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Artist Trading Cards are 2.5 by 3.5 inch miniature works
of art. They are works of art specifically made to be
freely traded --- thus the name, Artist Trading Card
(ATC). The concept of ATCs was developed by
m. vänçi stirnemann an artist from
Zürich, Switzerland.
vänçi initiated the idea of ATCs while he
was visiting Calgary in 1988 to participate in the
Olympic Arts Festival as part of The New Gallery's
Olympic presentation. While in Calgary,
vänçi was surprised by the number of adults
who were collecting and trading hockey cards. Being a
hockey fan himself... vänçi began to collect
and trade; "as a hockey fan i had a lot of fun
sitting around a table with fellow artists talking about
art, life, and hockey while trading hockey cards,"
he said. When vänçi visited Calgary in 1990
as The New Gallery's artist-in-residence, he wanted to
produce a catalogue to document his activities with
other artists in Calgary as part of that
project. Because the costs of printing the catalogue in
hockey card format were prohibitive, the project was
shelved until 1996. After having been frustrated for
years by the high costs of manufacturing cards,
vänçi decided to produce them himself by
hand. This led to the first exhibition of 1200 of his
own cards in April 1997 at INK.art&text, a
bookstore/gallery in Zürich. On May 31, 1997, the
first ATC Trading Day took place there as
well. vänçi discussed that initial Artist
Trading Card Show and Trading Session via email:
"the reaction from the audience at the opening of
the first atc show (1200 cards i did over a period of 5
months) at INK.art&text was so good that we (artist
cat schick [a transplanted Calgarian now living in
Zürich] and i) decided to hold a trading session
for the closing. most people were very inspired by the
show and felt like producing cards themselves to trade
with me and others, and, since i told them that i would
only trade and not sell cards at the first trading
session, a lot of people showed up with their own cards
to trade. there was so much fun and creativity around
that cat and i decided to hold a trading session every
month."
[NOTE: The above is taken from an article in the August
3, 2000 issue of The Calgary Straight weekly
newspaper. The article, entitled: Art That Makes the
Trade was written by Melody Jacobson,
m. vänçi stirnemann and Chuck Stake and is,
given the input from vänçi, the most
authoritative source regarding the initiation of ATCs.]
The social aspect of the ATCs was very clear to
vänçi from the beginning and has remained a
crucial aspect of ATC activity.
ATCs came to Canada in 1997. After I visited
vänçi's exhibition of ATCs at
INK.art&text I was also able to participate in a
Trading Session while in Zürich and I became very
enthused with ATCs and brought the idea back to
Calgary. The first ATC Trading Session (TS) in Canada
was held in Calgary at The New Gallery on September 27,
1997. About 20 Traders attended the initial TS but the
idea caught on quickly and attendance at the regular
monthly sessions grew as word spread in the art
community, as well as in the community at large. A very
important aspect of ATCs is that BOTH artists and
non-artists of all ages and abilities participate in the
activity.
It is important to point out that artists have used the
concept and format of collectible cards, that is the 2.5
by 3.5 inch size, a number of times in the past thirty
or forty years for a number of purposes. They have been
used by artists to promote their work, for commercial
purposes, as catalogues, etc. Particularly in North
America, collectible cards are ubiquitous and were part
of almost everyone's childhood, be they Hockey Cards,
Barbie Cards or whatever variation --- this is not so
true in Europe, but, in the NA context, pretty much
everyone is familiar with the format and the concept. To
my mind vänçi's unique contribution was the
idea that the cards be made to be traded, and, of equal
importance, that the cards could be handmade, they did
not have to be manufactured in any way. It was these two
simple, but brilliant, ideas that led to the concept of
Artist Trading.
Monique Westra, in a review of the ATC Biennial in
Calgary's FastForward weekly newspaper (September 07 -
13, 2000) wrote: "By showcasing the cards of
artists from different countries in this remarkable
Biennial exhibition, the general public and the wider
art community are introduced to the tremendous range of
techniques, materials, subjects. The exhibition
demonstrates their creativity, diversity, beauty and
wit. Surfaces can be any number of things --- board,
fabric, watercolour paper, wax, metal, and wood to
create card faces that can be decorated by a dazzling
variety of methods --- painting, drawing, gluing,
spraying, rubber stamping, sewing, computer-generating
and folding --- to affix any number of materials ranging
from found objects like buttons, nails, and beads to
organic matter like fur, hair, twigs, and leaves."
ATCs are easily accessible by the general public, but,
at the same time they challenge a number of artistic and
cultural paradigms. Westra further states: "Mixing
traditions and practices of both the art of high culture
and popular fads, the enterprise defies hierarchal
categorization and erases the distinctions between high
and low art. Through transgression and blurring of
boundaries, it is a perfect example of postmodernism at
its best. The creative freedom and spontaneity of artist
trading cards also recalls the era of Dada."
The key to appreciating/understanding ATCs is to attend
and participate in a Trading Session --- it is
definitely a rush! Part of the rush is the anticipation
of what kinds of cards will be traded at the next
Trading Session due to the endless creativity of the
participating Traders; there are always new and unique
cards and approaches to making cards at each Session. I
am always amazed at the range of the creative efforts
while looking through someone's binder and deciding
which cards I would like to trade with them on that
day. The one-to-one interaction while trading is a key
aspect of ATCs. And, as a definite bonus, you acquire an
extensive collection of superb miniature works of art. I
must have in excess of 8000 cards now. To reiterate: The
most important aspect of the ATC project is the
person-to-person interaction and personal meetings which
happen during the TS --- it's about the social situation
which is created in the space during a Trading Session.
ATCs are created on 2.5 x 3.5 inch (64 x 89 mm) card
stock, the same size as traditional hockey cards. Cards
may be 2-D or 3-D; the only stipulation is the size of
2.5 x 3.5 inches. ATCs are miniature, signed, dated
works of art which are exchanged by artists and
non-artists at regularly held Trading Sessions.
An important aspect of ATC activity for me is that ATCs
do not involve the exchange of money --- from the first
TS cards were freely exchanged.
Seek out and enjoy an Artist Trading Card Session, or,
start one in your location and ENJOY!!!!!
Chuck Stake
Trader
Revised slightly, September, 2005
Calgary, Alberta,
CanaDADA
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