Exquisite Corpses produced during the group excursion to London (22-23/12/21)
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Curious Corpses
Author: majorweir
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Curious and Curiouser
Members of La Sirena (Left to Right: Taya King, Darren Thomas and Doug Campbell) met up in London yesterday to attend the ‘Curious and Curiouser’ exhibition on Carroll’s ‘Alice’ books at the Victoria and Albert museum. We went for a meal afterward, and glasses were raised to our comrade Daina Kopp, who sadly couldn’t make it this time. Proper scans of the Exquisite Corpses we made together to follow.
We devoted a recent meeting to a simultaneous collage workshop, having prepared ourself with images relating to the theme of the forthcoming issue of the Surrealerpool group’s magazine ’Patastrophe: “WHO AM I? Masks behind masks. Dolls within dolls. WHOM DO I HAUNT?” The results are shown above.
Prior to this, Daina and Doug had attended a games session with members of Surrealerpool. This was a most convivial and productive evening, with the proceedings and results recorded for possible future publication.
Any, all or none of this material may appear in ’Patastrophe #4, scheduled for 7 January 2022 (Russian Christmas), but the marvellous may be depended on! In the meantime, we recommend their many other publications, all beautifully designed and produced, and available from https://surrealerpool.home.blog/surrealerpool-publications/.
“Scots resident can’t believe his eyes after spotting ‘mermaid’ swimming on flooded street – Glasgow streets badly hit by torrential downpours.” Daily Record – 10 August 2021
The next evolutionary stage in response to climate change?
La Sirena welcomes further sightings of Sirens in the shape of Fortean clippings, photographs, found objects, collage, painting, drawing or in any other manner in which they may choose to manifest themselves.
Contributions to the editorial address, with any available supporting documentation. lasirenasurrealistgroup@gmail.com
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An Enquiry Into the Poetry Made by All
‘Poetry must be made by all’ – Isidore Ducasse, Comte de Lautréamont
Collective creativity has been and remains a constant throughout the history of surrealism. We propose an enquiry into the ‘poetry made by all’.
This enquiry is directed at the international surrealist community in the first instance, and particularly at groups, but replies are welcome from all. We are aware of groups who have participated in communal creation as part of their daily social lives, sometimes over lifetimes, and of individuals who have interacted only intermittently and at a distance. We are also interested in relevant experiences in areas of creative endeavour that may involve group activity by their nature, surrealist or not: drama, music and film.
We propose the following questions:
- What is the special power of collective creativity?
- What are the dangers of engaging in collective creativity?
- Does collective creativity require collective improvisation?
- What are the effects of space (location) and time (duration) on collective creativity?
Responses to the La Sirena editorial address below by 15th October 2021, please. Participants are encouraged to also include examples of their collective activity (exquisite corpses, games, collective poems etc) or/and photographs of collective activity/group shots. All participants’ submissions will be collated and featured on the blog (unless advised otherwise).
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My Process
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‘La Femme Électromécanique’
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‘A Voyage to Sirenusa’
La Sirena is a small group of surrealists that formed during the Covid lockdown. Members include: Doug Campbell, Taya King, Daina Kopp and Darren Thomas, who are located in England, Scotland and the United States. Meeting once a week via an online platform, they produced a manifesto, shared research, made collaborative art and managed a collective excursion to a group of islands off the coast of Italy. All without leaving home.
In our initial manifesto discussions, La Sirena was suggested as a space, something that we all responded to, which led to the question, what kind of a space is it? (Dimensions, climate, ecology, government, natural resources, ethnic groups, languages, arts, sports, cuisine…) Where do the sirens meet? Where do we go when we meet?
We suggest that this meeting place is not a virtual place that may be defined in terms of applications, bits of information passing through wifi and routers, but instead a space created collectively. The kind of collective space that has always existed, ever since it was simply any cave deep enough to hide the sun. A space that exists in the minds of friends in a way that is as real as the spaces in which we eat and sleep, as the recurring memories and dreams of familiar living spaces, homes, institutions and landscapes. It is the dwelling place of the third mind that exists when two do creative work together…or the fourth mind, or the sixth and so on. It is the shared memory palace of George Du Maurier’s Peter Ibbetson (1892).
Describing these temporary zones as ‘virtual’ is to miss the point. They exist in shared experiences and understanding, the kind of conversation that you pick up after decades without missing a beat. It might be a cafe, a bar, a nightclub, a phone call, a fanzine, even the type-written amateur press association mailings of the nineteen thirties. As much or as little as that. When it matters it is the space of poetry as much as the poetics of space. To travel to such a space, at any time, regardless of circumstance, is not nothing. To travel through surrealist space to a surrealist place is always an adventure.
In a group meeting, it was proposed that we name our shared space ‘Sirenusa’, after a cluster of three big rocks off the Amalfi coast, one of the many reputed homes of the sirens, the inspiring muses of La Sirena. It emerged that Rudolph Nureyev (Russian ballet dancer, choreographer and actor, 1938-93) had owned and lived on one of these islands towards the end of his life. These and other associations were enough to set the imagination of the group on fire, in a frenzy of creativity documented herewith.
References
Maurier, G. D. (1892) Peter Ibbetson. London: Osgood, Mcilvaine.
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Images of La Sirena
La Sirena 