Getting in the Game

Minneapolis Institute of Arts’ new exhibit “The Sports Show” delivers a rare combination of art and sport worlds

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts’ new exhibit “The Sports Show,” open through May 13, traces the rise of global sports culture from the 19th Century to the present.

Image credit: Library of Congress/MIA

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World Wide Walker

By: Emily Cain

For some, leisure time means kicking back and watching the big game. For others, a stroll through an art museum may seem more appealing. For those looking for the perfect compromise, a trip to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts’ new exhibit “The Sports Show” provides the perfect blend.

The exhibit, which continues through May 13, is a rare attempt to combine the art and sports worlds.

Curator David Little says that, despite the fact that sports pervade nearly all facets of modern culture, the MIA is the first major art museum to look at its rise through an artistic lens. 

“I think that sports is a subject that simply has not been of interest to many curators,” Little says. “Sometimes the most obvious cultural phenomena are overlooked.”

The exhibit traces the rise of global sports culture from the 19^th Century to the present using photographs, videos, and television clips of athletes and games to depict the evolution of sports events from community entertainment into media-driven spectacles with a mass audience.

Items on display include photographs of U.S. presidents throwing out first pitches at baseball games and artist Kota Ezawa’s digital animation, “The Brawl,” which uses sound from a fight at a Pistons-Pacers game. There are also photos form Edward Steichen, Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander, Richard Avedon – work that Little says shows fine art overlapping with a popular subject.

The project was inspired by Paul Pfeiffer's “The Saints,” a sound and video installation that captured the underlying political tensions of the 1966 World Cup final between Great Britain and West Germans.

The result is an exhibit that shows art and sports really aren’t mutually exclusive after all.

“The MIA is interested in covering the best art made over the century and sports are not excluded,” Little says.

Time to play ball.

+The Sports Show continues at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts through Sunday, May 13. For more information visit artsmia.org.