Football Practice: Speculative Football Players with Kristin McWharter

Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 6–8 pm ET

Online over Zoom

Free or suggested donation; register below

Join us for this workshop intensive in which participants explore the cultural impact of American football and collectively contribute to a new simulation of the sport. Part performance lecture, part interactive imagining, participants will be given prompts to write and craft new players for the artists Football Practice simulation software. Each workshop designs and “drafts” two players into the scrimmage of the software, directly shaping the speculative imaging of the game. Inspired by the surrealist game Exquisite Corpses and video game sports simulations such as Madden, this workshop discusses the importance of consent, aggression, and competitive drive as participants playfully imagine speculative football futures in real time.

The workshop is open to anyone regardless of their knowledge or interest in football. A Zoom link will be shared with your email address near the event date.

This workshop is presented as part of an ongoing project by Kristin McWharter. To learn more, click here.

Biography of the artist

Kristin McWharter uses performance and play to interrogate the relationship between competition and intimacy. Her work conjoins viewers within immersive sculptural installations and viewer- inclusive performances that critically fuse folk games within virtual and augmented worlds. Her software installations and performative objects incorporate experimental technologies and playful interaction to produce performances that speculate upon alternative forms of social behavior. Inspired by 20th century sports narrative, collective decision making, and technology as a contemporary spiritual authority, her work blurs the boundaries of intimacy and hype culture to challenge viewer relationships to affection and competitive drive. Her work has been exhibited at The Hammer Museum, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Bangkok Arts and Cultural Center, Ars Electronica, Museo Altillo Beni, and FILE Festival among others. McWharter received her MFA from UCLA in Design Media Arts and is currently an Assistant Professor in Art & Technology Studies at SAIC.

Image description: Two digital avatars on a digital grassy field. The figures are wearing American football outfits. Both the outfits and the grassy field look like they were crocheted.