The Exquisite-Corpse Dance

The Exquisite-Corpse Dance shows a sequence of images, displayed rapidly one after another in the same way as an animation. Every image shows another person. They move by so quickly that it’s impossible to focus on any one of them, but the succession of interconnecting poses creates a continuity.

To realise this project I commissioned the development of a computer program that allowed the rapid creation of stop-motion animations. On-site, a computer running the program was connected to a video camera and a projector. The projector displayed a live feed from the video camera, combined with the previously captured image as a semi transparent overlay. This enabled people to see the position of the previous dancer and their own image at the same time. Using the projected image as a guide, they were asked to adjust their body to match the previous dancers pose and then make a slight variation on it.

Each dancer formed only a fraction; a building block of a larger whole and none of them had an overview of the dance while creating it. The dancers seem to form one flickering person in The Exquisite-Corpse Dance, nevertheless each person contributing to the collective image remains an individual.

The title is derived from the exquisite-corpse game, invented by the surrealists to capture the unconscious mind. Collectively a group makes a drawing or writes a story. A piece of paper is folded in as many parts as there are contributers. Each person continues the contribution of the previous person by responding to the last written word or continuing the drawing using tiny marks the other has left. Upon unfolding the paper a fragmented image or story reveals itself.