In 2020, Juliette Blightman invited Dorothy Iannone to work on a collaborative exhibition starting at Arcadia Missa (London, UK), then travelling to Kölnischer Kunstverein (Cologne, Germany) and Vleeshal Center for Contemporary Art (Middelburg, Netherlands).

Blightman discovered (Ta)Rot Pack (1968–69) when she came across a copy of The Story of Bern, a hand-drawn artist book created by Iannone. The work depicts her time with the artist Dieter Rot – their everyday life and passionate relationship – through a series of 27 tarot cards.*

(Ta)Rot Pack can be seen as the instigator for this series of exhibitions. Blightman was inspired to create a new version of the tarot pack, drawing on her own personal experiences, reflecting on the boundaries of domestic responsibility, motherhood and the home.

This large-scale publication collects each artists work and presents them as two equal sides, viewable with a flip of the book. Each with their own front cover of foiled names.

The spine represents the card-based nature of the work, fanning out the title lettering from vertical to horizontal.

Each side of the book starts with a text exploring the artists approach to the work, before flowing into an un-broken run of near full-scale plates and ending with an installation shot of other large-scale work from the Kölnischer Kunstverein exhibition.

The book is then intersected by a colourful paper change, forming a place of meeting for the two series at the very centre.

Typography nods to the characterful hand-rendered lettering often found on tarot cards. A ‘fat’ decorative cut of Caslon Doric Condensed, one of the earliest sans serifs, frames the cover and list of works at the centre of the book. Body text is set in Turnery.

The Vleeshal Opera is the third iteration of a series of exhibitions between Juliette Blightman and Dorothy Iannone, first appearing at Arcadia Missa (London, UK), then travelling to Kölnischer Kunstverein (Cologne, Germany).

The identity of the exhibition echoes the principles of the publication, Dorothy Iannone & Juliette Blightman: (Ta)Rot Tarot (2020), creating a balance between the presence of both artists.

A printed gallery guide contains an introductory essay, map of work locations and extended captions. The invitation collects two loose tarot cards from each pack within a 6pp cover. And a poster creates a tumbling loop of information, circulated around Middelburg.

Each piece of print can be rotated and read equally.