:: A Brief History ::
"Game of folded paper that consists in having a sentence or a drawing composed by several persons, each ignorant of the preceding collaboration...[eg]..."the exquisite/corpse/will drink/the new/wine"--excerpt from the 1939 Abridged Dictionary of Surrealism, as copied off the wall at the Art Institute of Chicago.
The Exquisite Corpse game (along with some of the most influential and intriguing art of the century) was developed by the artists and writers associated with Andre Breton's surrealist group during the third decade of the twentieth century. Those pictured above and others famous and obscure are responsible for the concept and this site is an homage to them.
The process on this site has been digitized. It is a collaboration between a small number of artists, each with little to no idea as to what has gone before, creating a (hopefully) single, unified and otherwise unique work that could not be created any other way. Graphic skills, while important, need not be a barrier to participation. Flexibility, creativity, humor, and openness are indispensible.
Phineas X. Jones is solely responsible for the operation and administration of this site. .
The Corpse Management System™ that makes this game possible was built by Jima even though he probably should have been practicing the ukelele instead.
Responsibility for the Exquisite Corpses themselves lies with the artists credited and the inscrutable intervention of the collective unconscious.