In 'Football City, Art United,' Artists and Athletes Reimagine the Beautiful Game

Summary

• Football City, Art United, a new group exhibition in Manchester, pairs legendary footballers with 11 contemporary artists to create all-new artworks inspired by their love of the game.
• Staged at Aviva Studios, the show brings together the efforts of Factory International, alongside Hans Ulrich Obrist, Juan Mata and Josh Wilding as co-curators.

While art and sport may move in differently – in the studio and on the field – a shared energy pulses through them; fueled by drive, discipline and instinct, both disciplines not only give us a language for how to understand the world, but how to move through it.

For Football City, Art United, a new exhibition in Manchester, international athletes are paired 11 contemporary artists, with each collaboration bringing forth a new artwork that looks within and beyond the pitch to reimagine the emotional, cultural and political charge of the Beautiful Game.

Staged within the industrial interior of the OMA-designed Aviva Studios, the exhibition joins the curatorial efforts of footballer Juan Mata, curator Hans Ulrich Obrist and filmmaker Josh Wilding in an expansive showcase of painting, video, performance, architectural intervention and playable installations.

Highlights include “The Playmaker,” an immersive arena conceived by Stefano Boeri with Sandro Mazzola and Eduardo Terrazas, mapping Mazzola’s legendary footwork into bold graphic space. Alvaro Barrington and Raí’s “The Field (after Raí)” brings the arena into abstraction, while Paul Pfeiffer and Edgar Davids‘ sound-light installation, Crowds and Power, evokes the tension that looms between the locker room and the stadium. Extending outside of the venue, Rose Wylie renders practice shots of English defender Lotte Wubben-Moy’s in streaks of brilliant hues, spilling them onto the streets in a series of billboards.

Football City, Art United is now on view through August 24, 2025. Head to Factory International’s website to purchase tickets and learn more about the featured works.

Aviva Studios
Water St,
Manchester M3 4JQ,
United Kingdom