The EXQUISITE MOVING CORPSE
A Video Project/Game Initiated by Chip Lord, Jack Massing & Sean Miller
August 22, 2022 – June 17, 2023
Florida Southwestern State College is pleased to present “The Exquisite Moving Corpse” a video installation featuring more than sixty internationally-renown artists at the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery. Each making one-minute “movies” in response to a still from the previous artist’s digital short, this collective art film includes video segments by Chip Lord, Jack Massing, Sean Miller, Nina Katchadourian, Kristin Lucas, William Wegman, Tony Oursler, Mel Chin, Muntadas, Hasan Elahi, Mark Dion and many others. “The Exquisite Moving Corpse” installation temporarily transforms the exhibit space into a screening room with this feature length moving-picture – inspired by a nearly century-old Surrealist artists’ pastime/amusement – looping continually during regular Gallery hours from August 22nd through June 17, 2023.
The original Surrealist “exquisite corpse” was a café parlor game invented in 1925 by André Breton, Yves Tanguy, Jacques Prévert and Marcel Duhamel in Paris. The French name “cadavre exquis” was derived from the phrase that resulted when first played, “le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau” (“the exquisite corpse will drink the new wine”). Adapted from a “word game” with players adding text to a sheet of paper that was then folded to conceal additions before being passed to the next contributor, the Surrealists soon began to apply this practice to drawings of the human figure. Taking turns in sketching – head, torso, legs and feet – independently, fantastic “creatures” were often revealed as the corpse was unfolded.
According to the artist organizers, “The Exquisite Moving Corpse” was created and compiled over a two-year period beginning in March 2020. Most of the footage was shot, shared and edited while participants worked in pandemic-related quarantine. Chip Lord, Jack Massing and Sean Miller initiated the game – making the first three minutes – then handed it off to an evolving list of invited collaborators in what they describe as an artist chain letter. And, just following a recent premiere installation at the Archivio Emily Harvey art space (curated by Bob Rauschenberg Gallery director Jade Dellinger) during la Biennale in Venice, Italy last month, FSW is delighted to be among the first U.S. venues to unveil and present “The Exquisite Moving Corpse” in a gallery setting.
The complete list of participating artists in order of appearance in “The Exquisite Moving Corpse” is as follows:
Chip Lord, 2. Jack Massing, 3. Sean Miller, 4. Chiaozza, 5. Phillip Pyle II, 6. Kara Hearn, 7. Sergio Vega, 8. Ken Friedman, 9. William Wegman, 10. Bryan Konefsky, 11. Albert Chong, 12. Robert Hodge, 13. Chris Sollars, 14. Mary Mattingly, 15. Natali Leduc, 16. Gustavo Vazquez, 17. Tea Mäkipää, 18. Mel Chin, 19. Sarah Aziz, 20. Hasan Elahi, 21. Hillerbrand+Magsamen, 22. Leyla & Mike Mandel, 23. Kristin Lucas, 24. Ali and Aoife, 25. Shane Mecklenburger, 26. Oliver Herring, 27. Bibbe Hansen, 28. Fereshteh Toosi, 29. Craig Smith, 30A. Tom Marioni, 30B. Severn Eaton, 31. Pinar Yoldas, 32. Adebukola Bodunrin, 33. James Benning, 34. Chris Beaver, 35. Connie Hwang, 36. Chris Felver, 37. Theadora Walsh, 38. Cyriaco Lopes and Terri Witek, 39. Jason Simon, 40. Isabelle Carbonell, 41. Aisling O’Beirn, 42. Mark Seliger, 43. Elia Vargas, 44. Leah Floyd + Cristina Molina, 45. José Hernández Sánchez, 46. John Sanborn, 47. Dana Sherwood, 48. Pecos Hank, 49. Emiko Omori, 50. Mark Dion, 51. Jack Thompson, 52. Bart Weiss, 53. Rachel Mayeri, 54. Nina Katchadourian, 55. Larry Andrews, 56. Emmanuel Manu Opoku, 57. Tony Oursler, 58. Tony Labat, 59. Alyssa Taylor Wendt, 60. Muntadas
Bob Rauschenberg Gallery at FSW
The Bob Rauschenberg Gallery was founded as The Gallery of Fine Art in 1979 on the Lee County campus of Florida Southwestern State College/FSW (then Edison Community College). On June 4th 2004 the Gallery of Fine Art was renamed the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery, to honor and commemorate our longtime association and friendship with the artist. Over more than three decades until his death, the Gallery worked closely with Rauschenberg to present world premiere exhibitions including multiple installations of the ¼ Mile or Two Furlong Piece. The artist insisted on naming the space the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery (versus the “Robert Rauschenberg Gallery”) as it was consistent with the intimate, informal relationship he maintained with both our local Southwest Florida community and FSW.
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