ROUND III: June 20-July 17, 2026
@ Noo Arts House, 404A Colonels Row, New York, NY 10004:
NOW ON VIEW: Round III : June 20-July 17 | Curated by Elena Greta Falcini
Marjolijn de Wit (Netherlands): The Magician | Mahtola Wittmer (Switzerland): Wild Card | Mina Stokke (Norway): Third of Pentacles |
Marit Victoria Wulff Andreassen (Norway): Justice | Hans Lemmen (Netherlands/Belgium): The High Priestess | Sol Kjøk (Norway/US): The Sun |
Lars Strandh (Sweden): Sixth of Pentacles
Mothership NYC Presents: PICK A CARD, ANY CARD,
a Tarot-Themed Traveling Show
A community of peers, Mothership NYC is an international, interdisciplinary artist collective and residency/presentation space located in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, NYC. Founded and run by a painter captain aided by a rotating crew of fellow artists, our ship’s mission is to serve as a welcoming landing platform for colleagues from elsewhere making the leap to NYC: We aim to support and promote our peers at all career levels through residencies, public programming and collaborative opportunities; build lasting transnational artist networks; and help retain creative forces in New York City. To date, our global community comprises 213 artists from all continents.
Much like an ensemble cast, the Mothershippers—current, former, and/or future artists-in-residence at Mothership NYC—are a group of characters in a story where no single individual is clearly the protagonist. Instead, every participant has equal importance, contributing significantly to the overall plot with their individual storylines and interactions with one another. Seeking a visually intriguing theme that reflects this vibrant dynamic, we converged upon the Tarot: an ancient set of playing cards depicting universally shared archetypes. While traditionally known as a fortune-telling game, the Tarot is also a vehicle for creative reflection, meditation, therapeutic practice, and spiritual exploration. By inviting a broad selection of our sailors of diverse backgrounds, generations, geographic origins, and artistic disciplines to freely interpret any one Tarot card, we are setting a stage where each artist probes and reveals their inner world and personal story as part of a larger, richer, and constantly evolving shared narrative.
Marking our peer community’s 20th anniversary in 2025, the first round of Pick a Card, Any Card took place at Art Gotham in Manhattan last summer: 25 Mothershippers jointly representing 20 countries came together to create original interpretations of the 22 Major Arcana of the Tarot. Since then, we have also opened the floor for the 56 Minor Arcana characters and are currently only a dozen cards shy of an entire deck created by our mighty mariners. Over the summer, we’ll keep reshuffling our stack of artworks, with new ‘cards’ drawn and reconfigured in the exhibition space each month. By the time our season on Governors Island ends, we aim to have on hand the full story of all 78 classic archetypes reinterpreted for our times by Mothershippers from all over the world. At that point, our Traveling Tarot Show will start sailing the seven seas, making new stops in multiple cities that are home to our ever-growing family of international artists.
Round II: May 16-June 17 | Curated by Elena Greta Falcini
Ahmed Umar (Sudan/Norway): The Hierophant | Aomi Kikuchi (Japan): Strength | Bjørn Hegardt (Sweden/Norway): Wheel of Fortune; | Klone (Ukraine/Israel): Death | Barbara Fragogna (Italy): The Devil | Gjert Rognli (Norway): The World |Miriam Lenk (Germany): King of Cups
Come join us on the following dates for the reveal of freshly drawn hands of cards!
Sat, June 20 (Round III); Sat, July 18 (Round IV); Sat, Aug 15 (Round V);
Sat, Sep 19 (Round VI); Sat, Oct 17 (Round VII)
PICK A CARD, ANY CARD | Inaugural Exhibition
Michel Platnic (France/Israel): The Fool
Marjolijn de Wit (Netherlands): The Magician
Hans Lemmen (Netherlands/Belgium): The High Priestess
Mai-Britt Wolthers (Denmark/Brazil): The Empress
Kirsty Whiten (Scotland): The Emperor
Ahmed Umar (Sudan/Norway): The Hierophant
RM Krückels & S Gerstmayr (Germany): The Lovers
Federica Patera & Andrea Perego (Italy): The Chariot
Aomi Kikuchi (Japan): Strength
Madalena Pequito (Portugal): The Hermit
Bjørn Hegardt (Sweden/Norway): Wheel of Fortune
Jeanne Wilkinson (US): Justice
Diane Victor (South Africa): The Hanged Man
Klone (Ukraine/Israel): Death
Marita Isobel Solberg (Norway): Temperance
Barbara Fragogna (Italy): The Devil
Anka Mierzejewska (Poland): The Tower
Faith XLVII (South Africa): The Star
Elena Greta Falcini (Germany): The Moon
Sol Kjøk (Norway/US): The Sun
Matlakas (Italy/England): Judgement
Gjert Rognli (Norway): The World
Mahtola Wittmer (Switzerland): Wild Card
22 MAJOR ARCANA Exhibition Catalog available HERE
CURATORIAL STATEMENT | (Cristina Pizzuto, New York, 2025)
While New York may still represent the City of Dreams for artists worldwide, the opportunities for creatives from other countries to find a footing here keep shrinking. Mothership NYC, a live-work space and presentation arena in Brooklyn for international artists of all disciplines, offers a supportive environment that provides meeting spaces for people from diverse backgrounds and promotes innovational exchange.
The purpose of this exhibition is to establish a platform for communication that fosters a climate of openness rather than barriers and imposed values. In these partisan times where many identity groups form silos, we aim to highlight the potential for each of us to coexist as interconnected participants who have the power to influence and shape one another. This exhibition takes its cue from the Tarot, an ancient deck of 78 cards used for games and fortune-telling. First appearing around the mid-1400s, Tarot cards continue to captivate public interest due to their universal symbolism and interpretive depth. Tarots are recognized across various parts of the globe as a tool for both individual and collective interpretation.
Engaging with this current popular fascination, this exhibition presents original artworks by a diverse group of international artists offering subjective interpretations of the Tarot’s 22 Major Arcana characters, plus one wild card. Each artist weaves together elements that conjure the essence of the archetypal figure, crafting a narrative that reflects its unique, age-old symbolism through contemporary means in present-day settings. Just like the Tarot permits a range of interpretations, each artist chooses which story they want to share. And much like the cards revealed during a fortune-telling session, each artwork will prompt introspection and multiple readings. Therefore, the objective of this exhibition echoes that of Mothership NYC: to offer a fertile and collaborative space for intellectual and creative engagement.
In traditional Tarot reading, each card’s meaning acquires additional layers when juxtaposed with other cards. This approach involves viewing the characters not solely as individual entities, but rather as interacting constituents forming a larger, richer narrative together: the full story does not emerge until the cards are placed in relation to each other, forming a cohesive and interconnected sequence. In such a setting, individual interpretations of our world are allowed to intersect, influence, and blend with one another. This opens the door for previously unthought possibilities, reminding us that it is through cross-pollination and exchange that new meanings and novel concepts emerge.
REFRESHMENTS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING RECEPTIONS GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY THE ROYAL NORWEGIAN CONSULATE IN NEW YORK.
Photos from opening reception by Rosie Feerick.
COMING SOON: Updates on the next chapters of this ongoing international saga!