Ruud Janssen

Ruud Janssen (born July 29, 1959, in Tilburg) is a Dutch Fluxus and mail artist currently living in Breda in the Netherlands. Life and Work Janssen studied physics and mathematics before he became active with mail art in 1980, doing several international mail art projects. From 1994 till 2001 he has conducted interviews with Fluxus and mail artists. These interviews have been published in booklets and on the internet since 1996. In later years, Janssen focused on acrylic painting and individual correspondences. Janssen was selected to publish an essay as one of eleven contemporary "New Fluxus" artists who are seen to 'inhabit the site of Fluxus, developing and interpreting the Fluxus tradition in a new way.' in a special double issue of the journal Visible Language on Fluxus. In 1994, Janssen began a series of mail-interviews. He interviewed Fluxus and mail art personalities by using all the communication-forms that were available (fax, e-mail, envelope, personal meeting, telephone). The question traveled by one form and the answer could be sent back in another form. This concept resulted in a series of mail-interviews. These interviews were published in booklet-form and the complete texts are also available online. In 2008, a selection of the mail-interviews were published in book form.