> Multiple name /

'Multiple name', also called 'open name' is a fictitious name which anybody is free to adopt for his/her own artistic activities. The intention is to create a common identity, and the denial of the identity of the individual artist. Each multiple name is linked to an artistic idea, topic or media and can only diffuse through independent networks such as Mail-Art, small press or home tape as they provide a variety of channels to send around ideas. A multiple name is not a teamwork, but a collective of "multiple singles".

"I truly believe the negation of the singular identity, in favour of a shared name is a wonderful and radical development of some networking philosophies inherent to mail art (there is no single "artwork", the process or the collective project is the artwork, there is no centre, each cell is at the centre of the net, etc.). I don't believe, though, that much has been obtained by Cantsin, Eliot, Mario Rossi, Bob Jones and all the other "historical" multiple names, especially if compared with what the Luther Blissett Project has been able to accomplish in Italy in just two years." Janssen, R. (1995). [Interview with Vittore Baroni]. TAM Mail-Interview Project [WWW page]. URL http://www.iuoma.org/

The concept of a multiple name has two principles, first there is to question the single identity and ego of an artist to adapt a shared identity. Second, is to create a collective body of artistic works or events, using an invented identity. The most well known multiple names within the Mail-Art network are 'Monty Cantsin' and 'Karen Eliot' created in the seventies, which slowly faded away by the end of the eighties. In the nineties 'Luther Blissett' find its origin and became adapted by only a few in Mail-Art. Not only human identities but also art movements as 'Neoism' and the zine Smile are seen as a kind of multiple name.

The use of multiple names in artistic processes were not new, also in the Berlin Dada movement they used multiple names as a critique of bourgeois notions of individuality. Raoul Hausmann (Austria) proposed to George Grosz (Germany), Johannes Baader (Germany) and John Heartfield (Germany) to call themselves "Jesus Christ". Hausmann announced in 1920 to create an alternative religion called 'The Christ Society, Ltd.', in an attempt to undermine the established Church, every member should be convinced that s/he is Christ. Hausmann wrote to Baader that at the same time members will be unfit for 'National Servic'e during the First World War as they will be no longer subject to temporal authority.

For George Maciunas (U.S.A.), one of the driving forces behind Fluxus, the rejection of individual authorship and the ego of the individual artist was a central concept for Fluxus. He asked artists to sign their artworks Fluxus, in favour of the creation of a group work with a collective identity. This way the attention is not going to the individual Fluxus artists but on the Fluxus artworks. Different from Mail-Art, Fluxus artworks were made for an interested art market. By signing each piece as Fluxus, it is prevented that the artworks of one single artist are valued more then those from other artists, Fluxus as a whole would benefit from it. Although in reality Fluxus artists signed their artworks with their own name.

A few years later in the mid seventies two English Mail-artists Stefan Kukowski and Adam Czarnowski, introduced the first multiple name in the Mail-Art network. For their Mail-Art project 'Blitzinformation' they spread out leaflets asking the receivers to adopt the name 'Klaos Oldanburg', which is an anagram of the American pop-artist Claus Oldenburg. Those who were interested to join the project should write to Kukowski and Czarnowski, to get a roman numeral (XI, XX, etc.) which should be written next to the multiple name each time it is used. The concept is to gain fame by using a multiple name similar to the pop-artist, yet with the numerals the individual identity is stressed of the artist who join the multiple name.

It is in 1977, when the multiple name concept became successfully wide spread in the Mail-Art network. That year the Mail-artists David Zack (U.S.A.) and Al Ackerman (U.S.A.) announced the concept of an "open pop-star" and created the multiple name 'Monty Cantsin'. Zack invited several artists to adopt and use the name of this fictive person so that when enough artists performed under this name, 'Monty Cantsin' would become famous. Several artists picked up the name, among them the Hungarian correspondence and performance artist Istvan Kantor (Canada) who assumed the name the next five years. As he used the name the most of all for several years, Kantor said that he was the first and one and only 'Monty Cantsin' and his activities became associated with 'Monty Cantsin'. Other artists who used the multiple name were Stewart Home (England), Maris Kundzin (U.S.A.), Pete Horobin (Scotland), Arthur Berkhoff (the Netherlands), Jo Klaffki (Germany) , Graf Haufen (Germany), John Berndt (U.S.A.), … The 'Monty Cantsin' identity was mainly active in the U.S.A., but was also picked up in Germany and the UK. In the early 1980s in Mail-Art catalogues, 'Monty Cantsin' identities operating from at least 50 different addresses were reported.

Istvan Kantor, is not only known as using 'Monty Cantsin', but was also one of the most prominent artists active in 'Neoism', which can be seen as a kind of multiple name also. 'Neoism', launched around 1979 by Zack and Ackermann, is an open movement and gave the possibility to each who wanted to take part in it, to develop the movement according to their own needs. Each artist was free to call him/herself a 'neoist'. One of the three central strategies of 'Neoism' beside "plagiarism" and the "art strike" was the use of multiple names, which is an imported part of their philosophy. The name 'Monty Cantsin' was adopted by this movement. The use of multiple names in 'Neoism' was a reaction against false individualism in capitalist society, by using all the same identity, control and describing is impossible. The 'Neoism' movement represents the de-institutionalised art world and was itself a critique on being an "art movement".

In contradiction with Zack and Ackerman whose only main feature of the 'Monty Cantsin' identity was to achieve fame, Stewart Home saw multiple names as a tool for political subversion instead. In 1982 when Home was working under the name 'Generation Positive' he called all rock bands to use the name 'White Colours'. Two years later in 1984, Home dropped 'Generation Positive' and became member of 'Neoism'. In February of the same year he launched the magazine Smile and by the second issue he called other magazines to adopt the name, to question authorship and anonymity. Home was influenced by Anna Banana (Canada) to name his zine Smile. Banana called her magazine Vile as a parody on the magazine File from 'General Idea', later other publishers started to call their zines with names close to Vile. Smile itself has been published as Limes, Miles, Slime, and several other variants. Smile became soon the publication to propagate and develop its cultural critique through the three central strategies of 'Neoism'. Material published in Smile was mostly plagiarism from within the Mail-Art network and also from other issues and versions of Smile as well. Even material from sources outside 'Neoism' and Mail-Art was used. After the break of Home with 'Neoism', Home continued the magazine with a glossy two-colour cover and the text properly typeset.

By 1985 the Mail-Art network had several Mail-Artists using the 'Monty Cantsin' identity and countless editions of Smile had been produced by different individuals and groups world-wide. In the same year, Home felt that through the association of 'Monty Cantsin' with Kantor, a new multiple name was needed and came with 'Karen Eliot'. The name 'Karen Eliot' has been created specifically for the 'Neoism' movement, and is described as a multiple signature for any form of (anti-)art, a kind of cultural terrorist. Within the year many artists had adopted the name, around the same time Home had also many works being shown in London galleries. For which he received some attention in the press where they linked his name to 'Karen Eliot', so he decided to drop the use of the name so that the 'open identity' of Karen Eliot won't get lost.

Beside multiple names for persons, artistic movements and zines there was also a multiple name for musical projects. 'Lieutenant Murnau' was a pioneering musical project from Vittore Baroni (Italy) operating in the field of "plagiarism", known in Italy as an obscure act it became a cult afterwards. The project started around 1980 and intended to be more of a demonstration that anybody could be a musician, just like anybody can be a Mail-artist. That is why Baroni proposed 'Lieutenant Murnau' as a multiple name, which musicians was free to use to produce his/her own recycled music. The 'Lieutenant Murnau' project wanted to explore and comment on the cult of personality in music. The invitation to join the project was picked up by several musicians from Belgium, Germany, France, … who took over the name and produced their own version of their music, mostly on cassettes.

At the end of the eighties the multiple names disappeared from the Mail-Art network. There are several reasons why the intentions of the multiple names did not survived. First there is always the danger that multiple names become linked to individual artists and when artists were claiming to be the one and only "original" multiple name identity, a situation is created in which the multiple name identity is not "open" anymore. And the same happened when the use of multiple names received increased press coverage and the names of the founders were linked to the multiple names. In the nineties new multiple names have been put forward for use, such as 'Luther Blissett' and the 'Association of Autonomous Astronauts'. Yet, in these cases the multiple name haven't become confused with an actual individual identity. Both succeeded not to bring the attention towards the artists but completely upon the project.

The multiple name 'Luther Blissett' was very active in English and Italian independent networks, and must have been launched somewhere in the summer of 1994. In reality Luther Blissett was an English football player who was traded to Italy but never scored a goal. It is not known who came up with the idea, but it has its origin beside poets, performers, zine publishers, cyberpunks also among Mail-artists. Sander Donkers (the Netherlands) wrote in his book Luther Blissett, cultureel terrorist about a radio broadcasting in which was revealed that Vittore Baroni and some four other unnamed persons on a meeting in Bologna have started this multiple name. Yet, asking for more information, Baroni did not confirm this story. It is not the only story about how 'Luther Blissett' found its origin and by now the truth will never be known, which makes that it is the first multiple name realising its goal of denying the identity. Were all the earlier multiple names specifically artistic projects, 'Luther Blissett' is used for media pranks, sabotages, hoaxes, urban legends, performances and mostly within small press circles. 'Luther Blissett' has realised several successful media pranks on the Italian national television, in newspapers and in cultural jamming actions.

"LUTHER BLISSETT is a methodology-figure committed to media pranks and no copyright provocations, a "multiple singleness" that walks on many legs and thinks with many brains, a collective name that everybody is free to adopt without asking permission to anyone. From Mind Invaders to Totò, Peppino e la guerra psichica to Q, the history of the L.B. Project is far from concluded. Reserve a place in the front seats for the apocalypse." An intellectual short cut to the Luther Blissett Project [WWW page]. URL http://www.lutherblissett.net/index_en.html

In a time where counter globalisation becomes important in social networks and the global movement, 'Luther Blissett' becomes "a shield against the established power's attempt to identify and individualize the enemy" as he wrotes in Mind Invaders: Come fottere i media. About 'Luther Blissett' several books have been written, such as the book Ray Johnson: A Zapatista In Greenwich which name Ray Johnson (U.S.A.), Ruggero Maggi (Italy), Baroni and Home as the founders.

Around the same time when 'Luther Blissett' saw the light, also the 'Association of Autonomous Astronauts' was founded with a five-year mission to "establish a planetary network to end the monopoly of corporations, governments and the military over travel in space". The 'Association of Autonomous Astronauts' has found its origin in a group of young artists who were active in the zine scene and Mail-Art. The idea was not to create an art group, but a new kind of social movement, a way to change the social rules, so a group can start moving simultaneously in several directions. "Unlike a multiple name that is restricted to art practices, a collective phantom operates within the wider context of popular culture, and is used as a tool for class war" writes an astronaut of the South London 'Association of Autonomous Astronauts', in a text called Resisting Zombie Culture.

During all those years of Mail-Art various other multiple names has been created such as 'Mario Rossi', 'Bob Jones', … but none survived a long time as 'Monty Cantsin', 'Karen Elliott' and 'Luther Blissett'.

Related Topics:
[01] Identity
[02] Network
[03] Mail-Art
[04] Small press
[05] Home tape
[06] Monty Cantsin
[07] Mario Rossi
[08] Bob Jones
[09] Luther Blissett
[10] Karen Eliot
[11] Neoism
[12] Smile
[13] Dada
[14] Hausmann, Raoul
[15] Grosz, George
[16] Baader, Johannes
[17] Heartfield, John
[18] Maciunas, George
[19] Fluxus
[20] Kukowski, Stefan
[21] Czarnowski, Adam
[22] Zack, David
[23] Ackerman, Al
[24] Kantor, Istvan
[25] Home, Stewart
[26] Kundzin, Maris
[27] Horobin, Pete
[28] Berkhoff, Arthur
[29] Klaffki, Jo
[30] Haufen, Graf
[31] Berndt, John
[32] Catalogue
[33] Neoism
[34] Plagiarism
[35] Art strike
[36] Banana, Anna
[37] Vile
[38] File
[39] General Idea
[40] Lieutenant Murnau
[41] Baroni, Vittore
[42] Association of Autonomous Astronauts
[43] Media pranks
[44] Hoax
[45] Johnson, Ray
[46] Maggi , Ruggero

References:
[01] (V. Baroni, personal interview, November, 2002)
[02] Janssen, R. (1995). [Interview with Vittore Baroni]. TAM Mail-Interview Project [WWW page]. URL http://www.iuoma.org/ 
[03] Bleus, G. (1994). Een dialoog tussen de postbode en zijn electronische schaduw.
[04] Marchart, O. (1997). Call for Avant-Garde Art [Discussion]. URL http://amsterdam.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-9705/msg00124.html 
[05] The Luther Blissett Manifesto [WWW page]. URL http://www.altx.com/manifestos/blisset.html 
[06] An intellectual short cut to the Luther Blissett Project [WWW page]. URL http://www.lutherblissett.net/index_en.html 
[07] Held, John Jr. (1995). Key to the Collection: Correspondence, 1976-1995 [WWW page]. URL http://www.geocities.com/johnheldjr/ 
[08] Decie, J. (n.d.). The multiple name. Identity in the eternal network. [WWW page]. URL http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/5921/identity.html 
[09] Home, S. (1993). Assessing the art strike 1990-1993. [WWW page]. URL http://www.thing.de/projekte/7:9%23/y_Assessing_the_Art_Strike.html 
[10] Kester, G. (1990). Yawn, 11a [WWW page]. URL http://yawn.detritus.net/pdf/y11_a_2079-80.pdf 
[11] Holmes, B. (n.d.). Imaginary Maps, Global Solidarities. [WWW page]. URL http://www.memefest.org/si/brian_holmes_imgs.doc 
[12] Lumb, M. (1997). Mail Art 1955 TO 1995: Democratic art as social sculpture. [WWW page]. URL http://www.vorticeargentina.com.ar/escritos/mail_art_1955_to_1995_04.html 

Date last update: 19 July 2004