OT Lab - Exquisite Corpse Collaboration

Daisuk · 2014-05-02T11:17:12.000Z

Here’s an OT collaboration I was thinking about yesterday when I couldn’t sleep - but I need some help figuring out some of the logistics of it. Read on if you’re interested.

I’m sure you’ve all tried an “exquisite corpse” at some point in your life, but maybe haven’t caught the name before (I only learned its name a couple of years ago).

What is exquisite corpse?

It’s basically a creative/playful practise of collaboration where one person starts part of a work (usually writing or drawing), say write an opening paragraph of a story (or in drawing - usually the head of a person/monster/whatever), and the second collaborator only gets access to the very last piece of information written (or drawn) by the last collaborator, in order to improvise or elaborate from that. Then a third person does the same to the second person’s input, etc, etc.

Exquisite corpse

Exquisite corpse, also known as exquisite cadaver (from the original French term cadavre exquis), is a method by which a collection of words or images is collectively assembled. Each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence, either by following a rule (e.g. "The adjective noun adverb verb the adjective noun." as in "The green duck sweetly sang the dreadful dirge.") or by being allowed to see only the end of what the previous person contributed. This technique was invented by surrealists an...

Here’s an illustration showing a drawn exquisite corpse, you can clearly see the creases where the different artists work has overlapped;

excorpse.png382×504 142 KB

Exquisite Corpse OT Collaboration

It would be awesome to try out something similar with the Octatrack to create a sort of sound collage. I’m not sure on what is the best way to share content between users, however, so would very much like input on this.

I’m thinking something along these lines.

The first person creates a 4-bar loop. Content is completely up to the creator.
He/She renders this loop as an audio file for the final “piece” and keeps it somewhere on his/her computer, or uploads it to a Dropbox or something.
He/She also saves the project as a new project, copies the 4th bar of the 4-bar loop to a new pattern, deletes the 4-bar long pattern, and saves this new project (containing only the 4th bar of the original 4-bar loop).
This project can now be shared with the next collaborator.
The collaborator who takes over the project must now create a 4-bar long loop, with the former collaborator’s one-bar loop as the starting point (so he/she is basically creating 3 bars of original content).
He/She passes on his/her fourth bar loop to the next person, etc.

Rules

The 1 bar loop inherited from the collaborator before you MUST stay intact, 100% as it were, including all effects settings.
All audio files used in the project must be put in a specific folder within your Audio-folder, named “Exco”, so that it will be easy to share between users.

Logistics

I’m not sure my way of sharing the loops with one another is the smartest way. Maybe it would be wiser to just share audio stems, for instance. I’m very open for suggestions on this.

Participants

We need a list of participants to start out the project. Let’s say 10 people. If you sign up, you must be able to chip in with your collaboration on a relatively short notice, or you will be crossed off the list.

So, I’d like some input on possible best ways on how to share projects/audio-files between users, and participants!

If you want to sign up for this project, just write a post with your username in bold, and I’ll add you to the list.

If enough people show any interest and if we’ve figured out a decent way of sharing projects/audio, we’ll start this Monday May 4th. And as long as people are interested, it will be possible to participate. It’s got potential to be a never ending track.

husc · 2014-05-02T12:07:51.000Z

Interesting concept for music collaborations. I can suggest ‘google drive’ for sharing.

I think the rules should be clear on deadlines and I am hesitating to join, because I am involved in a lot of projects/bands and it’s hard to add more deadlines to my schedule. Creativity has it’s limits.

Daisuk · 2014-05-02T16:48:54.000Z

No worries, we’ll see how it goes. People are maybe too busy with their bright and shiny AR’s to notice at the moment.

TrabanT · 2014-05-02T20:49:48.000Z

TRABANT

sicijk · 2014-08-03T14:06:20.000Z

!! (NiCeIdEa=) !!
So is the final collage a sequence of the ten 4-bar-loops rendered by each one of the participants?

Anyway…I AM IN:

Sicijk

Dayflight · 2014-08-08T11:24:40.000Z

Great Idea, I´, in.

When do we start and who?

ruebe · 2016-02-21T16:42:29.000Z

whatup with this project? love the idea
has this been done?
if not , we could advertise this a little more
think there d be some folks interested