„Artifex Novus” 11/2027 - Fate, Fortune, Destiny and Chance in the Visual Arts

Fate, fortune, destiny and chance are among the most fundamental concepts in the way humans reflect on uncertainty. When reality proves unpredictable, practices emerge to tame it, such as superstitions, rituals, protective measures, divination and systems for interpreting signs. Since prehistoric times, art has played a part in these processes by creating images, allegories and props.

We invite you to submit texts devoted to classical depictions of the personification of Fortune, diagrams of the Wheel of Fortune, or motifs of Fate. Further areas of research include broader visual practices for negotiating with fate. We are interested in images of games of chance and gambling, such as cards, dice, lotteries, roulette and gaming tables, as well as research approaches in which play intersects with divination, semantics and the interpretation of signs. A key context is the apotropaic content found on amulets, talismans, protective images and other manifestations of the illusion of control.

We wish to discuss these phenomena in relation not only to European culture, but also to other geographical regions and a much broader chronological scope, including prehistory and the ancient civilisations of Egypt and China (e.g. divination bones or the I Ching). After all, the need to negotiate with fate, come to terms with inevitability, and interpret signs seems to be a universal human experience, albeit one that takes various visual, symbolic, and ritual forms.

The journal Artifex Novus also addresses researchers of contemporary art. It invites reflection on contemporary creative methods involving chance, such as procedurality, variability, generative systems, algorithms and AI. How does modern 'fate' manifest as code, procedure and system, and what constitutes its contemporary iconography?

Below, we present sample research topics to inspire you to write an article:

1. The iconography of fate, from the Moirai to personifications of fate.
2. The iconography of games of chance in painting.
3. Tarot and Playing Cards as Works of Art: Iconography, Styles, and Decorative Techniques
4. Divinatory art objects: runes, oracles, and the I Ching from an aesthetic perspective.
5. Precious objects of fate: historical dice and divination coins as examples of artistic craftsmanship.
6. Images of gamblers, fortune-tellers and players reflecting on destiny.
7. Designers of games of chance as creators of iconography, from early manufacturers to modern artists.
8. Chance as a creative tool, from Dadaism to generative art.
9. The role of the artist as an architect of chance in the age of algorithms and AI.

Articles should be sent by email to Dr Romana Rupiewicz r.rupiewicz@uksw.edu.pl or Dr Agnieszka Skrodzka a.skrodzka@uksw.edu.pl by 30 March 2027.