Biography

Tomasz (Thomas) Schulz was born in Nakło nad Notecią in 1951. He studied Polish philology and art theory at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (Thorn). In 1974, at a festival, he was introduced to an address list of Klaus Groh by Stanisław Urbanski. In addition, Jerzy Ludwiński, Andrzej and Andrzej Partum Kostołowski (NET) and other Polish conceptualists were his “teachers”. In 1975 he moved to Lądek Zdój in Lower Silesia, where he taught art and Polish at a school. Since 1975, he has been highly involved with Mail Art, and since the end of 1976, he has been active in the opposition. There were a number of shorter arrests by the Polish State Security.

In the fall of 1987 he took the decision emigrate to the West. At first, he lived with Klaus Groh for a few weeks, and later moved to Edewecht, in the Saar and Swabia area. Since 2001 he has been living in Potsdam. He works as a research associate at the German Cultural Forum for Eastern Europe.

Schulz had numerous solo and group exhibitions, participated in Mail Art congresses and symposia, as well as in over 350 Mail Art projects and exhibitions.

Projects

1975 Atomizacja Słowa (Wortatomisierung) (Konkrete Poesie)
1976 My object of art
1976/77 Post-C-Art
1979 Aktuelle Tendenzen der Poesie
1979/82 Flying Gallery/Koffergalerie
1979/81 Coop-Book
1980/81 Solidarność z Solidarnością (Solidarität mit Solidarność)
1981/88 Red-Y Made, Red-Y Made Center
1983/84 Copy Art
1985/86 MY, MY, MY (künstlerische Visitenkarten)
1987/88 Mona Lisa

Literature (selection)

Schulz, Thomas J.: Tobeornot, oder ein Mailartist in einem totalitären Land sein. In Berswordt-Wallrabe, Kornelia von (Hg.): Mail Art – Osteuropa im internationalen Netzwerk (Ausstellungskatalog) Schwerin 1996, S. 224–250 (de, en).

Links

Mail Artists Index: http://mailartists.wordpress.com/2011/02/06/tomasz-schulz/