Tarot Cultures

What does tarot do for you?

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11-13 June 2026

Goldsmiths, University of London

** Please note: this is an in-person conference **

Call for Papers

Tarot Cultures celebrates the tarot as living art – an instrument of intuition, design, and excess. Neither museum piece nor mystical novelty, the tarot is a space of speculation: a design object, a creative method, and a mirror for contemporary identity.

In an age when the future feels uncertain and the self is digitally mediated, the tarot is being reimagined. Today it circulates as a tool for self-understanding as well as fortune-telling and magical practice, a resource for creative blocks and new paths as well as predictions. Artists, designers, and researchers are using the deck to unlock visual modes, remix archetypes, and project collective imaginaries – from meme-friendly decks to works that map the scientific method onto the arcana. This is not a return to mysticism, but an exploration of practice: tarot as a technology of imagination, critique, and connection.

This interdisciplinary conference brings together artists, scholars, and practitioners to consider how tarot circulates through today’s visual, digital, and performative cultures. Across three days of panels, readings, screenings, and workshops, we ask what tarot does – as a design method, a storytelling system, a collaborative speculation, and a system of meaning designed for the now.

We invite proposals for papers, panels, performances, and creative responses exploring tarot as a cultural practice.

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Topics may include but are not limited to:

• Tarot as Creative Method – tarot for design, writing, and speculative thinking

• Tarot as Decadent Culture – aesthetics of excess and ornament in contemporary culture; the deck as a site of rebellion, glamour, and self-branding

• Tarot as Pedagogy – teaching through intuition, chance, critique, and speculative thinking

• Queer, Feminist, and Decolonial Tarots – community decks and counter-arcanas

• Tarot as Embodiment – the body as deck, rituals, participatory the card as fashion, style as spell

• Tarot as Technology – magic technologies, the interface as oracle, pattern recognition, the deck as data, AI, randomness and algorithmic symbolism

• Tarot as Media – cinematic tarot, literary tarot, image-magic, montage, myth

• Tarot in Magical Practice – contemporary pagan, magical, occult practitioner's engagements/relationships

• Tarot and Politics – tools for social meaning-making, activism, political imagination

Submissions:

• A 250-word abstract

• Pick a tarot card and tell us why this is a suitable replacement for your bio

Call for Exhibits

The exhibition runs for the duration of the conference, showcasing tarot-inspired works in art, design, performance, and digital media. Interactive installations, live readings, and participatory pieces are encouraged.

We also welcome artists, designers, and practitioners who would like to showcase their newly designed tarot decks at our “Meet the Deck” event on the opening night. 

We welcome:

• Innovative conceptualisations of the tarot deck

• Artist books, decks, zines, risographs, and posters

• Fashion or wearable works

• Interactive installations and reading tables

• Video, sound, and projection-based works

Submissions:

• 5-10 images or short reel, and/or100-word statement, and any technical/display requirements

• Pick a tarot card and tell us why this is a suitable replacement for your bio

Submission Deadlines

All submissions for Tarot Cultures are due by 15 February 2026. We aim to respond by 21 March 2026.

Please send submissions to Jessica Gossling and Vana Goblot (j.gossling@gold.ac.uk and v.goblot@gold.ac.uk)

Please note that this is an in-person conference at Goldsmiths and, unfortunately, we are unable to offer hybrid attendance.
Recordings of the keynote talks will be available after the event. Please join BADS to be informed when these are available to watch.

Contact Us

Please email j.gossling@gold.ac.uk and v.goblot@gold.ac.uk with any queries about Tarot Cultures.

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Co-organised by the Decadence, Magic(k), and Occult Network and the Magic Network at Goldsmiths.

With thanks to the Decadence Research Centre and BADS.