ArtsPort Artist Trading Cards (ATC)

Artist trading cards (ATCs) come from a conceptual art project initiated by the Swiss artist M. Vänçi Stirnemann in 1997. He called it a “Collaborative Cultural Performance.” Artist trading cards are 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches (64 mm × 89 mm) in size, the same format as modern trading cards (hockey cards or baseball cards). They are self-made unique works or small series, usually signed and dated on the reverse by the artist/producer, exchanged and collected by the people who participate in the collaborative performance. The practice grew into a geosocial networking practice, sometimes with people meeting on a regular basis to exchange cards in person. In concept, ATCs are similar to artistamps and mail art practiced worlwide.

In Bill Ritchie’s practice they are extensions of ways to use printmaking processes, both hardcopy and digital. He experimented with decks of cards as part of board games and interactive video games to teach printmaking processes and history.