Project Description

"Exquisite corpse (also known as "exquisite cadaver" or "rotating corpse") is a method by which a collection of words or images is collectively assembled, the result being known as the exquisite corpse or cadavre exquis in French. Each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence..." -Wikipedia

22 Steps is an experiment in story art. It is a free narrative composed entirely of photographs, each photograph taken by a different person. Thus the story evolves organically, taking shape through the artworks of the collective. The ideas behind each photograph may be vastly different, resulting in an experience that is possibly confusing but nonetheless beautiful. It also provides a showcase for any artist who wants to contribute a photograph to the story.

The photographs in this project are individually licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. This means others are free to share and adapt the works, provided they attribute the author as well as distribute the work under the same or similar license.

The web site coding was all done with TextEdit. I am a minimalist when it comes to design choices; this is particularly applicable here where the primary focus is on the photography art.

Inspiration

"Story" matters. It is communication between author and reader, and indeed also within the self. The desire to create story was a large motivation in this project, and exquisite corpse was an intriguing method of implementation I wanted to experiment with.

The SFØ task "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words" was also highly influential.

Why is this project important? Because it has meaning for me, and hopefully for others. Because art and story matter, and are often more innovative than science and technology. Because the praxis of human imagination is powerful and defines us!

Who will enjoy this the most?

I believe that those who contribute to the story might enjoy this project the most. That's not to say that others won't enjoy it, but rather that the experience of producing art and having it form something larger in conjunction with other photographs taken by people all over the world is quite satisfying.

The Project

The project is currently hosted at http://harry-lee.com/22steps

Use the arrow keys at the top right to navigate. Clicking the number will conjure a prompt, and if you type the number of the page (chapter/step) you wish to go to, you will be magically whisked there by the power of javascript.

I think providing pictures here is slightly redundant for a project pretty much entirely made up of photographs - it's much easier to click the link and explore for yourself, and, perhaps, contribute to the story.