Exquisite corpse

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This is an article about the surrealist technique, for other uses see Exquisite Corpse

Exquisite corpse (also known as "exquisite cadaver" or "rotating corpse") is a method by which a collection of words or images are collectively assembled, the result being known as the exquisite corpse or cadavre exquis in French. It is a technique invented by Surrealists in 1925, and is based on an old parlour game called Consequences in which players wrote in turn on a sheet of paper, folded it to conceal part of the writing, and then passed it to the next player for a further contribution.

The exquisite corpse game is played by a group of people who write a composition in sequence. Each person is only allowed to see the end of what the previous person wrote. The name is derived from a phrase that resulted when Surrealists first played the game, "Le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau." ("The exquisite corpse will drink the new wine.") While initially sentences were constructed using the method, poems and stories were later also written using it.

Later, perhaps inspired by children's books in which the pages were cut into thirds, the top third pages showing the head of a person or animal, the middle third the torso, and the bottom third the legs, with children having the ability to "mix and match" by turning pages, the game was adapted to drawing and collage. It has also been played by mailing a drawing or collage — in progressive stages of completion — to the players, and this variation is known as "exquisite corpse by airmail", or "mail art," whether the game travels by airmail or not.

Another theory on the name exquisite corpse is that this collaborative drawing version predates the writing version, and that the mis-matched body parts produces what is referred to as the "exquisite corpse."

Some have played the (graphic) game with a more or less vague or general prior agreement about what the resulting picture will be, but this defeats the essentially Surrealist nature of the game.

There have been variations on the original procedure, such as the exquisite corpse wang-dang-doodle — a type of very long, rearrangeable exquisite corpse invented by Ted Joans.

The game of exquisite corpse has been adapted to be played using computer graphics, the construction of Surrealist objects, and even an adaptation to architecture has been proposed. The technique has also been used in making at least one Doom level [1], and at NYU in making films [2].

In music, the composers Virgil Thomson, John Cage, and Lou Harrison (among others) collaborated on Exquisite Corpse pieces, where each composer would only be privy to one measure of music.

"Totems Without Taboos," organized by the Chicago Surrealist Group at the Heartland Cafe in Chicago, Illinois, was the first exhibition of exquisite corpses in the United States.

The San Francisco Cacophony Society performed the exquisite corpse game using a theater full of people with banks of typewriters.

Mysterious Object at Noon, an experimental 2000 Thai feature film directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul was inspired by the exquisite corpse game. The film, shot on 16mm over 3 years in varied locations in Thailand, featured Weerasethakul (or assistants) soliciting improvised extensions to a scenario improvised by a woman appearing early in the film. Weerasethakul then assembled the results into a 'feature film.' 2005 in Montreal, a film directors and professionnal musicians make a real artistic evolution proposed by Adrien Lorion, David-Etienne and Michel Laroche. A fusion of 2 arts was born: 9 movie directors and 9 musicians make a first film-music Cadavers.

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