Rolling with the Cards · Intangible Commons

The Quadrangle July 2026 Kent UK

Rolling with the Cards: A roving performance

You arrive. We pause. A brief guided meditation holds the question: what brings you here, in this precise moment?
One card rises to meet you as your guide. We activate your card. Through it something unfolds: your poem, movement, song, story, or a map only you can read. You receive your message. Your time here fills with its purpose.
Find what has been waiting for you.

You can repeat these exercises with any drawing, photo, plant, tree, sunset, birdsong, river, or… It is about perceiving messages with all your senses, concentrating, and finding that which expresses what you need in the moment. Trust yourself and what is being offered.

When the cards activation has reached its natural ending, sit and reflect on what you have received and try to make sense of why this came to you today.

MAP

The drawing on the front of this card is a map, to be interpreted in whatever way you need or want it to be in this moment.

Study the card. Slow down, concentrate, and observe. Listen carefully to what the card is beginning to tell you. Instinctively feel what is being shared with you today, here and now, in the place and time where you and this card are meeting.

Begin wherever you find yourself ready to do this practice, on a city street, in your yard or house, in an open field or forest. Hold the card in front of you and begin walking using the lines in the drawing as a path to guide you along. Walk, turn, curve or zigzagg, hop, run, move slowly or quickly, — however you interpret the map.

MOVEMENT SCORE

The drawing on the front of this card is a score for movement — a dance, a choreography — to be interpreted in whatever way you need or want it to be in this moment.Study the card. Slow down, concentrate, and observe. Listen carefully to what the card is beginning to tell you. Instinctively feel what is being shared with you today, here and now, in the place and time where you and this card are meeting.

Hold the card in front of you and follow the lines and dwell in the spaces with your eyes, perhaps begin to trace the shapes with your finger, find a rhythm or beat. Slowly begin to move your body in whatever way the card seems to invite. Engage your arms, legs, feet, head and core. Keep moving, and as the movements become clearer, set down the card and continue moving freely. Your body will know when the sequence is complete.

SONG

The drawing on the front of this card is a song, to be interpreted in whatever way you need or want it to be in this moment.

Find a nice quiet place. Hold the card in front of you and follow the lines and dwell in the spaces with your eyes, find a rhythm or beat. Begin to hum along, sing with words, or make up words as you go. It can become joyful shouting, a somber lament, a children’s song, or a hymn — anything you choose or feel wants to come out of your mouth at this time.

STORY

The drawing on the front of this card is a story that needs to be told by you, to be interpreted in whatever way you need or want it to be in this moment.

Study the drawing, in the lines and spaces look for characters, scenes, landscapes, objects, listen and look carefully, it is there: the beginning, the middle, the end. begin to find the story within the drawing. It could be a fairytale, a travel diary, a myth, a mystery, a fable, or a drama. Narrate it out loud It can be long like a novel or short like a postcard — or anything in between.

POEM

The drawing on the front of this card is a poem that needs to be written by you, to be interpreted in whatever way you need or want it to be in this moment.

With the lines and spaces of the drawing as inspiration, begin speaking words out loud as they come to you — without filtering, instinctive and improvisational. Write the words down. Keep writing, just words as they come, until you feel you have reached some kind of completion. Then look at what you have written. Pull out the words that jump out at you, remove others, add new ones, repeat what wants repeating. The poem will emerge. Continue to refine. When it is complete, you will know.

SOUND SCAPE

The drawing on the front of this card is a soundscape that wants to be in your body and mouth, to be interpreted in whatever way you need or want it to be in this moment.

Find a quiet place, begin to trace the lines and spaces of the drawing with your finger. Begin to make noises that match the shapes and follow the lines. Continue experimenting with noices in your mouth, clicks, growls, chirps, hums, high low, vibrations, trills anything you choose or feel wants to come out of your mouth at this time. Continue on until it feels complete.

SOMETHING ENTIRELY NEW

The drawing on the front of this card is a guide to creating something entirely new, something that wants to be created by you, to be interpreted in whatever way you need or want it to be in this moment.

Within the lines and spaces of the drawing there may be a song, a movement sequence, a map, a poem, a story — or some combination of these ways of reading the card. Invent an entirely new way of engaging with the lines and spaces, rhythms, patterns and messages of this drawing. Wait patiently for what emerges. Continue to refine. When it is complete, you will know.