Baudhuin Simon

En recuerdo a nuestro amigo y colega...

In memory of our friend and colleague...

(August 29, 1947 / March 9, 2006)

----- Original Message -----

From: Sztuka Fabryka

Sent: Saturday, March 11, 2006 10:55 AM

Subject: (",) Baudhuin Simon

I received today the news that Belgian mail-artists Baudhuin Simon has passed away on Thursday 9 March. I was not in contact with him the past years, due to reasons, but as a great wise man said. Every person who dies is another museum burned down. Will remember the good moments. I haven't got any information of cause of death as he has died very young, I believe he must be mid fifties and was living a very healthy life. Greetings, Geert

MESSAGES RECEIVED BY EMAIL

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From: David Hunter

Sent: Saturday, March 11, 2006 4:02 PM

Dear Sztuka Fabryka, Wow,what a shock, I had just glanced over to see that I had a message and I saw, Baudhuin Simon's name, I thought he saw my name on the yahoo MA group list and had sent a message. I'm trying to think when the last time I wrote him. It must of been in the last 2 years, when I was living in the Stanley Hotel, in S.F.. That's very sad news. He will have been the 4th person that has passed away (that I know of) that I've known through Mail Art... Tibor Papp, Robin Crozier and Ray Johnson. I always thought of him whenever I saw a pig or pig-related merchandise and always will. Take Care, david

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From: J. Lehmus (Finland)

Sent: Saturday, March 11, 2006 4:09 PM

Too bad. I always owed him a sending. j

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From: Alice Kitselman (USA)

Sent: Saturday, March 11, 2006 5:29 PM

.....Baudhuin Simon, Ohhh no! The pig man is gone. I had no idea he was ill? Sad. I even still have a pig postcard for him. What a shame.... he will be missed! Dragonfly Dream

"Paradise is exactly like where you are right now... only much, much better."  --  Laurie Anderson

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From: Michael Leigh (England)

Sent: Saturday, March 11, 2006 6:58 PM

Sorry to hear this. I did not have much contact with Baudhuin but always amazed that he persued his own piggy vision so relentlessly for so long. His humour and porky obsession will be greatly missed by all who knew his work.  A sad week indeed for losing great individual talents in all walks of life. Ivor Cutler, the poet. Ali Farka Toure, the guitarist, Linda Smith, the comedienne and now Baudhuin Simon. Michael

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From: Vortice Argentina (Argentina)

Sent: Saturday, March 11, 2006 9:45 PM

Dear friends, I´m very sorry to hear about this bad news,

he was a great collaborator to all the Vortice projects...

We will miss his pork works...

I just published the notice in the Vortice site:

www.vorticeargentina.com.ar/noticias/

If someone has the date of birthday, please send me the info...

Best to all... FGD

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. some works made by Baudhuin Simon sent to Vortice Argentina .

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From: State of Being (USA)

Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2006 12:58 AM

It's sad to hear the news. Just this past week as I was cleaning around the house I found a strip of film with a pig silhouette cut in it. It had fallen from an envelope of Baudhuin that I received during the last month. Now no more pigs.

Reid

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From: Vittore Baroni @ e.o.n. (Italy)

Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2006 4:56 AM

oink sniff oink sniff oink sniff oink sniff oink sniff oink oink oink

I once annoyed Baudhuin because I thought his name was Simon

oink sniff oink sniff oink sniff oink sniff oink sniff oink oink oink

"My name is Baldovino like the Belgian king" he did explain to me

oink sniff oink sniff oink sniff oink sniff oink sniff oink oink oink

so since that time I never addressed a letter to Simon Baudhuin

oink sniff oink sniff oink sniff oink sniff oink sniff oink oink oink

but I always made sure to write his first name first: Baudhuin King of Pig-Mail!

bye-bye oink

oink (and ciao old Ivor too)...

Vittore Baroni @ e.o.n.

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From: Sztuka Fabryka (Belgium)

Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2006 6:00 AM

Baudhuin Simon did not died of a natural cause, due to circumstances he has taken his own life. Sad but true, give him a moment of your thoughts.

g

G

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From: Reine Shad (France)

Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2006 6:47 AM

What a terrible new !

I have just recieved a letter last week from him...I was working on the answer !

Go in peace..

Reine shad

"i stopped to send a lot of letters"

From: Claudio Romeo (Italy)

Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2006 7:06 AM

I have received the past week one its envelope (attached)

... :-(

"Un disegnatore è sempre in cerca di idee, come un maiale è sempre in cerca di tartufi" (Georges Wolinski)

Ciao Pig DaDa

Claudio

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From: Ibirico (Spain)

Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2006 10:57 AM

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From: César Reglero (Spain)

El Taller del Sol quiere despedirse con esta imagen de Baudhuin Simon (PIG MAIL ART DADA) tomada durante las jornadas poéticas y acciones visuales de "ALFABETOS" realizadas en Caldas de Reis (Pontevedra). Allí estuvimos juntos con Pig Mail Art Dada, Lois Gil Magariños, Tartarugo, Manoel Bonaval, Antxo Pastor y otros mail artistas que hoy nos sentimos tristes, pero que sabemos que Baudhuin Simon era un espíritu libre y por ello que hemos elegido esta foto de despedida. Realizada en la playa de Villagarcía de Arousa (mayo 2004). La imagen es significativa por cuanto Simon disfrutaba con estos grandes espacios al aire libre, rodeado de amigos, donde la brisa del mar invadía todo su ser.

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From: Elizabeth

Oh so sorry he's no longer among us.  In the recent two weeks I, too, just exchanged a little mailing with Baudhuin. He raised a lot of people's consciousness of more than the pig. Elizabeth

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From: Pete Spence (Australia)

long live pig dad.... pete spence
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From: Tricia Burr

It is sad news but maybe now pigs do fly. Let's hope his pain is gone and he flies!

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From: Jorge Barreto (Brasil)

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From: Guido Vermeulen (Belgium)

To all mail artists
On the suicidal death of Baudhuin Simon:
Yes, the news is true. It reached me by a message from his former girl friend on Saturday while I was hosting the arrival of a poet in my flat (Virginia Cubillan, someone I met thru Mark Sonnenfeld, she lives in the USA but is from Venezuela)
The contrast between the excitement of meeting someone new thru' the network and the sad announcement of the suicide of Baudhuin (who introduced me to mail art in 1993) was enormous.
I took Virginia to see a Puccini opera on Saturday (Le Villi). That opera is on the ghosts of dead people!!!
Sunday we traveled to Ostend to attend a concert with the music of Preisner (who wrote the splendid scores for all of Kieslowski's movies). The concert started with a selection of parts of his requiem for a dead friend.

It almost felt that PIG DADA was present during the whole weekend.
I could tell you lots of things on the circumstances of his act but I refrain myself and prefer to be quiet. It's his choice and the end of his traveling, in this world anyway. The least I can do is respect this.
Be well and remember him for what he meant in mail art ...
Postal Greetings, Guido Vermeulen

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From: Lancillotto Bellini (Italy)

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From: Alain Valet (Belgium)

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From: Pete Spence (Australia)

Alain... i've always believed its a good thing that we remember the passing of our mail-art networker friends. hope you get a lot of messages for Mr. Pigdada //// pete spence
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From: Peter Kuestermann (Germany)

Dear friends
We mourn pigdada, remembering the great hours with him: swimming in the danube during the DNC in Belgrade, lush vegan meals, his sausage performance in minden at the mindenergy festival. His works in our archive reflect his humorous and engaged spirit. We have lost a friend and will not forget him. angela and peter netmail
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From: Peter Kuestermann (Germany)

Dear friends
I am considering pigdada´s suicide. His end moves me very much. I myself am only still here, because there were people exactly at the right time in the right place to show me the value of life through their mere presence, when I was depressed and wanted to throw it away in my darkest moments of addiction. I do not believe now any more that all this happened to me by accident, and so am grateful to them and my higher power. Those of you who know me personally, will understand that these are not the words of a religious spinster, and that I enjoy today every single hour of my new life, as an artist - "whichever the weather" - often enough together with my mail art friends, in their places or mine.  What I do regret is that Baudhuin never revealed this dark side of his soul to me and so I had no chance to share my own way of healing with him. may he rest in peace. peter netmail