The story so far: May 2015....

 

 

In January 2015, twenty UK artists, with diverse practices, came together in a collaborative project, inspired by the Surrealists invention ‘Exquisite Corpse’. The starting point for the project was a 2m x 2m piece of primed canvas to be passed between the artists from January to August 2015. Each artist has been allocated ten days to work freely with the canvas in any way they choose before passing it onto the next. During their ten-day slot the artist has free reign to alter, add to and respond to the canvas in any medium they choose; painting, sculpture, performance, film, digitally etc. The project will culminate in an exhibition of the canvas (or what's left of it!) in The Engine Room, The Exchange Gallery, Penzance, 5th - 26th September, along with documentation of the process, any further work the artists have been prompted to make in response to working with the canvas and any 'satellite' collaborative work which has stemmed from working on the project

 

Film maker Fiona Léus Lambert has been compiling film documentation of how the process has been for the artists and this 25 minute film will be shown alongside the final artefact.

 

In the spirit of the collaborative, chance-based game 'Exquisite Corpse' favoured by the Surrealists, the artists have not known what the previous artists have done to or with the canvas until they received it; secrecy has been paramount.

 

At the end of the project the canvas (or what's left of it!) will be exhibited in The Engine Room of The Exchange Gallery in Penzance, Cornwall, between the 4th and 26th September 2015. A range of work that the artists have made in response to their time with the canvas and documentation of how the process affected them will be exhibited alongside the canvas.

 

The aims of the project have been broad but issues that have come to the fore have included:

 

The effect of chance on creative work

Artistic 'etiquette' and the destruction of the work of another

Attachment to artistic outcomes and practices

Collective ownership of creative outcomes

 

 

As secrecy has been central to the project there are no images of work in progress. A gallery of images  and associated writings will be added at the end of the project.

 

A programme of workshops, talks and film screenings are planned to accompany the exhibition. Check the exhibition/events page for details.