Neural Tarot (Culture Code) (2021)
A cultural code is a form of lived experience, a trace left on the collective body of culture. It absorbs and transmits knowledge about the world, its peculiarities, and a way of life in a specific historical period.
Tarot cards are one of the brightest examples of the cultural code and represent a system of rules and images, fixed in the human consciousness.
A cultural code is a form of lived experience, a trace left on the collective body of culture. It absorbs and transmits knowledge about the world, its peculiarities, and a way of life in a specific historical period.
Tarot cards are one of the brightest examples of the cultural code and represent a system of rules and images, fixed in the human consciousness.
The Visconti Sforza (1460) tarot deck depicts common cultural images from its era.
Technologies became an integral part of our life, which means they have a significant impact in shaping the cultural code of modern society. Previously, people independently chose the visual appearance of symbols endowing them with important social meanings.
Now the function of making meanings and visualizing them is proposed to be performed by a machine that already determines our lives.
Now the function of making meanings and visualizing them is proposed to be performed by a machine that already determines our lives.
Neural Tarot - Tarot cards of the 21st century - were created using artificial intelligence trained on the visual codes of various cultures: the database used by the neural network consists of more than one hundred examples of Tarot decks from the 15th century to the present-day.
What is the cultural code of our time?
The "Neural Tarot" is looking for an answer.
What is the cultural code of our time?
The "Neural Tarot" is looking for an answer.
Fragments of cards created by Julia Gryoza
The following observations were revealed during the exhibition: people called some cards almost identical.
For example, these cards were often called "avocado" and "panda":
For example, these cards were often called "avocado" and "panda":
Cards that are often identified as "Panda" and "Avocado"
And these cards were called most often in different ways. The white card acted as a "petri dish" or "eye". The second card evoked associations: "robot", "knight", etc.
This observation suggests that the perception of objects depends on individual cultural experience.
This observation suggests that the perception of objects depends on individual cultural experience.
Cards that were identified with different namings such as "Knight", "Petri dish", "Medalion", etc. The left card has some glitches as the photo was taken from the "print test" deck.
The Neural Tarot functions effectively as a psychological tool, using metaphorical cards, and also as a tool for self-discovery, similar to traditional tarot cards.
Neural Deck as an art object combined the sensual and the rational, connecting the past with the present, literally "flowing" into the future with the depicted fluid images on the cards, became a way to look deeper into the human environment.
Cards exist not only as a tool for play but also as a way of interaction, which opens a wide field for thinking about human interaction in the new century: Will current modes of communication remain in demand or move into radical new ones? What role will current technologies play in this case?
Left: card shirt with Juia Gryoza's logo. Right: generated card.
Having gone through the centuries, cards have not disappeared as a phenomenon and continue to exist even in a digital format, which makes them an interesting subject of research.
Technology: Style GAN-2
Photo: Julia Gryoza, Ethan Avila
Video: Ethan Avila
Special thanks to ITMO University.
May 2021
Photo: Julia Gryoza, Ethan Avila
Video: Ethan Avila
Special thanks to ITMO University.
May 2021
