In a deep dive on how artists were sharing work in small format, I came across Artist Trading Cards, and also Art Cards, Editions, and Originals, but nothing much for Artist Trading Cards for Photography, which was disappointing.
Artist Trading Cards (ACTs) started in 1997 in Switzerland. They were the brainchild of M Vänçi Stirnemann, who created 1200 of the cards for an exhibition. Other artists then began to create their own cards, and a new movement was formed.
Strictly speaking, ATCs are meant to only be swapped. ACEOs on the other hand can be sold, and so are a different category, one that is frowned upon by ATC purists. ATCs are meant to be one of a kind, and hand-drawn, with the purpose to inspire other artists.
So where do Artist Trading Cards for Photography come into this? Well, if truth be told, there is not currently much information on this. We know that they are collected, but rules surrounding how to trade are sparse. We know, though, that there is a market on Ebay and Etsy.
I feel that these cards are great for the #AbandonDigital movement, but how would one go about getting into this collection hobby? Well, being realistic, we are so far into the Digital Age, that physical events and groups have diminished almost completely. There are now only a few such ATC events dotted around, as seen here, and so it is in the online space that many of these cards are being traded. On a personal level, I’m still very much against uploading my full images to the internet, and so I am experimenting for now with including “Blind” in big letters across my images. I’m also refraining from giving specific location information out online, apart from the wider area (eg. Switzerland).. Instead, people will have to purchase a card to find out the handwritten location. Also, it is important to release these as signed editions I think. 100 seems like a fair edition amount for these small format prints. If there is interest later, then larger format limited editions can be offered.
Look at my Limited Edition Photography Artist Trading Cards here