Dear Students,
Fine Arts Division staff and program chairs got together to create this Exquisite Corpse video for the graduating class of 2020.
The Exquisite Corpse is a collaborative game originally created by Surrealist artists in Europe during World War I in which drawings or phrases are passed from one artist to the next to form a collective artwork, only to be revealed at the end. The name is derived from a phrase that resulted when they first played the game, “Le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau.” (French translation: “The exquisite corpse shall drink the new wine.”)
We are keenly aware of the ways thesis exhibitions and commencement ceremonies are important rites of passage for our students, and while the COVID-19 pandemic feels like an initiation on a whole other level, we acknowledge the heartache caused by having to shift these experiences to virtual formats, for now, during the shelter-in-place ordinance.
With this video, we tried to express using performative gestures our thoughts about what this moment and this transition means to each of us: the ups and downs, frustrations and joys, and most importantly, our concerns and well wishes to all of you. In these strange and momentous times, the weight of the world and the proximity to our own mortality can be overwhelming, but it also sparks our creativity and opens up a space to imagine new and better futures.
What is this new world we are entering into? What is the “new wine” we are drinking? And what will we create together? We can’t wait to see you in person on the “other side” of this. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this humble gesture of community.
Exquisitely Yours,
Allison Smith, Dean of Fine Arts