#DadaTarot: the first readings

I created this project for a show celebrating the 100th anniversary of Dada.  I made the #DadaTaroT deck out of two sets of images: 21 red wood and laser-etched cardboard symbol cards, and over 200 media image cards on laser-etched cardboard.

 

The method was simple: a pair of people (strangers, lovers, friends…) would be invited by the performers dressed in carnival-esque gear to each ask a question which they could not at that moment know the answer to.  One person would ask (aloud or in silence) and then select one red card and two brown cards.  The partner would then use the cards to attempt to answer the person’s question.  Then they switch.  I documented each one in rough and ready fashion with a photo and hastily hand-written notes.  These are the results.

The Dadaists were coming out of the horror of WWI that left many of their generation feeling that life was meaningless and absurd: Religion, Government, Philosophy and Art seemed to have utterly failed to provide meaning in the context of that horror.  The Dadaists embraced and exposed the absurdity.

I used Tarot because it seemed to be a perfect intersection of the randomness that a lot of dada art has employed through the use of games of chance together with a random assault of media and symbolism wherein we search for meaning.  In the end it is about what each person brings to it and what they _want_ to find, but as in all interactions it’s not just our interpretations, but the interpretations of those around to us, or even close to us that have an effect.  Our negotiation of those interpretations of our world together are what interests me as an artist.  This exchange provided a platform for mini exchanges and negotiations of how we interpret our shared world.

So many interesting things happened during this project, only a few of which are visible in these records- the best of it was within the interaction.  It is very much is about what people bring to it.