund!The American artist Dick Higgins is exhibiting his graphic works at the Lund gallery S:t Petri until 11 September. It is the first time Higgins has had a solo exhibition in Sweden.Dick Higgins is one of art’s great all-rounders, who does not confine himself to working with visual art. He has several books behind him, and he has also introduced European avant-garde art to Americans.At the end of the 1950s he took the initiative in Fluxus, an art movement which fights under the motto that “everything is art and art is life”.