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An Artful Way of Saving on Food With fancifully arranged trading stamps, the guests of Kantine Rathaus in Wedding can eat less expensively. Adapted from an article by Thomas Marheinecke
Wedding - Everyone (almost) knows about trading stamps. But what are these ‘rabARTmarken’, which have become available recently for the guests of the cafeteria in Wedding’s City Hall? Accordingly, ‘rabARTmarken’ are small stamps which are applied into a booklet, and when all of the fields are filled, the collector receives a bonus of 1,60 Marks, to be redeemed for meals and beverages at the next cafeteria visit. How do they differ from conventional trading stamps? Primarily, the coupons are designed by artists, showing 64 different images, including animals and faces or figures from the world of the fanciful. Seventeen artists from Germany, USA, Great Britain, Netherlands and Japan contributed images to the project.
The idea originated from cafeteria tenant Uwe Bressem (40), who has maintained worldwide contacts with artists for years. "In America, during the 70's, an exchange started among artists through the worldwide postal system, called Mail-Art. In general, one sends artistic greetings to another. Taking many forms, one particular type of mail-art is produced by creating and applying faux postage, commonly called ‘artistamps’, next to the postage on envelopes or cards." Bressem specializes in stamps of aviation like paragliders, rockets and airplanes. "Everything that flies, has always fascinated me." Although widely acknowledged among artists, mail-art remains relatively unknown to the general public. Since ownership of the mail-art piece goes to the recipient, museums and galleries rarely take notice of this form of art. "As many more people are now using the Internet, however, the awareness of this art form has changed. It is now possible for anyone who desires, to place their mail-art designs (or those received from others), on the net. I had sent images to some American universities, but unfortunately, never received documentation, despite the promises that were made," Bressem said. He is not unhappy about the past however. "Most people in the Mail-Art Network are generally not too keen on publicity and I have never had the desire to make a living from art", says Bressem. The native Recklinghausener loves his occupation as a chef. Before he opened independently as a tenant of the Rathaus, he worked in London, Switzerland and Mexico. In Berlin he received his master's certificate and operated in the ‘Seehof’ and Palace Hotel. The suggestion to introduce discounts for faithful cafeteria customers came from the council’s employee relations office of the district. "I accepted the request gladly, but I wanted something unusual", disclosed Bressem. He wrote to dozens of his artist friends, requesting images for the project through a call for artists. The art works he received were scanned into his computer, from which he created a trading stamp sheet and a savings-booklet. He produced the first stamps in an edition of 64,000 pieces and printed them at his own expense. "Several guests have already disclosed to me that they would not redeem their first full album, but would keep and enjoy it as a collectible art object", said Bressem.
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