Artificial intelligence might suggest conventional methods for sending messages, but never the Peeling Postal Ball, an invention by Jose Cardona, known as 'El Persa'. Cardona (Valencia, 1943-2012) was a multifaceted creator, described as a "professional of drawing and cutouts, and a fabulist of unusual and extravagant inventions" by Jaime Canales. His work includes trading cards, postcards, posters, coloring sheets, and unique creations like the PPD.
The PPD is an alternative postal mail system where messages travel inside a multi-layered ball. Those who find it must send it to its destination by kicking it. This peculiar system has gained so many followers that the Society of Friends and Disseminators of the PPD has already held three world congresses, the latest last Saturday at the Jardí Botànic of the University of Valencia, with 150 attendees.
The event featured lectures on the Armelio Vector and the Great PPD Routes, and the first Bowerbräu awards were presented, with a trophy consisting of a Chewing Mask, another of Cardona's inventions. A tribute was also paid to Tomás March, a gallerist and editor of Cardona's early works, and to Avelina Prat, an architect and film director. March's widow and daughter, along with Prat, received the Chewing Mask.
The Society's president, Mariano Álvarez, delivered an emotional lecture on 'El Persa', describing their conversations with "anarchist and conspiratorial tones," and stated that "no other adjective would have suited us better".
During the III World Congress, a proposal addressed to the president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Juan Francisco Pérez Llorca, was unanimously approved. The proposal requests the conversion of the old Post and Telegraph building in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento of Valencia into the World Museum of Communications and the Peeling Postal Ball. This initiative is inspired by the Museum of Modest Arts in Sète and the Museum of Innocence in Istanbul. It was also proposed to move any exhibition trace of Joaquín Sorolla from the Post Office building to the Port area.
