"There is always some madness in love" (Nietzsche).
Noblesse Oblige as "The Lover" in the SPILL 2009 deck of tarot cards. (Censored image for Myspace, the actual card is not censored) Photograph by Manuel Vason.
About the card:
The Lover - not the Lovers - suggests both the complexity and ambiguity of relationships. Here the Fool is presented with his first real choice: a carnal decision conflicted by an affair of the heart. For the first time he becomes aware that following his instinct may pitch him in direct opposition to others. The card asks us to make a decision on who the lover is here - the woman looking outwards, maybe in search of somebody else; the man, so obviously filled with desire for the woman; or a third party, watching the couple making love?
Reflection is needed before making a choice. Yet in the mere act of making a conscious decision - that has external repercussions - the Fool is developing.
About the Tarot project:
The SPILL Performance Tarot is a new artist led experimental project at the heart of SPILL 2009. The project brings together a new constituency of contemporary makers from a variety of disciplines, in order to create a new deck of tarot cards.
In collaboration with SPILL commissioned photographer Manuel Vason, a range of ‘maverick’ artists will each restage a tarot card. Artists collaborating on this project are Ron Athey, Marissa Carnesky, Franko B, Raimund Hoghe, Robert Pacitti, Lois Keidan, Lee Adams, Carla Esperanza Tommasini, Sheila Ghelani, Oreet Ashery, Rajni Shah, Noblesse Oblige, Vaginal Davis, Grace Ellen Barkey, Harminder Singh Judge, Kira O'Reilly, Helena Hunter, Empress Stah, Dominic Johnson, Julia Bardsley, Manuel Vason and Yann Marussich.
These images have been turned into a beautiful limited edition deck of cards, presented in a specially designed box and cellophane wrapped.
Click HERE to purchase your very own pack of SPILL Tarot cards at a special Festival price of £30 plus p&p
Manuel Vason is now widely considered to be one of the world’s foremost performance photographers. Born and educated in Italy, he moved to London and whilst assisting some of the most highly regarded photographers in the fashion industry he started the project "Exposure" a publication on Live Performance Art (Black Dog Publishing, 2001). In September 2003 he graduated from Central Saint Martins with an MA in Fine Art. Since1999 his work has been published on L'Uomo Vogue, ID, Dazed and Confused, Flash Art, Frieze, Contemporary, Tate Magazine etc. and exhibited at Tate Liverpool, ICA London, Whitechapel Gallery London, Tramway Gallery Glasgow, Arnolfini Gallery Bristol, VB Museum (Finland), Museo delle Papesse (Italy).