Valdis Āboliņš. The avant-garde, mailart, the New Left and cultural relations during the Cold War

The book is dedicated to Valdis Āboliņš, Latvian exile, cultural activist, the driving force behind the Fluxus movement in Aachen and nGbK in West Berlin, virtually unknown in Latvia. His work and heritage, similarly to a lost and found message, was finally delivered to Latvia in this envelope-like edition, a reference to mail art — his passion and way to communicate with the outer world. The book consists of Āboliņš’ letters’ transcripts, essays exploring his biography and cultural context, and a selection of his mail-art pieces and drawings, divided into three sections (A, B and O). Each book holds one of four facsimiles of his letters.
Edition structure is supported by its architecture. Each section use different paper tone and starts with gate fold to divide the content physically. Chapters in English are marked to be visible in the cut side. In setting of the letter transcripts we tried to preserve some peculiarities of the author’s syntax and style, while keeping text easy to read.