Artists Remake the Tarot

Outrageous Fortune is a Hayward Touring exhibition set to open at Exeter Phoenix on Friday 24th January. The show is curated by Andrew Hunt the new Spacex director, and showcases contemporary artists’ interpretations of the classic Tarot de Marseille deck of cards. Tarot playing cards originated in Italy in the 15th century. Used in most of Europe to play games, in the English-speaking world the tarot is generally associated with divination and fortune telling. A rich source of imagery, it includes such archetypes as The Fool, The Magician, The High Priestess, The Lovers, The Wheel of Fortune, and The Hanged Man. For this project, seventy-eight artists, whose work encompasses a variety of formal, conceptual, expressionist, literary or design-based approaches, were asked to create a card for a contemporary tarot pack. Each artist drew a card randomly, and was invited to reinterpret it in their own way.

Among the contributions are The Nine of Swords (signifying rewards due to one’s efforts) by Mike Nelson; The Four of Pentacles (one who is attached to material wealth) by Alan Kane; The Hermit(solitude, the passage of time and a search for virtue) by Suzanne Treister; The King of Wands (leadership and masculine authority) by Dan Rees; The Two of Pentacles (different possibilities) by Adam Chodzko; The King of Chalices (imposing one’s will and interaction) by Cerith Wyn Evans; The Ten of Chalices (attaining ones goals) by Cullinan Richards; The Four of Chalices (initial success) by Tris Vonna-Michell; The Ace of Chalices (new beginnings) by Anna Barriball; The Magician (takingadvantage of others or being taken advantage of) by Melanie Gilligan; Temperance (a balance of character and psychological health) by Simon Davenport; The Knight of Swords (determination and setting boundaries) by Will Holder; The Three of Swords (formulating a strategy and self defence) by Lindsay Seers.

The exhibition consists of the original artworks, all produced to the same near-A3 format, framed and accompanied by explanatory captions, and an example of the original Tarot de Marseille pack.

Andrew Hunt, then Director of Focal Point Gallery and founder of Slimvolume, said:

"Rather than present a retrospective for Hayward Touring, it seemed much more fitting to look ahead. At a moment when speculation about the world economy is rife, the reading of each work in this distributed or donated “deck” represents a utopian glimpse of an imminent or forthcoming world, through its response to the project’s curatorial conceit. As ever, the participating artists’ responses and their generosity have been extraordinary."

Roger Malbert, Head of Hayward Touring said:

 "The Slimvolume project has always been about promoting an exchange of ideas, and our collaboration with Focal Point Gallery to create Outrageous Fortune enables the exhibition to be presented in more venues, increasing access to the project across the UK."

Artists include: Jonathan Allen, Aaron Angell, Ed Atkins, Anna Barriball, Zoe Beloff, Manfredi Beninati, Juliette Blightman, Erik Blinderman, Pavel Braila, Paul Buck, Edwin Burdis, Montgomery Cantsin and Kat Harvey, Rachel Cattle, Nicolas Ceccaldi, Izumi Chiaraluce, Adam Chodzko, Keith Coventry, Cullinan / Richards, John Cussans, Tom Dale, Simon Davenport, Sara De Bondt, Arnaud Desjardin, Tatjana Doll, Ruth Ewan, Graham Fagen, Keith Farquhar, Michael Fullerton, Manuela Gernedel, Melanie Gilligan, Brian Griffiths, Susan Hiller, HIT (Lina Grumm and Annette Lux), Will Holder, Phillipa Horan, Kenneth Hunt, Candice Jacobs, Alan Kane, Scott King, Anja Kirschner and David Panos, Jonty Lees, Cedar Lewisohn, George Henry Longly, Fiona Mackay, Roger Malbert, Dawn Mellor, Jeremy Millar, Elinor Morgan, Fraser Muggeridge, Mike Nelson, Novel (Alun Rowlands and Matt Williams), Luigi Ontani, Anna Parkina, Katie Paterson, João Penalva, Perle Petit, Simon Popper, Manuel Raeder, Dan Rees,James Richards and Thom Murphy, Hannah Rickards, Hannah Sawtell, Noah Sherwood, Jamie Shovlin, Lindsay Seers, Cally Spooner, Jemima Stehli, Jack Strange, Stephen Sutcliffe, Emma Talbot, Alexis Marguerite Teplin, Nadia Thondrayen,Suzanne Treister, Raisa Veikkola and Frida Alvinzi, Julie Verhoeven, Sophie von Hellermann, Tris Vonna-Michell in dialogue with Konst och teknik, Stuart Whipps, Rachel Withers and Cerith Wyn Evans. Slimvolume Poster Publication 2008 to 2011 is generously supported by Hayward Touring, Arts Council England and Southend-on-Sea Borough Council. 

 Visit exeterphoenix.org.uk for more details.