MACHINE FOR LIVING (DIVINATION CARDS) (2013) RETURN TO ART MENU

Made as part of an artist’s residency during World Stage Design in Cardiff, this set of divination cards was a thought experiment to investigate principal themes of home and belonging which would go onto inform the site-specific performance of the same name in 2014.

Drawing inspiration from the famous quote by modernist architect Le Corbusier (who has been critiqued for considering the efficient design of houses over their emotional function as homes), this work sought to investigate the relationship between the formalist structure of the nation state and political ideology and the organic lives of ordinary people.

The design of these pack of printed cards originated in photographs taken during urban explorations in the city of Cardiff.  As an outsider, I attempted to consider the archetypal meanings associated with mundane settings where the underlying symbols of everyday life may speak to broader concepts of the familiar and the strange.  

As an inspirational tool, these cards have been used as a thought experiment or ‘divination’ tool where a question is asked, the cards are shuffled, placed in a randomly selected order and then allow the questioner to contemplate the concepts on each card in relation to the initial question asked.