If tourism is the defining industry of our times, moving capital, people and identities at an increasing speed and volume, then the postcard is the smallest token for this exchange. It typically aims at describing a local reality, insisting on its authenticity, while at the same time being the very instrument for the transformation of the place it depicts.

I have been interested in pushing this logic a tiny bit further, and completely over the edge. We bought eight royalty-free generic postcard motifs from across the world at a online commercial image bank; had a local Bremen designer contribute type, slogans and insignia typical of existing local postcards; asked the GAK Bremen, which commissioned this project, to print an edition of 300,000 cards and distribute them free of charge throughout the city, and so created a little freak, the fake (‘  ’) postcard.

It is now up to the public in Bremen to put the cards into play in the ways that postcards are normally handled: as forgettable trash, as valuable collectibles and hopefully also sent out to friends and family further out in the world.

The full scope of this project will never be known. What is certain is that despite each individual card’s frailty ephemerality, the sheer volume and transportability of the project as a whole will allow for the cards to eventually reach every corner of this planet and to prevail for centuries to come, spinning their own myths and enigmas.

If you are a recipient of a card through the postal system, it would be great if you could scan the back and email it to me. In my own limited lifetime, I will try to trace the cards’ journey like an ornithologist following a migrating bird. Maybe one day, there will be a book.