Kick-off to art
Tina Kesting
Soccer without fouls–how can that be a spectacle? The exhibition "Rundlederwelten," the culmination of the artistic and cultural co-programme of the Federal Government for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, presents soccer from another perspective–an artistic one, without fouls or aggression. More than 70 international contemporary artists from 20 countries exhibit their works dealing with the subject of soccer. They represent the popular everyday phenomenon in a playful and thoughtful way. The works include paintings, video works, installations, drawings, sculptures and photography, looking closer at various aspects of the game, such as the simple ball, the players, the field, the rules of the game, the role of the referee, the fans, the role and influence of the media and most importantly, the emotions. Some of these objects have already been exhibited at other shows; others have been created solely for this exhibit.
"Rundlederwelten" was curated by Dorothea Strauss, museum director of Haus Konstruktiv in Zurich. She was inspired by an idea from Harald Szeemann (1933-2005), the curator of "documenta5" in 1972, the Venice Biennale in both 1999 and 2001, as well as the "Belgique Visionnaire." Szeemann is one of the most influential curators of our times and can be considered the co-founder of the contemporary exhibition concept.
The ball, one of the first toys we get, rolls into our life in our early years. Later, rules of the game are added concerning our association with this ball. This ball then acts as a medium through which we gain a sense of teamwork and a sense of belonging to a larger group, important premises for social interaction. Soccer is not only a team sport built upon strict rules, it also is a symbol for a sense of unity, and for group strength, working towards the same goals.
"Rundlederwelten" presents the complex way that artists deal with a daily life issue. The results are not only a documentation and illustration of this popular game. Rather, they encourage the spectator to reflect and to fantasize about soccer.
"Rundlederwelten" is a show that combines soccer and art, body and soul, in a playful, critical, melancholic and irritating way. Soccer and art first seem to be two totally different genres, but both underline various facets of human life. Dorothea Strauss explains, "Not art visualizes soccer but the other way around. Art reflects the issue of soccer." The show makes clear that both genres can be unified, and have much in common. Soccer functions as a medium of relating and mediating. It is an important influence in daily life, and connects people together who have nothing in common because of religious, cultural or social differences. With ambition and fairness, irony, love and tenderness, this exhibition shows how art functions as an observer of the most beautiful but less important thing in the world: soccer.
The video installation Play Ground by the British artist Maria Marshal shows a scene in which a boy kicks an invisible ball against a chapel wall again and again. The video, filmed in slow motion, presents an almost everyday situation except that the ball appears only in form of its shadow. The fact that a shadow is visible but the object is not transforms the ball into a symbol of the boy’s imagination, or for the lightness of children’s thoughts and dreams.
An extremely controversial work is the room installation by the German artist Michael Staab. Office for Disinformation shows a chaotically furnished room in which a young lady, dressed as a nurse, whose nose is bleeding and whose eye is red and swollen, is sitting. She asks the exhibition visitors in a friendly way if she can provide them with any information about the World Cup 2006. She explains to the confused, surprised and embarrassed visitor that she is officially responsible for technical, organizational and logical questions concerning the upcoming World Cup. While she is asking questions, she takes notes on small paper cards about the answers. On a wall, a chart gives information about the outcome of the upcoming FIFA World Cup, before it has even started yet.
Another room installation, Hitzfeld, by the Swiss artist Stefan Banz, consists of a fitting room of a national team. Yet, all shirts are in children’s sizes without any player’s names printed across the backs. Instead, they have names of the most influential and famous artists from the last few decades, as well as titles of major works. Andy Warhol’s tricot hangs next to Marcel Duchamp’s, which faces that of Francis Bacon. This installation, dedicated to the former national soccer trainer Ottmar Hitzfeld, provokes the thought of art history letting the ball of association roll.
The Hungarian artist Federico Arnaud expresses his idea of a close relationship between soccer and religion. His work, El juego de los Milagros (Game of Miracles), shows a tabletop soccer with wooden figures of catholic saints. Jesus is the goalkeeper.
Olaf Nicolai presents an installation in which he invites the spectator to become an active part of the project. Camouflage 1-3 consists of three goal walls in extremely unusual camouflage colors, such as pink and red. And the visitor can try to kick a soft ball into the hole in the wall, which is almost impossible. With this work he refers to the militaristic speech and atmosphere reigning over the world of soccer, and the impossibility to resist it.
Andy Warhol’s work is a painting of the German god of soccer Franz Beckenbauer, who visited New York in the 70s when this painting was created. The painting examines Warhol’s idea of stardom, as he once commented: "Sportsmen are the new stars."
Another provoking work is the photo series Naked on a Soccer Field by the internationally recognized German artist Jüergen Teller. One picture shows himself sitting naked on a soccer field, smoking a cigarette. Another piece, which is even more provocative, broaches the topic of honoring deaths, shows the artist naked again standing with his foot on a soccer ball in a triumphant pose with a beer in his hand on his father’s grave.
All the exhibited works are made by and for soccer lovers. But artists love the game in a different way than fans do. In contrast to the hierarchic and rule-based soccer, art history owns a great amount of thoughtful, reflective and aesthetic freedom. Soccer, on the other hand, has a direct power and clarity. Both advantages are an enticing combination. But it turns out that the show is nothing more than an eye-catcher and is only meant to entertain people, not able to teach them more about the world of soccer and its rules. It is a rather superficial and uncritical show, excluding important aspects such as soccer and politics, soccer and the problem of ethnicities, soccer as a business, soccer as a powerful medium, or soccer and human trade. But, not to forgotten, soccer has different and controversial facets. Soccer Club Manchester United, for example, stands for globalization of regional labels whereas the French National Team embodies multiculturalism and the success story of postcolonial integration.
"Rundlederwelten" provokes feelings and reactions of assimilation as well as acceptance. It shows parallel realms in which the spectator can lose himself and find himself in another world of thoughts and wishes. People can disappear from reality and dive into the sphere of dreams for a moment. But I doubt that the exhibition brings art lovers closer to the topic of soccer and transforms fans to art lovers. And the new stadium, Allianz Arena in Munich, by international architects Herzog/De Meuron, draws a closer relationship between soccer and art than this exhibition does.
