Co-curated by JUAN MATA, HANS ULRICH OBRIST & JOSH WILLDIGG

Football City, Art United.

Explore the exhibition at MIF25
Hans Ulrich Obrist and Juan Mata in front of a white background
Explore the exhibition at MIF25

Football City, Art United. bridges MIF23 with the 2025 edition of Manchester International Festival.

For information about the Football City, Art United. exhibition at MIF25 and to book, please click the link above.

Football and art come into play in this two-year project that kicked off at MIF23 with a new work by Tino Sehgal.

Football City, Art United. brings together 11 contemporary artists and 11 footballers to produce new works inspired by the Trequartista. Stepping into each other’s creative fields, they ask, what can art and football do for each other?

The Trequartista is a legendary position in football – one claimed by pioneers on and off the pitch. But in a world where styles of play are increasingly driven by stats, is their art a dying one?

All about reclaiming the beautiful game, Football City, Art United. encourages a transfer of ideas between art and football – without shying away from either field's complex relationships with class, race, gender and sexuality.

Football City, Art United. is co-curated by renowned curator/MIF Artistic Advisor Hans Ulrich Obrist, World Cup/Champions League-winning footballer Juan Mata and writer Josh Willdigg. The project sees 11 teams of footballers and artists work their magic together over two years, culminating in a group show at the 2025 edition of Manchester International Festival.

The project kicked off at MIF23 with a world premiere of This entry – a new work by artist Tino Sehgal, made with the involvement of Juan Mata and presented at the National Football Museum and the Whitworth.

Known for artworks composed using exclusively the human body, voice and social interaction, Tino has exhibited his work at the world’s biggest art galleries – from New York’s Guggenheim to London’s Tate Modern, Paris’ Palais de Tokyo and Hong Kong’s Tai Kwun. This entry was a playful choreographic exchange between a footballer, violinist, cyclist and a singing dancer.

Discover Football City Art United at MIF25

Multiple floating soccer balls inside a green room with white goalpost markings on the walls. The perspective and reflections create an illusion of depth, making it appear as if the balls are suspended in mid-air.
Football meets art in this major new exhibition of brand-new works made in collaboration between legendary footballers and contemporary artists at Aviva Studios for Manchester International Festival 2025.

Credits

Co-curated by HANS ULRICH OBRIST, JUAN MATA and JOSH WILLDIGG

Commissioned and produced by Factory International

Access

Football City, Art United. kicked off with a world premiere of Tino Sehgal's This entry as part of MIF23. The project continues in the 2025 Festival. More information on Access for This entry can be found here.

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