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Mental Contagion's mission is to publish compelling work by unknown
and established artists and writers to an international community
of artists, writers and enthusiasts. The magazine explores content
and processes through interview, essay and biography. Mental Contagion
is an arts and literature Internet magazine published on a monthly
basis.
The Origin of the Mental Contagion Name
Exquisite Corpse—derived from the French phrase "Le
cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau," that translates to "The
exquisite corpse will drink the young wine"—is a technique
developed during the surrealist movement and is based on a parlor
game. Seeing only a small segment of what a previous person draws,
collaborators add to a composition in progress to create a strange
and often ridiculous image. Preceeding these visual "mash-ups"
or what some have referred to as "intellectual MadLIbs" was
a literary technique, prompting each contributor to add a phrase,
seeing only a segment of the previous phrase. Surrealist poet and
art historian Nicolas Calas said that the completed work revealed
the "unconscious
reality in the personality of the group." Often, similar themes
and images would appear in the completed compositions, and this
is what visual artist Max Ernst referred to as a "Mental
Contagion."
Cadavre Exquis, 1928
Created by Man Ray, Yvesy Tanguy, Joan Miró and Max Morise |
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