"Exquisite Crops" project needs volunteers

Charles Platt says: "In the 1920s, surrealists exploited randomness to create art. The simplest and most widely copied system involved one person writing a phrase or creating an image at the top of a piece of paper, which was then folded over to conceal it. Another person added another phrase or image until the paper was filled, at which point it was opened to reveal the complete sequence in the form of a poem or collage.

"The result was known as a "cadavre exquis," or "exquisite corpse." This name itself was generated randomly in the collaborative poem: "Le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau" ("The exquisite corpse will drink the young wine").

"You can find more background and a sample collaborative image created by Man Ray, Yves Tanguy, Joan Miro and Max Morise here.

"New possibilities have been opened up by Photoshop in conjunction with the web, and several sites have sponsored "corpse building." An example is here.

"Since I used to teach Photoshop and have an undying love for the software, I want to push this to the next level. I have initiated the "Exquisite Crops" project (so named because Photoshop's Crop Tool will be an essential part of the process). Since most people in graphic arts now have fast internet access, I want to move into high-res images which may be potentially publishable. If a published version does result, all contributors will share any royalties equally, although the sum is likely to be small. In the meantime, low-res versions will displayed freely online.

"Two samples are appended. The one with the banana was created by myself, James Markowich, Sandra Mayer, and Richard Kadrey, and is complete. The one commencing with a helicopter was created by myself, Alex Ostroy, and Steve Messner, and still lacks a segment.

Each Exquisite Crop will be the product of four contributors. Everyone must be properly fluent in Photoshop; I don't have time to give tutorials! For a full set of guidelines your readers can send email to: [e-mail]"