19 August 2011
24-hour match brings football and art closer together
Photo opportunity: 7pm at Generator Projects, Mid Wynd , Dundee, on Friday, 26th August. The Twenty-Four Hour Football event will kick off.
The notion that the beautiful game is also beautiful art will be explored during a gruelling, day-long game of fives in Dundee next week.
The Twenty-Four Hour Football event kicks off at the Generator Projects gallery at 7pm on Friday, 26th August. It intends to make art more accessible and break down perceptions of elitism by demonstrating the parallels between the world of art and the world’s favourite pastime.
Local junior and amateur teams, both male and female, have been invited to take part, although event organisers Fraser MacDonald and Catrin Jeans, both graduates of Duncan of Jodanstone College of Art and Design, are keen to hear from anyone who fancies coming along for a kickabout as they aim to engage with as many people as possible who would not normally visit an art gallery.
The larger gallery at Generator has been converted into a 5-a-side pitch, with the floor space, more commonly used to exhibit sculptures, paintings and other works of art, bearing the pitch markings and goals set up at either end of the hall.
Next door, the smaller gallery has been kitted out to resemble a typical changing room. It has been divided in two, with a bench and five pegs on which coloured bibs hang, for each team. Famous sporting team talks will motivate players over a speaker system, and a Subbuteo table in the middle of the room will allow teams to plot tactics before taking to the field.
Two teams of volunteers, made up of artists and non-artist of either gender, are on hand to make up the numbers whenever required and the organisers are determined that, no matter what, football will be played non-stop for 24 hours. The matches will be filmed and streamed live across the internet, with the opportunity for those watching at home to comment on the action in real time via Twitter and Facebook.
Catrin and Fraser, both Dundee-based artists, explained the genesis of the project and what they hoped to achieve.
'Unfortunately, there is a feeling amongst a lot of people that art just isn't for them,' said Cat. 'None of my family are interested in art because they can’t see how it relates to them. My three brothers are football-daft and this is the first time they’ve shown any interest in an art project! The key is challenging people’s perceptions about what art is and showing how it relates to their lives.
'Football and art have a lot in common. In art, we talk about outcomes, and in this instance that means goals, altercations and injuries. The videos in the changing room might be called instructional performance manifestos in one context and pre-match team talks in another but they are essentially the same thing.
'We want as many people who just fancy a game of football to come along and take part. If they’ve never been in an art gallery before then it’s great that we’ve managed to reach them and hopefully they’ll go away with a slightly different view of art.
'Football is about mass participation and I don’t see why art should be different but sometimes we put up these barriers and make it unappealing and that’s what we’re trying to change.'
The cultural standing of football has risen in recent years, and a growing number of collaborations with supposedly more high-brow forms of art have taken place. One of the most striking examples is the film ‘Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait’ which followed the movement of the legendary French captain Zinedine Zidane, one of the greatest players of all time, during an entire match using 17 cameras.
The critically acclaimed film was described as a cross between a sports documentary and a conceptual art installation, and Fraser said it has long been his ambition to combine football and art. The fanatical Dundee FC supporter said it was football’s unpredictable nature that made it a valid form of art to explore.
'Art is supposed to be a spectacle, something that is passionate, exuberant and spontaneous, but all of these things are more evident in football than in most of what is branded performance art.
'You never know what’s going to happen watching a football match and how it will make you feel. You might become elated, enraged, disappointed - and as a Dundee supporter I know a fair bit about the disappointment - but you know no two matches will ever be the same.
'We’ve got quite a narrow view about who is and isn’t an artist but, for me, the moment people produce a ball and start kicking it about with friends then they’re taking part in an art performance.
'There’s nothing better than a kickabout, although I’ve never been involved in one that’s lasted 24 hours before so hopefully loads of people take the opportunity to take part and we’re not on the pitch for the best part of a day!'
Sleeping bags, food and drink will be provided so those set for the longest stints at the gallery can recharge their batteries between games. A memento of Twenty-Four Hour Football, styled on traditional matchday programme and containing interviews with manager, player profiles and other features familiar to football fans, will be produced after the event.
The whole show will be broadcast online at www.ustream.tv/channel/twentyfourhourfootball with football pundits and art critics commentating online for the duration of the game.
The match will kick off at 7pm on Friday the 26th of August and run until 7pm on Saturday the 27th of August. Anyone can take part on the day by turning up to Generator Project, Mid Wynd with a pair of trainers.
More details are available by contacting Catrin Jeans on 07521 498 964 or by emailing twentyfourhourfootball@gmail.com.
Notes to editors:
Facebook page - www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=126768250750631.
Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/24Hr_Football.
Generator Projects - http://cargocollective.com/generatorprojects#1634168/Twenty-Four-Hour-Football.
For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277 |
