[1] It is a strategy that has been adopted by many unconnected radical and cultural groups, where the construct of personal identity has been criticised.
It was used by a group of French mathematicians associated with the École Normale Supérieure[2] to exemplify the collective effort that goes into mathematics.
The name Alan Smithee has been in use in Hollywood since 1968 by directors who wish to disavow creative credit for a film where control has been taken away from them.
Other multiple identities in use in the artistic world include Luther Blissett, Sandy Larson,[3] Monty Cantsin, Geoffrey Cohen, and Karen Eliot.
The avant-garde pre-texts include the pseudonym Rrose Sélavy jointly used by Dada artist Marcel Duchamp and the surrealist poet Robert Desnos.