Mercury Mail: an avant-garde project revisited at the Canadian Museum of Civilization
Gatineau, Quebec, December 20, 2004 — Mercury Mail is a quirky little exhibit that recently opened at the Canadian Postal Museum, located in the Canadian Museum of Civilization. The exhibit documents a performance mail art project that took the form of a hike across Canada to deliver mail at a time before e-mail, before the communications technology revolution. The artist, now a Museum employee, set out to explore the notion of a non-technical alternative to the more modern, intricate world of information conveyors. His project was part of an avant-garde art show called Postal Art 77 held in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.
In 1977, Geoff Wonnacott, now Head of Display Services at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, created a delivery company called Mercury Mail. In 1979, he hand-delivered mail in person and on foot from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Victoria, B.C. His trans-Canada trek covered 7,193 kilometres and took about six months to complete.
Located in the Collector’s Corner of the Canadian Postal Museum, Mercury Mail displays items such as annotated maps of Wonnacott’s cross-Canada mail route, daily journal entries and press clippings. The showcase also includes congratulatory letters from then Prime Minister Joe Clark and Former Minister of Fitness, Amateur Sport and Multiculturalism Steve Paproski. The creators of the Mercury Mail exhibit hope that it will stimulate the imagination of others. The exhibit will be shown until April 2005.
Media Information:
Chief, Media Relations
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Tel.: (819) 776-7167
Media Relations Officer
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Tel.: (819) 776-7169
Fax: (819) 776-7187
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