A NON-ZERO-SUM GAME
a January 24, 2018 December 21, 2021 .
Audience at SportsTalk poetry reading, in the Winningest exhibition. Photo by Dolores Garay.
Curated by Astria Suparak and Brett Kashmere
For INCITE Journal: Sports
bit.ly/ANonZeroSumGame / incite-online.net/events7-8.html
A Non-Zero-Sum Game is a series of exhibitions, screenings, discussions, contests, readings, and other events launching, and part of, INCITE Journal of Experimental Media's newest issue, Sports (edited by Astria Suparak and Brett Kashmere). It also includes several sports-themed cocktails created for the book and a sports novelty music playlist. Reflecting the issue's multidisciplinary range, the programming takes place in varied spaces including bookstores, galleries, cinemas, rooftops, and sports bars.
Hanif Abdurraqib​ (author, They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us), Kevin Blackistone (national sports columnist, The Washington Post; panelist, ESPN's "Around the Horn"), Kavitha Davidson (columnist, espnW; contributor, ESPN The Magazine), Samuel Hodge (coeditor, Black Males and Intercollegiate Athletics), Sarah Hotchkiss (visual arts editor, KQED), Ezekiel Kweku​ (politics editor, New York Magazine's Daily Intelligencer), Ameer Loggins (contributor, The Athletic), Carmen Winant (artist, writer)
Artists and Writers include:
Haig Aivazian, Santiago Alvarez, Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, James Blagden, Miguel Calderón, Anil Dash, Sally Dixon, Nathaniel Dorsky, Cara Erskine, Kevin Jerome Everson, Gao Mingyan, Ana Hušman, I AM A BOYS CHOIR, Karen Kraven, Nicolas Lampert, Macon Reed, Pasha Malla and Jeff Parker, Tara Mateik, Hazel Meyer and Cait McKinney, Ayanah Moor, Nam June Paik, Paper Rad, Pied la Biche, Keith Piper, Rachel Rampleman​, Chadwick Rantanen, Collier Schorr, Lillian Schwartz, Hank Willis Thomas, TVTV, Lisa Young, Zhang Qing
A Non-Zero-Sum Game components:
Launch at Kadist
Winningest
How Great You Are O Son Of The Desert! at The Wexner
Discussion series
The Nation's Finest
A Beautiful Game
Trust the Process seven-part series
GIF contests
INCITE Journal: Sports book
Follow INCITE Journal of Experimental Media
Still from Gymnasts by Macon Reed, featuring Kim Randall, HD video, sound, 6:15 min, 2014
Curated by Astria Suparak
VisArts, Rockville, MD
May 23 – July 1, 2018
Artists: Haig Aivazian, Cara Erskine, Gao Mingyan, Karen Kraven, Nicolas Lampert, Cait McKinney & Hazel Meyer, Ayanah Moor, Macon Reed, Zhang Qing
Sports are not a refuge from the "real world." Sports have been and always are political. Who gets to play? Who is penalized for what? Which stadiums are built? Where? And with whose money? Eminent domain, organized labor, drug and gender testing, commercial sponsorships, tax breaks, bribery, and abuse scandals are just some of the ways power is flexed daily within what has been called a secular religion and a proxy war. The artists in this exhibition draw upon the hidden and political histories of sports to open up analyses of the social world.
This exhibition is accompanied by a discussion on Sports & Politics, a film screening of "A Beautiful Game", and a book launch with a sports poetry reading and sports GIF Contest.
More information here: astriasuparak.com/2018/07/07/power_forward
Hank Willis Thomas' "Bread and Roses" (2012), in Power Forward.
Slide show image and Collier Schorr's "American Flag (Scratch)" (1999), as part of Power Forward.
INCITE PUBLICATION LAUNCH
Organized by Astria Suparak, Brett Kashmere, and KADIST
KADIST, San Francisco
kadist.org/program/power-forward
Artists: Gao Mingyan, Chadwick Rantanen, Collier Schorr, Hank Willis Thomas
The INCITE: Sports San Francisco launch event included a conversation on sports and politics with Ezekiel Kweku and Ameer Loggins, moderated by Sarah Hotchkiss, an illustrated preview of the book by the editors, and sports-themed cocktails made by Mary Hogan.
Installation of Winningest at 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA. July 2018.
Installation view of Winningest.
Installation view of "Winningest" at 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, California, July 2018.
Installation view of Winningest. Top left: Karen Kraven. Top right: Ayanah Moor. Floor: Brett Kashmere and Astria Suparak.
January 23 – February 6, 2018 at Adobe Books Backroom Gallery, San Francisco
July 17–27, 2018 at 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica
Artists, Writers, and Featured Athletes: Haig Aivazian, Simone Biles, Darryl Dawkins, Sally Dixon, Cara Erskine, Billie Jean King, Karen Kraven, Mark Gonzales, Nicolas Lampert, Pasha Malla and Jeff Parker, Hazel Meyer and Cait McKinney, Ayanah Moor, Zinedine Zidane
We are the champions. And the losers. This is a non-zero-sum game, where gains can be made off the scoreboard, outside of the game clock, beyond the field, and even in moments rife with pain or ambiguity. This exhibition divulges shameful and disregarded aspects of sports. It accentuates the kinships and struggles of athletes, and revels in the moments that break with the past and usher in new eras.
Winningest had two versions, with different, but overlapping, artist lists.
More information on the Adobe Gallery version here:
adobebooks.com/blog/2018/1/7/winningest-issue-7-8-launch-of-incite-journal-of-experimental-media
Entrance to the exhibition of Haig Aivazian's work at the Wexner Center.
Still from "How Great You Are O Son of the Desert!, Part I" by Haig Aivazian, 2013.
HOW GREAT YOU ARE O SON OF THE DESERT!, PART 1
Organized by Jennifer Lange (Wexner), with Astria Suparak
Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH
March 1–31, 2018
wexarts.org/film-video/haig-aivazian-how-great-you-are-o-son-desert-part-i
A month-long exhibition of Haig Aivazian's video, as part of the INCITE: Sports launch at the Wexner which included a conversation on sports and culture and a curated evening of short works.
Kavitha Davidson and Kevin Blackistone, "Sports and Politics discussion," within the "Power Forward" exhibition at VisArts, Rockville, MD.
Conversation between Ezekiel Kweku and Ameer Loggins, moderated by Sarah Hotchkiss, as part of Power Forward.
SPORTS & POLITICS
Organized by Brett Kashmere and Astria Suparak, in collaboration with local curators Jordan Stein (KADIST), David Filipi (Wexner), and Susan Main (VisArts)
KADIST, San Francisco, January 24, 2018. (Watch here: vimeo.com/261516410)
Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH, March 22, 2018. (Listen online: wexarts.org/read-watch-listen/wexcast-expanding-field)
VisArts, Rockville, MD, June 23, 2018 (Video forthcoming)
This series of discussions on sports, culture, and politics features journalists, academics, and cultural producers deeply immersed in sports. Topics include recent athletic protests, the realities and repercussions for athletes (both on and off-field), concussions and health issues, gender and religion, labor and exploitation, the responsibilities of sports writers, and various local issues.
More information here: https://astriasuparak.com/2018/08/07/expanding-the-field/
Still from "Two Finger Kung Fu" by the internet, GIF, c. 2009.
Still from "Olympiad" by Lillian Schwartz, 1971, 16mm film.
Still from "The Nation's Finest" (1990) by Keith Piper. Courtesy of Keith Piper and LUX, London.
Still from "demonstrating the imaginary body" (2015) by I AM A BOYS CHOIR. Courtesy of the artists.
Tour through 2018
astriasuparak.com/2018/02/17/the-nations-finest
Artists: Haig Aivazian, I AM A BOYS CHOIR, Internet, Tara Mateik, Nam June Paik, Keith Piper, Lillian Schwartz
This program deconstructs the athlete body – how it is used for national, political, and social agendas, and how it is viewed and re-crafted by artists (who are sometimes athletic!). In this program, we look at five decades of artists' video and film focusing on sports, including perspectives across gender, racial, and national identities.
Tour venues include: San Francisco Cinematheque at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Pitzer College, Conversations at the Edge at the Gene Siskel Film Center (Chicago), Wexner Center for the Arts (Columbus, OH), University of California, Santa Cruz.
More information here: astriasuparak.com/2018/02/17/the-nations-finest
Still from "Home", copyright Kevin Jerome Everson; Courtesy the artist; Trilobite Arts DAC; Picture Palace Pictures.
Still from "Dock Ellis & the LSD No-No" by James Blagden (produced by Christopher Isenberg)
Still from "Refait" by Pied la Biche.
Curated by Brett Kashmere and Astria Suparak
astriasuparak.com/2018/08/06/a-beautiful-game
Artists: Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, James Blagden, Miguel Calderón, Anil Dash, Kevin Jerome Everson, Ana Hušman, Paper Rad, Pied la Biche, Lisa Young
Sports are a canvas(/screen) for personal, regional, and national projections – they are a proxy war, a fantasy, a public record, an airing of grievances, and a realm in which ideals can be realized. Sports create moments that sear into the communal memory, replaying over and over. Truncated and mangled over time, some are buried and others burnished, with glorious names like "Miracle on Ice" (hockey), "The Hand of God" (soccer), and "The Immaculate Reception" (football). The film and videomakers in A Beautiful Game get into the body, mind, and spirit—and even on the nerves—of athletes and spectators.
Tour venues include: University of California, Santa Cruz, VisArts (Rockville, MD), The Mini Microcinema (Cincinnati, OH)
More information here: astriasuparak.com/2018/08/06/a-beautiful-game
Still from "Bodybuilder Study (Pose, Stroke, Lift, Carry)" by Rachel Rampleman, 2010.
Organized by Astria Suparak, Brett Kashmere, and Craig Baldwin (Other Cinema)
Other Cinema at Artists' Television Access, San Francisco
A Post-Olympics Cool Down and Pre-March Madness Warm Up, the first quarter brings an illustrated preview of the book from Sports editors Astria Suparak and Brett Kashmere.
Next up is the Greatest Sports GIF Of All Time contest.
During Intermission, sit in on the Raiderettes' practice (c. 1960s footage).
The 2nd half brings the editors' selections of fan-made supercuts as well as video art from Anil Dash, Paper Rad, Rachel Rampleman, and more, and a rare screening of Nathaniel Dorsky's football psychodrama A Fall Trip Home.
Final quarter brings Sports Spectacles from Craig Baldwin's collection, including Muhammad Ali's pre-Thrilla in Manila promo, a 1970s film trailer for The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings starring James Earl Jones, Billy Dee Williams and Richard Pryor, an excerpt of Cerro Pelado by Cuban agit-filmmaker Santiago Alvarez, and more. Evening co-sponsored by Canyon Cinema.
Screening from "Trust the Process" at University of California, Santa Cruz, 2018
TRUST THE PROCESS: Experiments with Sports
Curated by Brett Kashmere
film.ucsc.edu/news_events/2018/04/12/wednesday_night_cinema_society_spring_2018
A seven-part series that explores the variety of ways that athletics have been treated in artists' video and film across six decades. Co-presented by Wednesday Night Cinema Society and Film and Digital Media Department, cosponsored by The Center for Documentary Arts and Research (CDAR).
SPORTSTALK POETRY READINGS
Audience at the SportsTalk poetry reading at Adobe Books, San Francisco. Photo by Dolores Garay.
L-R: Carol Cheh, Matthew Lax, Badly Licked Bear, Oners Hoganberryfin, Abdiel Lopez, and Carlin Wing reading a poem made of various pro athletes' coming out statements (from a project by Pasha Malla and Jeff Parker in INCITE: Sports). 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA
Mother and child Anuradha Vikram and Nadja Vikram-Bugaj performing "Open Secrets" by sisters Venus and Serena Williams (from a project by Pasha Malla and Jeff Parker in INCITE: Sports). 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA.
Audience at the SportsTalk poetry reading at a sports bar in Rockville, Maryland.
Audience at the SportsTalk poetry reading at Adobe Books, San Francisco. Photo by Jade Mar.
Organized by Astria Suparak and Brett Kashmere, based on a project by INCITE Sports contributors Pasha Malla and Jeff Parker
SportsTalk poetry by: John Amaechi, Larry Bird, Jason Collins, Darryl Dawkins, Mark Gonzales, Kwame Harris, Martina Navratilova, Ronda Rousey, Sheryl Swoopes, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Zinedine Zidane
Readers: Badly Licked Bear, Trish Bendix, Liliane Blom, Dania Cabello, Carol Cheh, George Chen, Michelle Felix, Christine Ferrera, Dolores Garay, Samara Halperin, Dan Hanrahan, Jen Hoffmann, Onya Hogan-Finlay, Justin Charles Hoover, Tara Jepsen, Zoey Kroll, Matthew Lax, Abdiel Lopez, Martha Manning, Darrin Martin, Charlie Mirador, Jabal Mutazindwa, Yuri Ono, Grace Rosario Perkins, Kim Sandara, Dorothy Santos, David Senior, Silky Shoemaker, Kate Snyder, Anuradha Vikram and Nadja Vikram-Bugaj, Maysoun Wazwaz, Harrison Willis, Carlin Wing
Tour venues include: Adobe Book Shop (San Francisco, February 3, 2018); Finnegan's Wake Irish Pub, (Rockville, MD, June 4, 2018); 18th Street Arts Center (Santa Monica, CA, July 17, 2018)
Overflow audience for Greatest Sports GIF contest at 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA.
Hand count of audience votes after a tie for the Greatest Sports GIF contest at 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA.
GREATEST SPORTS GIF OF ALL TIME (G.O.A.T.) CONTESTS
Organized by Brett Kashmere and Astria Suparak
The public is invited to submit a favorite sports GIF, original or found, to the "Sports G.G.O.A.T. (Greatest GIF of All Time)" contest, to be decided during the event by the audience in a NCAA tournament-style bracket. Prizes will be awarded. Sports-themed specialty cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks available.
Tour venues include: Other Cinema at Artists' Television Access (San Francisco, March 3, 2018); Finnegan's Wake Irish Pub (Rockville, MD, June 4, 2018); 18th Street Arts Center (Santa Monica, CA, July 17, 2018)
Compiled by Brett Kashmere and Astria Suparak
bit.ly/sportsnoveltymusic
A selection of official and adopted team theme songs, rapping by professional athletes, music made for sports films, and sports-themed pop songs from the last six decades. Musical styles range from choral groups with orchestras, rousing anthems, and advertising jingles, to disco, soul, rock, hip hop, pop, and R&B.
More information here: astriasuparak.com/2018/06/01/sports-music
ONLINE: Listen to the Sports Music Playlist on YouTube
PRINT: Demand Utopian Sports (Oakland, California: Wolfman Books, 2018)
Presented at: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco, June 2018); 18th Street Arts Center (Santa Monica, CA, July 17, 2018)
Commissioned by INCITE Journal: Sports
INCITE: Sports events included various electrolyte-enhanced or grass-based alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Here are a few:
Tequilarade Sunrise made by Mary Hogan of Kadist
(Tequila, Strawberry or Orange Gatorade, Rose's Grenadine, kumquat slivers)
Gatorade Gimlet made by Josh Stulen
(Hendricks Gin, Cucumber Lime Gatorade, fresh lime juice, cucumber wheel)
The Slap Shot made by Vanessa Laurin of Finnegan's Wake Irish Pub
(Campari, St-Germain, grenadine, soda water)
The Mystic made by Vanessa Laurin of Finnegan's Wake Irish Pub
(Citrus vodka, Blue Curacao, cranberry, lime juice)
"Public Square" at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, June 2018
(M)ovement (B)ased (T)hing at "Public Square," Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, June 2018. INCITE Journal and Jeffrey Cheung/UNITY Press at the back.
A DAY OF MOVEMENT TOWARD UTOPIAN SPORTS
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
"The Bay Area Center for Utopian Sports' mission is to make new sports for a new world. We engage in critical dialogue and creative projects related to sports, radical futures, space, and community. Join us for a day of interactive performances and critical inquiry into our relationships to the world and the world of sports. With contributions by: Grace Rosario Perkins, Sarah Hotchkiss, Jordan Karnes, Heavy Breathing, INCITE: Journal of Experimental Media, Unity Skateboards, Takming Chuang, Bradley Smith, and Anelise Chen."
INCITE: Sports compiled a playlist of novelty team songs which will be played throughout the day. The Sports issue will be available for purchase and coloring book-style drawings celebrating the WNBA by Sports contributor Cara Erskine will be free for the public.
Screenshot of Canadian Art feature on INCITE Journal: Sports
Screenshot of CityTV show Wave with an episode focused on INCITE: Sports, Aug. 21, 2018
LOS ANGELES TIMES: "Datebook," Carolina A. Miranda, July 12, 2018
CANADIAN ART MAGAZINE: "World Cup Meets White Cube," Leah Sandals, July 4, 2018
"Though the World Cup only lasts about a month, artist Brett Kashmere and curator Astria Suparak are conducting an extended project on sports and art—including soccer—from January to November of this year. […]
For her part, Suparak is interested in how "sports are now a key part of fashion and music and celebrity culture," she says. Among her past projects are exhibitions on fan culture, as well as a more recent survey of sports-related art, "Power Forward," in Maryland.
"For me, sports is like a gateway or a ruse to talk about other issues," says Suparak, "There is that constant refrain of 'Keep politics out of sports.' But sports has always been political—political in who is allowed to play, who gets penalized for what, what are the team names and mascots, who gets to use eminent domain to build stadiums. Recent stories of cheerleader abuse, and abuse of youth athletes by coaches, also remind us that all levels of sport are very political."
At the same time, the ability of sports to provide moments of ecstasy and unity hold that political aspect in tension. "There is a lot that is fucked up about sports but on the other hand, this past week, I was in the airport in Calgary waiting for a flight and everyone around me was completely riveted on the Argentina-Nigeria game at the World Cup," Kashmere says. "It reminded me that these games are so much more than just games—it's an amazing thing to be united in a feeling with a mass of people who are both strangers and friends. There is that magical social aspect of sports which can be transcendent at times, and that is part of what I find fascinating and compelling about sports as a subject."
LAist: "The Coolest Things To Do In Southern California This Week," Christine N. Ziemba, July 16, 2018
"Welcome to Southern California, where this week you can check out everything from goat yoga and an Anthony Bourdain tribute to the most famous girls-gone-wild exploitation film of all time and a sports-meets-art literary reading."
CityTV, "Bodies" episode, Wave, Aug. 21, 2018
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