{"id":2018648,"date":"2026-06-29T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2018648"},"modified":"2026-06-29T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T10:00:00","slug":"seven-artworks-to-catch-up-on-during-the-fifa-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2018648","title":{"rendered":"Seven Artworks to Catch Up On During the FIFA World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\tA ceaselessly ticking clock, sweat-drenched players, and howling crowds: Soccer is a game of extremes. A few minutes spent watching a heated match proves why it is the most popular sport on earth. Fans obsess over what most of the world calls football for its glorious display of the desire to win. The emotional complexities and the politics of competition and stardom make the game an attractive subject for artists as well. Footage from canonized matches and emblems associated with the game have been appropriated by artists to address various issues, some of them immediately traceable to the grass field and others transformed by artistic experimentation.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe IMAZ Foundation recently opened the fund-raising exhibition \u201cChapter One\u201d at the Ideal Glass Atelier in New York, with 11 soccer ball sculptures by the likes of Dustin Yellin, Jos\u00e9 Duran, Ryan Schneider, and Diana Carla Rowe. While the show closed yesterday, the works have gone to a silent auction benefiting the construction of homes for single mothers in Quito, Ecuador. The project is realized in partnership with CAEMBA, a community-based organization working directly with local families.<\/p>\n
\n\tMeanwhile, out on the streets of the five boroughs and parts of New Jersey, including the World Cup\u2019s host venue MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, the arts-accessibility nonprofit ARTS 14C presents \u201cThe Art of the Game,\u201d a suite of 23 larger-than-life soccer sculptures, commissioned from artists that include Katherine Bernhardt, Bony Ramirez,\u00a0Eddie Martinez, and Fred Wilson, selected by a jury of museum professionals.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn the spirit of the game, we present seven notable artworks to appreciate in this summer of soccer.<\/p>\n
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Paul Pfeiffer, Jerusalem<\/em>, 2014<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Artangel. Artwork copyright \u00a9 Paul Pfeiffer.\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\n\tThere is no winner in Paul Pfeiffer\u2019s video Jerusalem<\/em>, which repurposes footage from the 1966 World Cup final in which the United Kingdom claimed victory over West Germany with a 4\u20132 win. Echoing the exact length of a match, the 90-minute work, commissioned by London-based art organization Artangel, turns London\u2019s famed Wembley Stadium into a canvas for a potpourri of smeared bodies. The digitally manipulated black-and-white footage echoes with an invisible crowd\u2019s chants, and a smiling Queen Elizabeth II makes an appearance. The spectral players materialize and vanish with an ethereal force while Pfeiffer, who has also appropriated footage of basketball games and boxing matches in his multimedia practice, conducts a thrilling visual symphony on power and politics.<\/p>\n
Jerusalem<\/em> can be viewed online here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno, Zidane, a 21st Century Portrait<\/em>, 2006<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Artwork copyright \u00a9 Douglas \nGordon and copyright \u00a9 Phillipe Parreno. Courtesy of the artists and Gagosian.\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\n\tObsession, fandom, and martyrdom linger in Zidane, a 21st Century Portrait<\/em>, a collaborative video installation by Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno. Another 90-minute work, the two-channel display exclusively follows Zinedine Zidane in a match between Real Madrid and Villareal on April 23, 2005, at Madrid\u2019s Santiago Bernab\u00e9u Stadium. The French Algerian soccer legend who held the midfield attacking position for Real Madrid is captured in a whirlwind\u2014moments of adrenalin-fueled action punctuated by footage of Zidane talking to his teammates or strategizing. Shot by 17 cameras, the immersive installation never blinks while documenting the player\u2019s turbulent emotional palette. <\/p>\n
Zidane, a 21st Century Portrait<\/em> can be seen at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach through July 19.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
\n\tLabor, race, and identity are social issues inseparable from soccer, particularly in Europe and Latin America, not unlike basketball or boxing in the United States. The soccer pitch is often promoted as an aspirational goal for young people from disenfranchised communities whose bodies and backgrounds become points of public scrutiny. Lucia Hierro\u2019s larger-than-life sculptures of everyday commercial goods have earned the New York\u2013based artist a solo exhibition at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut. For the IMAZ Foundation\u2019s \u201cChapter One\u201d exhibition and silent auction, Hierro created a soccer ball made out of nylon in colors reminiscent of the red-white-blue bags commonly used in Asia to contain groceries. Mundane and disposable, the bags resonate with movement, relentless labor, and repetition, and in Hierro\u2019s playful and provoking interpretation, the visual statement also celebrates collectivity and communal joy.<\/p>\n
Untitled<\/em> is viewable here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
\n\tThe same IMAZ auction, which benefits the Quito-based, housing-focused organization Ra\u00edz-Caemba, additionally features the New York\u2013based artist Jamel Robinson, whose participation similarly explores harsher aspects of soccer as a spectacle. A ball sliced in half is almost unrecognizable with its red, white, and black outer skin onto which the letters in the word free<\/em> are scattered. Eleven gold-colored nails in the shape of a cross pierce the torched rice that fills the ball. Robinson, who also appropriates elements from boxing in his otherwise abstract practice, completes the work with two paint-mixing sticks amid this configuration, building a parallel between artist and athlete.<\/p>\n
Free by Fire<\/em> is viewable here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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Melissa McGill, These Waters (Hudson River)<\/em>, 2026<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Artwork copyright \u00a9 Melissa McGill. Photo: Megan Maloy for ARTS 14C.\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\n\tSpeed is embodied in Melissa McGill\u2019s contribution to The Art of the Game, a public art program presented ARTS 14C in partnership with the NYNJ Host Committee for the 2026 World Cup. The Beacon, New York\u2013based artist, whose new work Marea<\/em>, about Venice\u2019s impending crisis due to water level rise, is currently on view in La Serenissima, here wraps an entire massive ball with a sea surface. Glistening in the sunlight and dancing with the rhythm of the waves, the imagery feels kinetic, almost in motion. The artist utilizes a trompe-l\u2019\u0153il effect to draw attention to the ways the seas suffer from climate change, a statement elevated by the sculpture\u2019s positioning on the Hudson River at Hoboken\u2019s Maxwell Place Park.<\/p>\n
The Art of the Game is on view through September 7.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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Bony Ramirez, Flora of Communication<\/em>, 2026<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Artwork copyright \u00a9 Bony Ramirez @bonyramirezz. Photo: Megan Maloy for ARTS 14C.\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\n\tLikewise among the 23 larger-than-life soccer ball sculptures in The Art of the Game, which supports the nonprofit ARTS 14C through an auctioning partnership with Christie\u2019s, is the contribution of Dominican\u2013born painter Bony Ramirez, whose exuberantly outlandish depictions of island life complicate notions of beauty and tourism through implications of extraction and exploitation. The natural world\u2019s own rhythm, which often backdrops the New York\u2013based artist\u2019s paintings of distorted bodies with loose gender signifiers, here wraps around a massive ball located at the MetLife Stadium. Red vines creep over the surface like blood vessels, and faces with perplexed expressions and comical features appear on the hexagons.<\/p>\n
The Art of the Game is on view through September 7.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n
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Lyndon\u202fJ.\u202fBarrois,\u202fSr., \u201cF\u00fatbol\u202fIs\u202fLife\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Artwork copyright \u00a9 Lyndon J. Barrois, Sr., courtesy of the artist.\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\n\tThe massive impact of soccer as a global phenomenon partially stems from its nonhierarchical quality: After all, all you need is a ball for a match between two teams. From the favelas of S\u00e3o Paulo to the suburbs of London, youth has access and autonomy in almost any open field. Lyndon\u202fJ.\u202fBarrois,\u202fSr.\u2019s current exhibition, \u201cF\u00fatbol\u202fIs\u202fLife,\u201d at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, celebrates the egalitarian nature of the game with its main material, gum wrappers. The celebrated animator, visual\u2011effects artist, and art collector utilizes this disposable, mundane material, as well as some paint and glue, to embody both male and female players in vibrant colors and energetic gestures. The result is a range of stop-motion videos and miniature or life-size sculptures, including those of star players such as Lionel Messi and Marta.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cF\u00fatbol\u202fIs\u202fLife\u201d is on view at LACMA through July 26.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Arts14C_ArtOfTheGame__MG_0688_9ca071.jpg?w=1024″] A ceaselessly ticking clock, sweat-drenched players, and howling crowds: Soccer is a game of extremes. A few minutes spent watching a heated match proves why it is the most popular sport on earth. Fans obsess over what most of the world calls football for its glorious display of the desire to win. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2018648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2018648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2018648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2018648\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2018648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2018648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2018648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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