Journal article Community
5 years of learning and creating using the Exquisite Corpse method
Our new article “Sensing the Ocean through the Exquisite Corpse ArtScience method” is out now!
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by Julia Jung
I joined the Cobra Collective as an Erasmus+ intern back in 2020 after finishing my MSc thesis under the supervision of CIC Co-director Andrea Berardi. The first pandemic winter was coming up, and I was very burnt out. I was just at the start of learning about participatory creative processes, and some friends had recently introduced me to the Exquisite Corpse process, an asynchronous group-based art creation process that we played as a cross-continent game and creative bonding opportunity.
As I finished my internship and joined the Collective as a full member, I was becoming more involved with Ocean ArtScience. After hosting a webinar for Ocean Networks Canada featuring their Artist in Residency program, we thought more about the potential of ocean artscience collaborations to imagine and enact sustainable futures. In the meantime, we had used the Exquisite Corpse project within the Cobra Collective and the Marine Social Science Network Bookclub. A plan began to shape up to officially explore this method through a joint project between Ocean Networks Canada and the Cobra Collective. Now, 4 years later it feels so special to finally be able to share this publication that summarizes our experience and insights from this project.
Through the Exquisite Corpse process, we were able to connect more deeply with each other, expand our artistic practice and had various new scientific, creative and personal meaningful insights. Our budding community of practice around ocean artscience feels more connected and this project has led to a range of spin-off projects and other opportunities. They include a climate fiction story, a learning circle on storytelling in the Ocean Knowledge Action Network and a climate justice Exquisite Corpse project in my current research lab. In the Collective, we have also continued using the Exquisite Corpse process in our 2025 Summertime Exquisite Corpse on “Bodies and Belonging”.
On a more personal side, for me this project has also been about learning to develop and trust my instincts and way of doing research. After finishing my MSc, I was unsure about which direction to continue my work. I was grateful to get to see, learn and support the many amazing projects in the Collective while wondering how I might best contribute. I knew I was interested in participatory processes that have the potential to engage productively with our interlinked socio-environmental crises. But what exactly should I focus on?
By following this intriguing glimmer that the Exquisite Corpse process represented, we were able to create a project that seemed to bring a useful and neglected area into focus: Focusing on creating calm, energizing and playful spaces to connect and think deeply about extreme ocean events and our relationship with the ocean, science and each other using art-based methods. The focus in this project has also laid the foundation for my PhD research project, which explores the potential of polyamorous thinking to support relationship development in transdisciplinary collaborations within ocean science and marine conservation.
We conclude the paper with this collective poem expressing our experience and gratitude for each other, which I’d also love to share here:
From different shores, with different words, different tools Expressing our inner and scientific journey, Brightening the perspectives, Integrating our communities Rewriting our stories Dissolving into darkness, Finding luminescence, Gathered round fire, A space is created for interaction to bloom Into unexpected discoveries From creation to destruction, our own stories surprised us when summarized Retrieving and re-collecting memories like seashells - Colors shifting as the water dries, new reflections constantly emerging Walking from sea to shore, ascending from land to sky; advancing and retreating like the tides, exploring the liminal Feeling the sand in my feet, the sea salt in my nose, hearing the waves in my ears, the turtle turned and led me on Into the ocean, I am entering new worlds, new depths – but suddenly, I realize I am not alone Thank you my playmates, What fun it is to be the ocean with you.
You can read the full publication here: Julia Jung, Aleksandra Cherkasheva, Charlotte Corporeau, Jayalaxshmi Mistry, Diego Narvaez, Alison Laurie Neilson, Dwight Owens, Camille Parrain, David J. Riddell, Anna Zivian; Sensing the Ocean through the Exquisite Corpse ArtScience method. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene 3 January 2025; 13 (1): 00051. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2024.00051
