In the fourth edition of The Outer Limits, Jeff Mills explores abstract thought through the chemistry of music and poetry, with a sixty-minute mix of original music featuring spoken word by renowned American poet, Jessica Care Moore. Titled “The Exquisite Corpse”, this episode is conceptualised around an old parlour game, popularised by André Breton during the Surrealist art movement in the mid twenties. Pierre Reverdy claimed this began as early as 1918 – which would mark this year as its centenary.
In the parlour game, participants contribute to a collaborative image or text, each contributing their own creativity whilst only viewing the last words or lines of the previous artist. The resulting artwork is thus a composite image, joining together disparate ideas into a disquietingly cohesive whole. The game began as a pastime but become something more, and was pioneered by a group of artists and friends including Yves Tanguy, Marcel Duchamp, Jacques Prévert, Benjamin Péret, Pierre Reverdy, and André Breton himself.
Tune into The Exquisite Corpse, the fourth episode of Jeff Mills’ NTS Radio residency, The Outer Limits, on Wednesday 15th August from 3 – 4pm BST.
