“It’s in the Cards” Exhibition
MIYAKO YOSHINAGA art prospects
This event has ended.
Miyako Yoshinaga presents IT’S IN THE CARDS, a group exhibition curated by David Gimbert.
It’s in the Cards is an unusual exhibition that touches all of us by appealing to our playfulness, our relationship to rules, our imagination and our childhood experiences. This exhibition establishes a dialogue between seven upcoming artists who have created a body of work using cards as medium and as subject.
The trick: the artists exploit playing cards, tarot cards, trading cards, scratch cards, or cards of their own creation, to develop a conceptual language and esthetic practice. Intrinsically, the ludic nature of cards bears witness to our need for leisure and escape from reality. Cards operate within three dimensions: visual (their appearance), informational (their function), and meaning (the systems they belong to or create). In this exhibition, the seven artists and their cards offer the viewer an opportunity to reflect on the often too invisible social discourse we are immersed in. They also reveal the different ways we interact among ourselves and with the world of representation. The works selected for It’s in the Cards illustrate the range of possibilities offered by cards as a medium in contemporary art.
The cognitive filter with which we, as viewers, translate symbolism into information depends on our cultural understanding of the structure in which the cards are used. Folk cultures have given birth to game structures using the medium of cards. Though extensively depicted since the Italian Renaissance, cards have seldom been used as a conceptual component in art. It’s in the Cards reveals cards’ unexpected potential.
One of the approaches of It’s in the Cards is the use of cards within a game structure. Either played by oneself or against opponents, cards define a mental activity in relationship with the phenomenon of luck or of a strategic procedure confined within the parameters of rules. Another approach of the exhibition consists in illustrating the attractiveness of the medium of cards as collectible items. This aspect of cards reflects the emotional power they wield through their repeated use or, more recently, their trade.
Finally, It’s in the Cards explores the communicative aspect of cards in several ways: to define the structure and rules within a game system; to convey information forcing the cardholder to make a decision; or to uncover the realms of the occult exposing one’s eventual destiny.
About the artists
The contributing artists of It’s in the Cards have employed a wide range of approaches. Joshua Weibley has adapted Microsoft Windows based Solitaire games. Billy Rennekamp and Scott Goodman have elaborated on the popular 52 card game, Rennekamp on the formal rules of the game and Goodman on its material aspect. Paco Cao has reinvented a deck of tarot card reading. Taylor Shields has created language-based Go Cards. Andrew Graham and Paul Hunter Speagle have redefined collectible cards and instant game rewards.
Media
Schedule
from June 06, 2013 to July 20, 2013
Opening Reception on 2013-06-06 from 18:00 to 20:00