Pagan artist trading cards mix magic and devotion

TWH –Artist trading cards appear to be a good fit for many Pagan and polytheist communities, because they are intended to celebrate art for its own sake, free of critiques and commercial motivations. There have been a number of efforts to popularize what initiator M. Vänçi Stirnemann calls “a collaborative cultural performance” among Pagans and polytheists, but the idea does not yet appear to have caught fire in the collective imagination of these communities. Sometimes abbreviated ATCs, artist trading cards are miniature works created in the dimension of other trading or collectible cards, because they’re intended to be swapped rather than sold. Since Stirnemann launched the project with an exhibition in April 1997, regular trading sessions have occurred monthly in Zurich and Calgary. In addition to those and other trading sessions, artists swap them when they meet, and also through the mail.