Paper Short Abstract:

The Imperfect Tarot is a custom set of artist cards using the traditional Tarot as a model. Taking the tarot as an intimate performance we can open a space for a sense of magic and the unseen. Through the experience we develop our capacity to hold awareness of multiple reality-senses simultaneously.

Paper Abstract:

Do you believe in magic? In this interactive and participatory performance, artist Sarah Dixon presents an opportunity to explore notions of truth and to question “ordinary” realities. Using the Imperfect Tarot to investigate participant questions on work, life, the mundane or the magnificent, we will enact an experiment in co-creating a temporary reality and envision unthought-of futures.

The Imperfect Tarot is a custom deck devised for Dixon’s recent postgraduate MA thesis at Central Saint Martins. It contains 78 cards, mimicking the popular Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot in structure, while introducing a range of fluid, liminal, visceral and eco-feminist images and themes from her wider socially-engaged practice.

In the Tarot readings, Sarah will invite members of the group to take part with their questions for the cards. This is a playful and intimate process where some of us may encounter real magic.

By introducing the notion of a magical layer, reality is temporarily suspended and a vulnerable, child-like sense of wonder can be summoned.

This is a method that conjures an interplay between imagination, reality and art, that is rooted in game-play and offers the tenderness of a possible occult. Through it, participants often come into greater awareness of inner truths and desires.

The performance is an intuitive experiment, co-creating a temporary reality and envision unthought-of futures.