FAQ

Frequently (and Recently) Asked Questions

What is this?
Political Mail Art.
An interactive project where you create the art and mail it.
Think PostSecret for the White House without the anonymity.

Why are you doing this?
Leading up to and immediately following the election there was a strong response from the arts community to the words and policies of Donald Trump. This is an attempt to encourage a continued response sending messages of hope and messages of concern directly to the White House.

What kind of art can I make / what medium can I use?
You’re welcome to create any style of art using any medium you like so long as it can travel through the US Postal Service and conveys a message to the President. The goal is that it should be immediately readable by the person opening the envelope.
It also must be able to be documented (scanned or photographed) so it can be added to this online collection.
Unsure if your idea will work for this project, please contact me.

Will you post everything submitted?
Just about everything. I want to encourage all sorts of communication (positive and negative, supportive and critical) to the President. However, if a submission is obviously hate speech, I reserve the right not to post it.

Is this only for people protesting Donald Trump’s Presidency?
no.
Not all artists are liberal. Not all artists are anti-Trump.  (and when it comes to pro-Trump, I’m not just talking about the #DaddyWillSaveUs exhibition.)
More importantly, this is about using the language that we as artists regularly employ as a means to convey messages of hope, calls for change, and the struggles and stories of our lives.

Why are you asking for such high resolution in the submissions?
Following the launch of this participatory project and online archive I will be seeking venues for a physical presentation of this work and hope to produce duplicated copies of the artwork you sent to the White House and the responses that you received back from the White House.

[UPDATE: “In Care Of The White House” has been scheduled for exhibition in January/February 2018 at Montpelier Arts Center in Laurel, MD.]

Need help photographing your work?
If possible, please scan everything so that you maintain the best level of reproducablity. However if you do plan to photograph the work, Check out these links for suggestions on photographing your work:
https://www.artsyshark.com/2015/04/23/mistakes-photographing-art/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciQ9sqa35jU
http://www.adorama.com/alc/how-to-photograph-flat-artwork

Do I have to document the part that has my return address on it?
Please. I’d like to have the entirety of your submission in this archive.
Don’t worry, though, I will blur out your address before posting it online (or putting it in an exhibition).
In addition your contact information will never be sold or given away.

Posting and Reproduction
Creative Commons License
In Care Of The White House by http://InCareOfTheWhiteHouse.org is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Attribution for images and documentation should be listed under the name of the artist in care of this website. (Name Of Artist / InCareOfTheWhiteHouse.org)

Questions you’ve asked

I am wondering if all mail to the president (past and present) is archived?
While I am not an authority on the Archives or the Law, this is what I have found through my research. 44 U.S.C. Chapter 22 states that The United States shall reserve and retain complete ownership, possession, and control of Presidential records (defined as “documentary materials…created or received by the President”). The records may not be destroyed or disposed up unless they are deemed to “no longer have administrative, historical, informational, or evidentiary value” but only if “the President obtains the views, in writing, of the Archivist concerning the proposed disposal of such Presidential records.” So, it is my belief that all mail is archived.

Visit https://www.archives.gov/about/laws/presidential-records.html for the full copy of this section of the U.S. Code

Who’s running this project?
Steven H Silberg.
Check out another participatory project, “Sole Connection,” or my portfolio site.

Have a question you need answered? Contact me.