collaboration as inspiration

I've been thinking about collaboration, and how interesting the results can be.  There are various examples of artists working together, bouncing ideas off of each other, igniting inspiration.  For example, in the coffee table book "A Year of Sundays", two artistic women collaborate by linking a series of photographs taken each Sunday at their respective homes during the year.  The photos offer windows into their (aesthetic) lives and personalities, capturing the mood and essence of (if you are lucky enough to be off) Sundays.  They managed to collaborate despite the 3,000 mile distance which separated them, through the magic of the internet, of course.   Over the years, they have published several books of lovely -- if not somewhat staged -- photographs.

I also thought of Renku, "collaborative linked verse" in Japanese poetry, in which poets string together a series of poems, using some word or phrase offered by the collaborator that triggers the next poem.  Traditionally written as intellectual games in groups during "renga" gatherings, Renku are often found to contain humorous or witty undertones.  Contemporary renga gatherings have inspired modern Renku, as described by fellow blogger, Melissa Allen in her post about a published collaboration she did.  Her collaboration was so inspiring -- the result feels similar (although more intellectual) to the collaborative photographs mentioned above.

There have been countless musical collaborations throughout the years, of course.  The first one that pops into my head, oddly enough is the song, "Under Pressure" by Queen and Davie Bowie. The song was a huge hit, and has an interesting video to accompany it.  The video was most likely prepared by yet another collaborator!  Of course collaborations happen across all genres, musically and otherwise.  Surely, there have been more interesting musical collaborations recently --perhaps you'd like to tell me what they are?

In art history, the Exquisite Corpse Game comes to mind, invented by Surrealists and appropriated by Dadaists.  A piece of paper was folded and passed around and each participant added a different body part or element to the picture, which, when unfolded, resulted in the portrait of a unique creature.

Finally, I should mention a personal example.  My classmates and I were given an assignment at the end of the last term in my MFA program.  We were paired up and asked to collaborate on a creative writing assignment.  Instead of linking poems together, we took the last line of each segment of text written by the other collaborator, and began a new segment using that sentence.  The results were varied and interesting.  Many of them will be published in an upcoming journal (to be announced later).

In any case, It's probably safe to say that most art, in its final form, is the result of some form of collaboration.  All the more reason, I believe it's important to think collectively.  Imagine the potential results!  Ultimately, and at the very least, collaboration can lead to new and inventive forms in art.