Tauba Auerbach’s One Deck Of Cards produced by DZEK.

A series of playing card designs designed by Tauba Auerbach, released in two iterations, Shapes and
Functions. Each deck is produced in a hand numbered edition of 250
Designed by: Tauba Auerbach
Produced by: DZEK, New York
Year: 2009
Edition: 250 for each deck + 10 Artist Proofs
Cards: Graphite center card stock with plastic coat
Case: linen, cardboard, blind deboss, grosgrain ribbon
Dimensions: 2.75 x 3.75 x 1 in

About
Artist Tauba Auerbach has designed a series of playing cards which builds on her 50/50 work, an exploration of
opposites and language. 50/50 culminated in a book published by Deitch Projects in 2008 titled 50/50, 100
pages 100 patterns, 50% white, 50% black.
The series One Deck of Cards consists of two different decks, one based on mathematical functions and the
other on geometric shapes, typical of the artist’s highly acclaimed visual arts. Auerbach created original art as
well as three new typefaces, king, queen, and knave, for the project.
Decks come with an informational fold out and are encased in a hand numbered, blind-de-bossed, linen slide
box with ribbon lift and pull-tab. Each of the two decks is produced in an edition of 250 with 10 artist proofs and
was produced in collaboration with Brent Dzekciorius of DZEK, an editor and publisher of design and art
multiples.
Functions Deck
The Functions Deck uses the basic math functions + – x ÷ as suits. The face cards are platonic solids and the
jokers are ≠ and ∞ (perhaps torturous but also enchanting ideas/symbols.) Instead of red and black, the suits
are black on a white background or white on a black background, so the deck is half black and half white, in
keeping with the 50/50 series.
Each suit and its counterpart are opposites… so addition is black on white, while subtraction is white on black.
These functions cancel out or counteract each other mathematically as well, so they are inversions in both color
and in function.
Shapes Deck
The Shapes deck has four geometric shapes as suits, intended to invoke the typical suits, but in an abstracted
way.This deck is more classic, red and black on white with the royal family represented as platonic solids, the
same as in the Functions deck. Jokers are scribbles and amoebas.

via, The Scout