SFMOMA's Get in the Game Exhibition Shows That Sports Is No Museum Piece More than 200 compelling artworks and design objects focus on sports, including broadcast By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Tuesday, November 26, 2024 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art is hosting Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture until Feb. 18, 2025.
The U.S. is home to dozens of sports-themed museums, from the California Surf Museum to the New England Ski Museum. There are the iconic ones, of course - Cooperstown, NY's Baseball Hall of Fame, the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH - as well as more-nuanced venues - the Museum of Polo in Lake Worth, FL, the World Kite Museum & Hall of Fame in Long Beach, WA. But is sports actually gallery-worthy?
San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) believes so. From Oct. 19, 2024, to Feb. 18, 2025, it's hosting Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture, which explores and chronicles the powerful - and sometimes contentious - place of athletics in contemporary life and art.
The Broadcast-Sports Angle Although the depictions of sports, produced by artists and designers inspired by athletes, are important, there are also elements that reflect broadcast's place in that universe. For instance, the exhibition features four screens showing short video clips and photography of major events in sports history and includes references to broadcast media, such as ABC's Wide World of Sports.
There are definitely connections to broadcast sports in the exhibition design, says Rebecca Herman, assistant director, communications, SFMOMA, and in some of the specific artworks as well.
Paul Pfeiffer's video installation Caryatid (Pacquiao) refers to a Manny Pacquiao boxing match.
In addition, some of the contemporary artworks in the exhibition are inspired by televised sports events:
Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno's Zidane, a 21st century portrait is a two-channel, 90-minute video using footage from 17 cameras that tracked soccer star Zinedine Zidane during the infamous 2005 match where he was sent off the field after headbutting an opponent.
Tara Mateik's video installation reenacts the 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, including references to the audio commentary.
Paul Pfeiffer's video Caryatid (Pacquiao) offers edited TV coverage of a Manny Pacquiao boxing match to make it look like he's fighting an unseen opponent.
Rosalyn Drexler's painting Death of Benny Kid Paret depicts the demise of boxer Paret, with six vignettes that mimic a TV screen.
And More Audiences will also encounter conversations advancing issues around gender, race, and identity, as well as artworks responding to the achievements of such sports figures as Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Colin Kaepernick, Diana Nyad, Venus Williams, and Zidane.
Gabriel Orozco's Ping Pond Table invites museum visitors to participate.
There is also an interactive component. Viewers are able to play with interactive artworks by contemporary artists: Maurizio Cattelan's 22-person foosball table, Stadium (1991), and Gabriel Orozco's Ping Pond Table (1998), a four-way ping-pong table with a square pool in place of a net.
In addition, real-life items - Michael Johnson's gold running shoes, Nike's original Air Jordan basketball shoes - are presented as art, along with exhibits chronicling the design evolution and technological advances of surfboards, tennis racquets, and football helmets. Reflecting changes on the fields of play, the exhibition integrates more-esoteric designs from recent years, such as the Cheetah Xceed prosthetic running leg, developed by biomedical engineer Van Phillips (himself an amputee).
Sam McKinniss's painting Ameriquest Field in Arlington, TX, Sept. 3, 2006 depicts baseball fans in the stands.
The show - SFMOMA's largest-ever single-subject exhibition - has a companion book. The identically titled tome examines how sports unites people through shared emotional and physical experiences and sparks conversations on gender, race, money, the human body, and the drive to compete and win. Topics range from the intersection of race and mental health and the role of stadiums in society to the history of adaptive sports and the data revolution in baseball. The book also revisits key moments in sports history, such as Colin Kaepernick's protest, Simone Biles's withdrawal from the 2020 Olympics, the first-ever Gay Games, and Brandi Chastain's World Cup win.
San Francisco and the Bay Area may be losing sports teams - the NFL Raiders left Oakland for Las Vegas in 2020; the MLB Athletics played their final game at the Oakland Coliseum in September and will play in Sacramento for the next three or more seasons - but the NFL 49ers, the MLB Giants, and the NHL Sharks are still there. Now the area also has an artistic rendering of sports that's as unique as it gets.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
07/01/2026
SVG Summit 2025: All General Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAYThe SVG Summit celebrated its 20th edition with a loaded agendaBy Brandon Costa, Directo...
07/01/2026
NBCU's Brings Rinkside Live' and Courtside Live' Features to Peaco...
07/01/2026
Spotify is launching a week-long celebration spotlighting creators at the center...
07/01/2026
We know people use Spotify not just to listen, but to share the songs, podcasts, and audiobooks they love with their friends and family. When we launched Messag...
07/01/2026
This week, all eyes are on the podcast industry as the Golden Globes recognizes ...
07/01/2026
Podcasts are stepping onto a new stage this week as the Golden Globes recognize the medium for the first time. To mark this milestone moment, we're hosting ...
07/01/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), in collaboration with a distributor, is commissioning new micro-budget fiction feature films and invites eligible...
07/01/2026
NASA's Space Launch System rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft launches on the Artemis I flight test, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022, from Launch Complex 39B at ...
07/01/2026
For the first time ever, new C' variants allow international users to interoperate with U.S. personnel via NSA-certified cryptography....
07/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
07/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
07/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
07/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
07/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
07/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
07/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
07/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
07/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
07/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
07/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
07/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
07/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
07/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
07/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
07/01/2026
Abu Dhabi, UAE 7, January 2026 - Abu Dhabi Police and Space42 (ADX: SPACE42), ...
07/01/2026
Back to All News
The Trailer of Paparazzi King: The 5-Episode Docuseries Coming...
07/01/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Supports Warner Bros. Discovery Board's Commitment...
07/01/2026
Back to All News
What Next? Netflix Reveals Series, Films and Games Coming in 2026
Entertainment
07 January 2026
Global
Link copied to clipboard
Download ...
07/01/2026
AI has transformed retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) operations, enhancin...
06/01/2026
Peacock Bringing Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos to Live Sports ContentPeacock is the first streamer to embrace Dolbys full suite of advanced picture/sound innovat...
06/01/2026
SVG Europe Audio: Listening to the sounds of powder and ice at Milano Cortina wi...
06/01/2026
Quintar Meta Spatial SDK Integration Promises Next-Level XR ExperiencesBy Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, January 6, 2026 - 9:41 am
Print This...
06/01/2026
Milano Cortina 2026: BBC Sport Previews Broadcast Ops, Studio Setup, Social Medi...
06/01/2026
Dolby's Jason Power on Elevating Live Sports Through Immersive Audio and HDR...
06/01/2026
DAZN's Global CRO Walker Jacobs on the Streamer's Breakout Year in the U...
06/01/2026
California Dreamin': LA28's SVP of Media Jim Bell Previews the Olympic a...
06/01/2026
One Month Out From Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony, NBC Sports in Final Prep fo...
06/01/2026
Advanced HDR by Technicolor and Zinwell Integrated onto ATSC 3.0 Conversion Boxe...
06/01/2026
Fox Sports President and COO Mark Silverman Shifts to Consulting RoleBy Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, January 6, 2026 - 2:37 pm
Print This S...
06/01/2026
Spotify is launching a week-long celebration spotlighting creators at the center...
06/01/2026
Lorde. A$AP Rocky. JENNIE. Baby Keem. KATSEYE. That's just a taste of who...
06/01/2026
In a live broadcast, L3Harris CFO and Missile Solutions President Ken Bedingfield joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Bedingfield discussed...
06/01/2026
First-of-its-kind SSP capability delivers program-level insight and brand suitab...
06/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
SFMOMA's Get in the Game Exhibition Shows That Sports Is No Museum Piece More than 200 compelling artworks and design objects focus on sports, including broadcast By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
