At Sharjah Biennial 15, Hammons presents a video work that surrounds the collective project of poet Ted Joans, Long Distance Exquisite Corpse, an artwork spanning from 1976 to 2001 that was inspired by a 1925 French Surrealist game called ‘exquisite corpse’. The work involved 132 artists and literati over a twenty-five-year period, each folding a sheet of paper accordion-style and, one by one, creating drawings that connected across the creases.
Hammons’ Exquisite Corpse: Ted Joans (2019) reflects on the creative and personal histories of the vast and diverse list of contributors, including Shel Silverstein, Allen Ginsberg and Romare Bearden. It also shows footage of Joans himself unfolding the long artwork in 2001. Emphasising the work’s physicality, the artist filmed the piece fold to fold, allowing viewers to follow this treasure map of friendship as it expands through time, space and disciplines. The film catalogues an intimate communication between artists and poets over the course of several decades through which humorous and necessary connections are threaded.
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