Sports have a huge presence and pull in contemporary life. The drive to play, compete and win is everywhere. And the urge to cheer our local team and our favorite athlete is irresistible.
Artists and designers are likewise drawn to the drama, heartbreak, joy and risk-taking of athletics, inspiring them to tackle new challenges, take on timely topics and reexamine what sports say about our culture. From October 19, 2024−February 18, 2025, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) presents Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture, exploring the powerful—and sometimes contentious—place of athletics in our communities.
Get in the Game, together with six sports-related companion exhibitions, will be the museum’s most expansive presentation dedicated to a subject to date, covering over 15,000 square feet with more than 200 compelling artworks and design objects. Curated by Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher, SFMOMA’s Helen Hilton Raiser Curator of Architecture and Design; Seph Rodney, independent curator and writer; and Katy Siegel, SFMOMA’s Research Director, Special Program Initiatives, it showcases paintings, sculptures, photographs, video and interactive installations by some of today’s most important artists, together with design breakthroughs in sports gear, gaming and apparel.
Viewers will discover the sense of community found in depictions of pickup basketball games, minor league baseball teams, neighborhood swimming clubs or a lineup of fellow surfers. Audiences will also encounter artists and designers inspired by athletes advancing conversations about gender, race and identity, as well as artworks responding to the remarkable achievements of sports figures such as Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Colin Kaepernick, Diana Nyad, Venus Williams and Zinedine Zidane. Woven throughout Get in the Game will be stunning works of contemporary art and design, interactive installations and historical videos that reconsider political and cultural issues through the lens of sports, athleticism, competition and play.
“Creating exhibitions that are responsive to the happenings in our daily life and position art in dialogue with subjects of relevance, meaning and interest to a broad community is core to SFMOMA’s vision,” said Christopher Bedford, SFMOMA’s Director. “Get in the Game perfectly encapsulates this drive, exploring the confluence of culture and sports and the many ways in which they influence each other. The exhibition creates space for dynamic conversations about identity, physicality, passion, ambition, resilience and so much more. We welcome the public to experience this unique opportunity to look anew at the inspiring ways that sports, art, design and culture intersect.”