‘House of Cards’ consists of 125 playing cards that light up simultaneously and separately. The ingenious building has different levels; it resembles a modern church, or a large classicistic box of blocks.The idea came from the discovery of a famous printing house in Amsterdam, at the beginning of the twentieth century: ‘de Speelkaartenfabriek Nederland’ (NSF). Every card in the construction has a different design. They were designed by street artists who have a special relationship with the city.
Israeli artist Merav Eitan (1974) and German artist Gaston Zahr (1975) are trained architects. While Eitan studied at the art academy in Jerusalem, Zahr studied at the Brandenburg University of Technology in Cottbus. In 2007 they founded the design studio OGE Group in Haifa and became Artistic Directors of the Jerusalem Light Festival. OGE Group has designed several light artworks, including House of Cards for Amsterdam Light Festival in 2014-2015, which all aim to evoke an emotion from the viewer in a playful way. Sometimes the artworks do that through an interaction of sorts and other times by recalling memories and experiences.