The work UNIon originates from the archetypal image of The World card in the Rider-Waite Tarot, a symbol traditionally associated with completion, integration, and the synthesis of opposites. Through digital deconstruction and rhythmic multiplication, the singular figure is displaced from its role as an individual icon and transformed into a modular unit of collectivity. Repeated into an ornamental pattern, the image no longer speaks of one “world,” but of many – woven together into a visual tapestry.

This strategy draws on postmodern practices of appropriation, where canonical imagery is recontextualised through repetition, mediation, and digital translation. Here, the sacred iconography of Tarot collides with the language of the pixel and the screen, producing a field of syncretic visuality. The figure of The World thus shifts from the esoteric to the communal, from transcendence to structure.

In the context of the exhibition “A Fortunate Encounter: With Combined Forces”, the work articulates the idea of union through difference – the convergence of diverse disciplines, voices, and practices within the Department of Arts and Design into a single but plural entity. The title UNIon captures this multiplicity: it is at once union (the collective), uni(the university, the one), and on (the active state of becoming).

Ultimately, UNIon proposes that the “fortunate encounter” is not a singular moment of coincidence, but an ongoing process of weaving – a shared world continuously built through collaboration.