We’ve been taught by high school movies and pop culture at large that art and sports are diametrical opposites. You know the trope: The sporty jocks and the nerdy theater kids are all relegated to separate lunch tables, and never the twain shall meet, save the occasional High School Musical. But a recent exhibition, Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture, takes this stereotype to the mat.
In this episode of the Hyperallergic Podcast, Hrag Vartanian sits down with San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) curator Jennnifer Dunlop Fletcher and independent curator and former Hyperallergic Senior Editor Seph Rodney, who designed this exhibition together with renowned art historian and SFMOMA Research Director Katie Siegel. Their conversation illuminates the striking parallels between the crafts of art and sports, whether it’s the tension between talent and persistence, the grand stages of sports arenas and museums, or countless hours of hidden labor. And, of course, people in both disciplines always talk a big game.
As SFMOMA’s largest show to date, Get in the Game took up an entire floor of the museum when it was installed there, with 200 works by over 70 artists and designers meditating on themes around sports and athleticism. Over a third of these artists are either current or former athletes, from former football players like Shaun Leonardo to Olympians like Savanah Leaf.
