Mexico Fest 2010 – Exquisite Corpse

Image credit: Consulate General of Mexico

In collaboration with the Mexican Consulate as part of MexicoFest, the Learning Centre presented “Exquisite Corpse” (also known as “Exquisite Cadaver” or “Cadavre exquis”), which is also a technique consisting on collectively assembling words and images.  Each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence, by being allowed to see only a small section of what the previous person contributed.  Artists that had been featured at this exhibition included: Richard A. Kent, Alfonso L. Tejada, Miriam Aroeste, Claudia Segovia, Sergio Toporek, Adriana Zuñiga and Davide Merino.

The technique was invented by Surrealists and is similar to an old parlour game called Consequences in which players write in turn on a sheet of paper, fold it to conceal part of the writing, and then pass it to the next player for a further contribution. Surrealism principal founder André Breton reported that it started in fun, but became playful and eventually enriching. Breton said the diversion started about 1925, but Pierre Reverdy wrote that it started much earlier, at least before 1918.
To see more photos of this exhibition, please find here.

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