Press Release:
Contesting/Contexting Sport: to reclaim the field with art and activism at NGBK in Berlin!
(Queer and Feminist Sport Exhibition and Program) July 9- August 28 @ nGbK Gallery + Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien
In the field of sport, discrimination is present as in hardly any other social sub-system. Gender-specific categories, that are often based on the principle of heteronormative exclusion, prevail. In the context of the upcoming mega-events –the 2016 Olympic Games and the (men’s) European Football Championship– critical voices from the field of sport will be linked with creative interventions at the nGbK. The exhibition combines artistic positions with activist strategies - creating counterproposals to the consumer-oriented and nationalistic/indentitarian competition energy. Accompanying events offer a platform for emergence of queer solidarities and alternative concepts going beyond sport.
Exhibiting Artists: Pascal Anson, Aquahomo, Imtiaz Ashraf, Berlin Bruisers, Boxing Queers, Micha Cárdenas, Cassils, Manuela Johanna Covini, Antoni Hervàs & WoMen Synchro, David Crespo, Tristan Deschamps, Jean-Úlrick Desert, Discover Football, Estelle Fenech, Caitlin D. Fisher, Zsuzsi Flohr/The Jewish Renaissance Boxing Club, Gabriele Fulterer & Christine Scherrer, GRRRLS* can skate, Barbara Gruhl, Guerreiras Project, Jason Hall, Tabea Huth, Justin Jorgensen, Brian Kenny, Lola Lasurt, Julia Lazarus, Llobet & Pons, Albert Markert, Marthe’Oh, Tara Mateik, Marisa Maza, Dayna McLeod, Stuart Meyers, David Miguel, Frank J. Miles, Maximilian Moll, Maria Molteni, Marc Ohrem-Leclef, Les Dégommeuses, Tanja Ostojić, Open Games, Max Pelgrims, Kathrin Rabenort, Rafucko, Saul Selles, Marc Serra, Coral Short, Julia Smit, Spielaufbau, Katja Stuke, Ilaa Tietz, Tools for Action/Artúr von Balen & QueerSport/ Željko Blaće, Alexa Vachon, Verena Melgarejo Weinandt, Tom Weller
The show got a great review in Artslant Berlin! They included a nice chunk of info about the NCAA’s participation.
One quote from an interview with New Craft Artists in Action team captain Maria Molteni :
New Craft Artists in Action also addresses the gap between the purported goals of big sporting events and their execution. Installed in the nGbK courtyard, Anarchy Acronym asks visitors to rethink the names of often-corrupt sporting institutions, “occupying” their abbreviations. The works themselves mimic the advertising banners circling sporting arenas and visitors are asked to write new meanings for their acronyms in chalk. “We’d like to reveal what players and viewers actually value in athletics that isn’t about capitalism, corruption and power,” says the artist, who founded the NCAA—the “New Craft Artists in Action” collective—in 2010.
Check out the article to hear more about our work in the show and an amazing group of international artists working with sport.
