phase 4.- google image trawl EXQUISITE CORPSE (I)

1.-

I found this image on the first page of Google Images. The picture is actually a compilation of six visual “exquisite corpse” representations, and works as an illustration of a blog entry. The blog, named “lines and colors”, reflects on several artistic expressions (drawing, sketching, painting). The author took these images from a “morgue” of some of the original surrealist corpses and made a very simple compilation himself.

The blog quality and the links posted at the bottom of the text make me wonder if the images/text end up reinforcing the idea of the EC as a valuable and relevant aesthetic experience, even more than a artistic expression. Also, the brief history on the surrealism helps to contextualize the EC in a larger movement.

Is that because it is one of the first images to appear by the GI engine that it gives more “institutionalized” information about the EC?

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2.-

This is the second one of the images I selected from the GI search. It appears in the second page, and is taken from the SFØ page, a web-based community game in which players have to complete different tasks, often with a focus on creativity, exploration, community, or performance. This image is part of one of the game events. The game consisted in creating a conversation without using “formalized language”. These are the rules:

“On November 21st, between the hours of 1 and 7PM, Dax Tran-Caffee agreed to meet with members of the SFØ community, but imposed the following rule: conversants would avoid using any formalized language (such as writing, sign language, or morse code). Participants were asked to bring materials of their choice to facilitate communication.”

The drawing -scanned from a sketchbook- was made in coordination with two people (Lara Black, the player) and Dax (the instructor). I think two important questions may arise from the GI search: why is a drawing (like youtube videos, also used in the game) a non-formalized language? Did the EC help to facilitate communication/expressed art or it was just used as a tool for a game?

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3.-

This image is located in the Pitchfork Media website (an Internet publication devoted to music criticism), and I reached it through the third page of GI search. The picture is the cover for the album named “Exquisite Corpse” by the experimental musician Daedelus.

This instance introduces significant factors to think about regarding the EC as collaborative art. It relates the EC to the music (highliting the power of collage art, as stated in the album review), and thus poses the image in the background (it is not an EC example). Also, it incorporates the commercial value, with the advertising surrounding the album reviem/album image.

Is there, thus, a factual relation between the image and the text in terms of EC? Does the album really reflect the EC values or GI just linked it based on the title of the review?

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4.-

I found this picture on the fourth page of GI search. It is located, again, in an art blog, and the image is part of many others as an illustration of the artist (Jill Tattersall) interview. The interview is very generic and does not talk about the EC at all, but about the artist work in general. The image is named Exquisite Corpse and was taken directly from the artist official website.

It is very interesting to find out that the picture is not complete: if you go to the artist page, you will find the whole artpiece, formed by a “head”, a “torso” and “legs (etc)”. I particularly like the “etc” of the third part, which remains ambiguous.

The artist that was being interviewed only did the “torso” part, as she explains in her own site with a post entitled “The Corpse's Torso”. he image was tagged as “Exquisite Corpse” whereas the artist only got a “real” EC when they put the three works together. That makes me think: why did I find the blog interview first with the uncomplete part, instead of the official artist website with the complete work?

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5.-

The fifth page of the Google Image search links to “The Exquisite Corpse” as a theatre play. The picture is the play poster with the slogan “5 writers/15 scenes. 6 million possibilities”, accompanying a very short text summarizing the plot, the cast ensemble and other information.

In this case, the context in which the image/text are located takes us back to the first instance: even though there are not explicit references to the EC movement or the surrealism, the website generates a kind of aesthetic intellectual puzzle reinforcing the artistic value of the EC. There is no advertising or any commercial indication.