printout, 1984

The Robert Adrian Papers are housed in two archival boxes and arranged into nine series. Series have been designated for individual projects represented in the collection: Telecom Conference, ZAG, The World in 24 Hours, Interplay, Le Plissure du Texte, Fax, Artex Mail, Network Planetario- 42nd Venice Biennale, and miscellaneous. Generally, these papers include telefax messages about his projects, correspondence, newsletters, photographs, posters, and articles. Information on the I.P. Sharp electronic mail system includes Artbox/Artex and "Interplay," "Telecom conference," and the "Zag" project. The telefax messages have been copied on to acid-free paper because the fax paper is not durable over a long period of time. Therefore most of the originals are not in the collection. Part of this collection, particularly correspondence, is in German.

The material in this collection reflects Adrian's idea that telecommunications could improve communications between artists all over the world and keep them in touch with the latest developments in the art world. He felt that telecommunications could increase the creative possibilities for the artist. Aiding in these communication projects was the beginning of Artbox in 1990. Artbox was a mailbox for artists' communications and facilitated the coordination of projects such as Artex.