A Game of Poker, by Artist Curtis MacLean.

This deck of cards are none of the ordinary. Curtis MacLean, visual artist who is studying the Art & Art History joint program at University of Mississauga and Sheridan have created this revolutionary card game base on the power structure in the world. These cards hold arbitrary values correspondent to the cards that is surrounding them (Game instructions at the bottom). In the artist’s words, MacLean would like to “focus the exercise of their power to reform our collective subjectivity”.

MacLean have been hosting poker game nights at the AS Annie Smith building at Sheridan Collage sharing chips and lots of fun!!

THE CARDS:

MNC: multinational corporation

IGO: inter-governmental organization

NGO: non-governmental organization

C: Crime

R: Religion

E: Education

T: Technology

B: Banking Institutions

M: Media

A: Army

G: Individual Governments

W: Wildcard

I: The Indivdual

THE RULES:

• All cards have arbitrary value, and gain their value based on the cards surrounding them (just as powerful institutions gain their influence on account of their connections).

• Rather than spades, hearts, clubs and diamonds, the suits are: War, Epidemic, Financial Crisis, and Hegemony (stability, of a kind). Hands will be assembled with these conditions in mind.

• The rules governing the hands are the same as in poker, except without straights since the card values are not sequential (a full house of multinational corporations and banking institutions would be a pretty formidable hand).

Each new hand deals with a new issue - all issues relate to the ways in which the current organization of worldwide/local power influences the way identity is formed

• Once the round of betting is over, players will argue for their hand, with a silent vote to determine the winner.

THE OBJECT

The object of the game is to generate discussion about the ways that power is currently negotiated in the world - specifically in regards to how this influences the individual and the production of subjectivity (see Guattari). Often the pursuits of the individual are thwarted or redirected by the overwhelming influence of powerful institutions, simply because individuals are not reacting defensively and critically. Poker demands this critical mindset, while mirroring the conditions of the real world, in which one can only utilize what is available (the cards you are dealt). The game is a thought experiment designed to explore ways that the power of existing institutions can be redirected by the individual to take back the means of production of our collective selves.

[via CurtisMacLean - Visual Artist]