Surrealist techniques
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{{Surrealism infobox}}
[[Surrealism]] in [[art]], [[poetry]], and [[literature]] utilizes numerous unique '''techniques and games''' to provide inspiration. Many of these are said to free imagination by producing a creative process free of [[consciousness|conscious]] control. The importance of the [[Unconscious mind|unconscious]] as a source of inspiration is central to the nature of surrealism.
The Surrealist movement has been a fractious one since its inception. The value and role of the various techniques has been one of many subjects of disagreement. Some Surrealists consider [[surrealist automatism|automatism]] and games to be sources of inspiration only, while others consider them as starting points for finished works. Others consider the items created through automatism to be finished works themselves, needing no further refinement.
==Aerography==
{{main|Aerography (arts)}}
'''Aerography''' is a technique in which a 3-dimensional object is used as a [[stencil]] with [[spraypainting]].
==Automatism==
{{main|Surrealist automatism}}
* '''[[Automatic drawing]]'''
* '''[[Automatic painting]]'''
* '''[[Automatic writing]]'''
* '''Automatic poetry''' is [[poetry]] written using the [[surrealist automatism|automatic method]]. It has probably been the chief surrealist method from the founding of surrealism to the present day. One of the oddest uses of automatic writing by a great writer was that of [[W. B. Yeats]]. His wife, a spiritualist, practised it, and Yeats put large chunks of it into his prose work, ''[[A Vision]]'' and much of his later poetry. Yeats, however, was not a surrealist.
Automatic poetry generators exist online, but they do not actually generate automatic poetry in this sense.
The Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal used the method of automatic text in his famous book I served a British king. One chapter in the book is written as one sentence and author indors the automatic writing in the end of the book.
==Bulletism==
{{main|Bulletism}}
'''Bulletism''' is shooting [[ink]] at a blank piece of [[paper]]. The artist can then develop images based on what is seen.
==Calligramme==
A '''calligramme''' is a text or [[poem]] of a type developed by [[Guillaume Apollinaire]] in which the words or letters make up a shape, particularly a shape connected to the subject of the text or poem.<ref>[http://www.ac-nancy-metz.fr/petitspoetes/HTML/SALLESDEJEUX/MEDIASSALLE/apol.gif Examples of calligrammes]</ref><ref>[http://www.storyabout.net/typedrawing/ Modern examples and make your own (Flash)]</ref>
==Collage==
{{main|Collage}}
[[Image:Tableaux collages guy garnier horloge de damvix 320x420.JPG|left|thumb|A collage by Guy Garnier]]
'''Collage''' is the assemblage of different forms creating a new whole. For example, an artistic collage work may include newspaper clippings, ribbons, bits of colored or hand-made papers, photographs, etc., glued to a solid support or canvas.
==Coulage==
A '''coulage''' is a kind of [[surrealist automatism|automatic]] or involuntary [[sculpture]] made by pouring a molten material (such as [[metal]], [[wax]], [[chocolate]] or [[white chocolate]]) into cold [[water]]. As the material cools it takes on what appears to be a random (or [[aleatoric]]) form, though the physical properties of the materials involved may lead to a conglomeration of discs or spheres. The artist may utilize a variety of techniques to affect the outcome.
This technique is also used in the [[divination]] process known as [[ceromancy]].
==Cubomania==
[[Image:cubomania.jpg|thumb|right|200px|An application of cubomania]]
'''Cubomania''' is a method of making [[collage]]s in which a picture or [[image]] is cut into squares and the squares are then reassembled without regard for the image. The technique was first used by the [[Romania]]n surrealist [[Gherasim Luca]].
==Cut-up technique==
{{main|Cut-up technique}}
'''Cut-up technique''' is a literary form or method in which a text is cut up at random and rearranged to create a new text.
==Decalcomania==
{{main|Decalcomania}}
'''Decalcomania''' is a process of spreading thick paint upon a canvas then—while it is still wet—covering it with further material such as paper or aluminium foil. This covering is then removed (again before the paint dries), and the resultant paint pattern becomes the basis of the finished painting. The technique was much employed by artists such as [[Max Ernst]].
==Dream résumé==
The '''dream résumé''' takes the form of an employment [[résumé]] but chronicles its subject's achievements, employment, or the like, in [[dream]]s, rather than in waking life. Sometimes dream résumés contain the achievements of both, however.
==Echo poem==
{{wiktionary|echo poem}}
An '''echo poem''' is a [[poem]] written using a technique invented by [[Aurélien Dauguet]] in [[1972]]. The poem is composed by one or more persons, working together in a process as follows.
The first "stanza" of the poem is written on the left-hand column of a piece of paper divided into two columns. Then the "opposite" of the first stanza, opposite in whatever sense is appropriate to the poem, is composed in the right-hand column of the page. The writing is done [[surrealist automatism|automatically]] and often the "opposite" stanza is composed of a sound correspondence to the first stanza.
For a longer work, the third stanza can then begin in the left-hand column as an "opposite" or a sound correspondence to what preceded it in the right-hand column. Then the fourth stanza might be an "opposite" or sound correspondence to what preceded it in the left-hand column, and so forth. When the poem is completed, the opposite of the last phrase, line, or sentence, generally serves as the title.
This is unrelated to the non-Surrealist [[echo verse]] form which appears as a dialogue between the questions of a character and [[echo (phenomenon)|the answers]] of the nymph [[Echo (mythology)|Echo]].
==Eclaboussure==
Process in Surrealist painting where Oil paint or Watercolour is laid down and water or turpentine is splattered then soaked up to reveal random splatters or dots where the media was removed, this technique gives the appearance of space and atmosphere. Used in paintings by [[Remedios Varo]].
==Entoptic graphomania==
'''Entoptic graphomania''' (sometimes, though inaccurately, called "entopic graphomania")<ref>{{cite web|title="The Rabbit's Shadow's Spiral Echolocates the Squareness of the Moon for the Office Boy in the Calm Look of the Centaur" ("entopic graphomania" by Daniel C. Boyer)|url=http://www.sito.org/cgi-bin/egads/showart?show=dcb.0019&idonly=DCB&cat=entopic%20graphomania|accessdate=2007-09-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=
"ENTOPIC GRAPHOMANIAS"|url=http://forum.psrabel.com/beitraege/boyer/boyer1.html|accessdate=2008-06-30}}</ref> is a surrealist and automatic method of [[drawing]] in which dots are made at the sites of impurities in a blank sheet of paper, and lines are then made between the dots; these can be either "curved lines... or straight lines."<ref>{{cite web|title=Automatic Tecniques|url=http://www.ithellcolquhoun.co.uk/5263/|accessdate=2008-06-21}}</ref>. Ithell Colquhoun described its results as "the most austere kind of geometric abstraction."<ref>Automatic Techniques</ref> It is apparently to be distinguished from other "entoptic" methods of drawing or art-making.<ref>{{cite web|author=Suzanne Carr|title=Entpoptic phenomena|url=http://www.oubliette.zetnet.co.uk/Five.html|accessdate=2007-10-03}}</ref>
The method was invented by [[Dolfi Trost]], who as the subtitle of his [[1945]] book ("''Vision dans le cristal. Oniromancie obsessionelle. Et neuf graphomanies entoptiques''") suggests, included nine examples therein. This method of "indecipherable writing" (see below) was supposedly an example of "[[surautomatism]]," the controversial theory put forward by Trost and [[Gherashim Luca]] in which surrealist methods would be practiced that "went beyond" automatism. In ''Dialectique de Dialectique'' they had proposed the further radicalization of surrealist automatism by abandoning images produced by artistic techniques in favour of those "resulting from rigorously applied scientific procedures," allegedly cutting the notion of "[[artist]]" out of the process of creating images and replacing it with chance and scientific rigour. However, the question has arisen whether an algorithm should be used to determine in what order to connect the dots to maintain the "automatic" nature of the method.<ref>{{cite web|author=Matthew Conroy|title=comment on "The Olmec Bride with the Saturated Eyebrows Bemoans the Inconvenience of Love"|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/otis/discussion/static/sito.id.dcb/20050307-11656.html}}</ref>
The method has been compared to the "[[voronoi diagram|voronoi mathematical progression]]."<ref>{{cite web|title=entopic graphomania|url=http://dmacwilliam.wordpress.com/2007/11/12/entopic-graphomania/}}</ref>
'''External links:'''
*[http://www.arslibri.com/cat130w32.htm Example of Trost's entoptic graphomania.]
*[http://www.socialfiction.org/?tag=graphomania Discussion of entopic graphomania at Crystalpunk]
==Étrécissements==
[[Collage]] is perceived as an additive method of visual poetry whereas '''Étrécissements''' are a reductive method. This was first employed by [[Marcel Mariën]] in the [[1950s]]. The results are achieved by the cutting away of parts of images to encourage a new image, by means of a pair of scissors or any other manipulative sharpened instrument.
==Exquisite corpse==
{{main|Exquisite corpse}}
'''Exquisite corpse''' or '''Cadavre exquis''' is a method by which a collection of words or images are collectively assembled. It is based on an old parlour game known by the same name (and also as [[Consequences]]) in which players wrote in turn on a sheet of paper, folded it to conceal part of the writing, and then passed it to the next player for a further contribution.
==Frottage==
{{main|Frottage (surrealist technique)}}
'''Frottage''' is a method of creation in which one takes a pencil or other drawing tool and makes a "rubbing" over a textured surface. The drawing can either be left as is or used as the basis for further refinement.
==Fumage==
{{main|Fumage}}
'''Fumage''' is a technique in which impressions are made by the [[smoke]] of a [[candle]] or [[kerosene lamp]] on a piece of paper or canvas.
==Games==
In [[Surrealism]], games are important not only as a form of recreation but as a method of investigation. The intention is to cut away the constraints of [[rationalism]] and allow concepts to develop more freely and in a more random manner. The aim is to break traditional thought patterns and create a more original outcome.
Old games such as [[Exquisite corpse]], and newer ones, notably Time Travelers' Potlatch and Parallel Collage, have played a critical role.
Exquisite corpse is a method by which a collection of words or images are collectively assembled, the result being known as the exquisite corpse or ''cadavre exquis'' in [[French language|French]]. Later the game was adapted to [[drawing]] and [[collage]].
Time Travelers' [[Potlatch]] is a game in which two or more players say what gift they would give to another person - this is usually an historical person who played a role in, or had an influence on, the formation of Surrealism.
==Grattage==<!-- This section is linked from [[Acrylic paint]] -->
'''Grattage''' is a surrealist technique in [[painting]] in which (usually dry) [[paint]] is scraped off the canvas. It was employed by [[Max Ernst]] and [[Joan Miró]].<ref>[http://www.diba.es/expomiro/english.htm Joan Miró . Galeria d'Antiretrats<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
==Heatage==
'''Heatage''' is an automatic technique developed and used by [[David Hare (artist)|David Hare]] in which an exposed but unfixed [[negative (photography)|photographic negative]] is heated from below, causing the [[emulsion]] (and the resulting image, when developed) to distort in a random fashion.
==Indecipherable writing==
In addition to its obvious meaning of writing that is illegibile or for whatever other reason cannot be made out by the reader, '''indecipherable writing''' refers to a set of [[surrealist automatism|automatic]] techniques, most developed by [[Romania]]n surrealists and falling under the heading of [[surautomatism]]. Examples include entoptic graphomania, [[fumage]] and the movement of liquid down a vertical surface.
==Involuntary sculpture==
Surrealism describes as "involuntary sculpture" those made by absent-mindedly manipulating something, such as rolling and unrolling a movie ticket, bending a paper clip, and so forth.<ref>{{cite web|title=Involuntary Sculpture|url=http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:ZjZ2jUywOvYJ:www.surrealismcentre.ac.uk/documents/Involuntary%2520Sculpture.doc+%22involuntary+sculpture%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us|accessdate=2007-10-25}}</ref>
==Latent news==
'''Latent news''' is a game in which an article from a [[newspaper]] is cut into individual words (or perhaps phrases) and then rapidly reassembled; see also [[Cut-up technique]].
==Mimeogram==<!-- This section is linked from [[Mimeograph machine]] -->
[[Image:Masked Badlands the Sandstone Erections the Utahian and Delicate Spires Exclaved by Torquemada's Blister Which Is Your Very Special Freckle.jpg|thumb|right|150px|An example of "movement of liquid down a vertical surface"]]
A '''mimeogram''' is a type of [[surrealist automatism|automatic]] [[art]] made by peeling off the backing sheets of [[mimeograph]] stencils.
==Movement of liquid down a vertical surface==
The '''movement of liquid down a vertical surface''' is, as the name suggests, a technique, invented by surrealists from [[Romania]] and said by them to be [[surautomatism|surautomatic]] and a form of indecipherable writing, of making pictures by dripping or allowing a flow of some form of liquid down a vertical surface.
==Outagraphy==
The '''outagraph''' is a photograph in which the subject, what the photograph is "of," is cut out. The method was invented by [[Ted Joans]].
[[Image:Outagraph of old Houghton, Michigan fire station.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Outagraph of the old Houghton, Michigan fire station]]
==Paranoiac-critical method==
{{main|Paranoiac-critical method}}
'''Paranoiac-critical method''' is a technique invented by Salvador Dali which consists of the artist invoking a paranoid state (fear that the self is being manipulated, targeted or controlled by others). The result is a deconstruction of the psychological concept of identity, such that subjectivity becomes the primary aspect of the artwork.
==Parsemage==<!-- This section is linked from [[Charcoal]] -->
'''Parsemage''' is a [[surrealist]] and [[surrealist automatism|automatic]] method in the [[visual art]]s invented by [[Ithell Colquhoun]] in which dust from [[charcoal]] or colored [[chalk]] is scattered on the surface of water and then skimmed off by passing a stiff paper or cardboard just under the water's surface. The method is unrelated to shoes called "parsemage wedges".[http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/catalog/productdetail.jsp;jsessionid=E865719E39372A5978D8D7D0543D18F8.app42-node6?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&_dynSessConf=7368618506894486197&id=843630&parentid=NEW_SHOES&pushId=NEW_SHOES&popId=NEW_FOR_SEASON&sortProperties=%2BmarketingPriority%2C-saleDate&navCount=1&navAction=jump&fromCategoryPage=true&selectedProductSize=&selectedProductSize1=&color=cho]
==Photomontage==
{{main|Photomontage}}
'''Photomontage''' is making of composite picture by cutting and joining a number of photographs.
==Soufflage==
{{main|Soufflage}}
'''Soufflage''' is a [[surrealism|Surrealist]] technique originated by [[Jimmy Ernst]] in which liquid [[paint]] is blown to inspire or reveal an image.
==Surautomatism==
{{main|Surautomatism}}
'''Surautomatism''' is any theory or act of taking automatism to its most absurd limits.
==Triptography==
'''Triptography''' is an automatic photographic technique whereby a roll of film is used three times (either by the same photographer or, in the spirit of Exquisite Corpse, three different photographers), causing it to be triple-exposed in such a way that the chances of any single photograph having a clear and definite subject is nearly impossible. Indeed, finding any edges on the negative itself during the developing process is a nearly impossible task. Typically the developing of such a roll of film is an exercise in automatic technique in and of itself, cutting the film by counting sprocket holes alone, with no regard for the images present on the negative. The results have a quality reminiscent of the transitory period in sleep when one dream suddenly becomes another.
Creativist Christopher Thurlow claims to have discovered this technique when his urge to continue taking photographs was suddenly challenged by the fact that he had run out of un-exposed film.
==Notes==
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==External links==
*[http://www.flickr.com/photos/applenoire/435967594/ "0000000 (outgraph)" by applenoire on Flickr]
*[http://www.experimentalgameplay.com/ Experimental Gameplay] Website has several rather surreal games, such as "On a rainy day."
*[http://www.archimedes-lab.org/shadoks/shadoiku.html Shadoikus] Surrealist haikus.
*[http://languageisavirus.com/ Language Is A Virus] Surrealist games: exquisite corpse, cut-up machines, word games and creative inspirations.
*[http://www.surrealistmovement-usa.org/pages/time.html Examples of the Time Travellers' Potlatch]
[[Category:Surrealist techniques|Surrealist techniques]]
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