scry til you know why

January 24 - December 19, 2020

The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation Curatorial Fellowship

Created in partnership with Chicago Artist Coalition

In the divination practice of tarot card reading, the Tower card depicts the rapid and sudden destruction of a tower struck by lightning. A long festering chaos ruptures. Truth is revealed like a sharpened blade that pierces the veil and an eye in the sky emerges. The card suggests that a long-standing belief will be challenged and crumble. This could be a belief in government, religion, interpersonal relationships, identity, power and/or truth. The change brought upon by the tower has been described as violent and inevitable, traumatic and healing. The card can also forewarn environmental disasters like hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, oil leaks, and climate events. Built on a broken foundation, the tower collapses and makes new ground, revealing new truths and forms.

In the present, we face countless devastating social, political and environmental challenges, naturally invoking the tower card through daily existential meditations and deep need for profound change. Scrying - or to peer into material in the hope of receiving messages or knowledge, like crystal ball seeing or card reading, is a ritual practice performed by all creators. Works selected for this exhibition connect with themes of ritual practices, esoteric aesthetics, new world building, and technological horizons.