Created by Asude Alim as a speculative exploration of symbolism, chance, and authorship in the age of artificial intelligence, this tarot-inspired playing card deck reimagines the traditions of card games and tarot alike. Rooted in the visual and semantic language of classic playing cards, each card is transformed through the conceptual framework of tarot, functioning not merely as a game component, but as a carrier of narrative, archetype, and psychological meaning.

For Sónar+D, the deck was designed to operate at the intersection of human intuition and computational interpretation. AI-generated imagery, guided by carefully structured prompts, translates conceptual intentions — elemental associations, emotional states, and narrative tensions — into visual form. The resulting images balance control and randomness, reflecting tarot’s negotiation between destiny and free will.

Each card embodies symbolic meaning — love, loss, power, transformation, wealth, endings — while maintaining the formal discipline and visual restraint of traditional playing cards. The creation process emphasizes authorship: although AI generates visuals, humans guide meaning, impose constraints, and curate selections, ensuring that conceptual intent and coherence remain central.

Repetition and archetype are key features: multiple cards may feature variations of the same figure, highlighting universal patterns rather than individuals. The minimalist composition, with neutral backgrounds and subtle visual cues of posture, gaze, light, and atmosphere, allows the symbolic and emotional logic of the deck to emerge organically.

Ultimately, the deck is not about predicting the future, but reflecting the present. It situates human and algorithmic collaboration at the heart of meaning-making, exploring how ancient symbolic systems can intersect with contemporary machine intelligence. Each card, like a drawn image from the deck, invites interpretation — revealing as much about the viewer as it does about the co-creative system that produced it.