16/9/2024
As part of ART COLLECTIVE: From the One to the Many, held at Saatchi Gallery, London Art Collective introduced the Exquisite Corpse Public Programme, a workshop inspired by the Surrealist technique of Exquisite Corpse. Located at Royal College of Art (RCA), this program invited students to engage in a communal art-making process, highlighting the power of shared creativity. Central to the exhibition’s ethos, the theme of collectiveness draws from Surrealist practices and reimagines them for contemporary relevance. By bringing together 17 RCA students to participate in the Exquisite Corpse Public Programme, the initiative turned the concept of collective creation into a lived experience, interweaving the exhibition’s broader vision with active participation.
Exquisite Corpse is a collaborative drawing game that originated with the Surrealists in the early 20th century. In this game, participants each contribute a section to a single drawing—typically starting with one artist drawing the head, then folding the paper to hide their work before passing it to the next person, who continues by drawing the torso, and so on. The resulting image is a surprising, often surreal figure that combines each artist's contribution into an unanticipated whole. Developed by André Breton and his contemporaries, the game embodied the Surrealist principle of “pure psychic automatism,” a method for creating art that bypasses rational thought to reveal the unfiltered workings of the subconscious. This technique exemplifies the “collective unconscious,” a fusion of personal expression and shared imagination.
On August 24, 2024, the Royal College of Art hosted the Exquisite Corpse Public Program, with Joe Richards and Nelson Qin serving as the exhibition's curators. A total of seventeen students from the Graduate Diploma, Fashion MA, and Painting MA departments at RCA came together to experiment with the Exquisite Corpse process. After a brief overview of the method's background and philosophy, students worked in groups of four to depict different aspects of the human body: the head, the torso, the pelvis, and the legs.
Students worked alone on their portions, guided by the idea of Exquisite Corpse, without knowing what the other students had done. This process encouraged improvisation and relinquished traditional authorship, allowing individual expressions to blend within the larger whole. By the conclusion of the session, the drawings had been assembled into a sequence of figures that, despite their apparent disjointedness, seemed to have come together as one. The unexpected humour and surreal charm of the group exercise were brought to light at the time of revealing when all participants encountered the whole composition.
The workshop did not include the selection of pieces for the exhibition; instead, Richards and Qin later selected two composite works, consisting of four students' drawings each, to be showcased at Saatchi Gallery. The chosen compositions exemplified the program's goal by transferring the Exquisite Corpse's spontaneous and communal energy into the gallery's carefully managed space.
The Exquisite Corpse Public Programme was designed not only as a space for collaboration but as a way to deepen engagement with the exhibition’s core themes of autonomy and shared expression. Much like the ideas explored in the exhibition’s forum, Collective Minds, Autonomous Freedoms, the program invited participants to consider the relationship between individual creativity and the collective mind. The curatorial vision, seen both in the forum and the public program, emphasized a delicate balance between freedom and interconnectedness, challenging participants to reflect on the complexities of artistic autonomy within shared spaces.
The program allowed students to feel the fluid boundaries between self and community, highlighting how personal contributions can transform within a collective context. This reflective approach extended the exhibition’s thematic journey, reminding participants that collectiveness is not merely collaborative but an invitation to engage with the unpredictability and transformation that arise from shared creative processes.
In a time when themes of identity, authorship, and community resonate strongly in the art world, the Exquisite Corpse Public Programme underscores the relevance of collective creation. Collaborative techniques like Exquisite Corpse challenge conventional ideas of individual authorship, encouraging artists to step beyond the self and embrace communal art-making. This method aligns with contemporary art’s broader movement toward inclusivity and interconnection, breaking down hierarchies associated with singular artistic genius.
By reinvigorating Surrealist techniques within a modern framework, ART COLLECTIVE: From the One to the Many invites artists and audiences alike to explore the power and beauty of shared identity in art. The Exquisite Corpse Public Program, in both its simplicity and depth, honoured a historic practice while highlighting its enduring significance. In doing so, London Art Collective has sparked a dialogue on how collaborative artistry can build a more inclusive and interconnected creative future.
Alma Stritt, Andrea Honsberg, Anthony Bennett, Aziah Lusala, Chioma Onwuzulike,Chrysa Kanari, Cieszymir Bylina, Claire Kim, Dannielle Hodson, Eva Yates, IgorPrato Luna, Javiera Decap, Jean Huang, Raiheth Rawla, Toby Rainbird Webb., TomCaley, Xinjian Ruan.