The Exquisite Corpse: Chance and Collaboration in Surrealism's Parlor Game

The “Exquisite Corpse,” as it was called, is still very much alive, having found artistic and critical expression from the days of the Surrealists down to our own. This method has been used in collective artistic protocols as the “rules of engagement” for experimental art, as a form of social interaction, and as an alternative mode of critical thinking. 

This collection is the first to address both historical and contemporary works that employ the ritual of the cadavre exquis. It offers a unique overview of the efforts of scholars and artists to articulate new notions of crossing temporal and spatial boundaries and to experience in a new way the body’s mutability through visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic frames. 

Bringing together diverse writers from across disciplinary boundaries, this volume continues the cultural and methodological innovations that have unfolded since the first days of the “Exquisite Corpse.”