The FIFA World Cup 2006 has netted a wealth of opportunities for artists, galleries and museums all over the world.
It’s billed as the world game. Soccer to some, football to most people. And this year, the sport’s pinnacle competition has been predicted to attract television audiences in excess of five billion viewers. Some analysts put the associated costs of hosting the World Cup (such as refurbishing stadiums, improving transport infrastructure, etc.) at trillions of EUROS. Whilst the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has stated the total value of direct revenues (from media rights, ticketing, and sponsorship) to be 1.9 billion EUROS. 60,000 jobs have been created with a third expected to remain after World Cup fever has left the nation. Organisers are well aware that a spectacle on such a monumental scale needs to look the part. In the course of the event many thousands of artists will be involved, helping to ensure that what goes on outside of each game’s ninety minutes maintains the illusion of grandeur.
Even before the opening ceremony, artists were helping set the mood with over 400 performers, including famous British pop musicians and Placido Domingo, who appeared alongside the Bavarian State Orchestra, taking part in a pre-opening ceremony outdoor concert.
At the official opening ceremony held in Munich on 9 June, 1400 dancers, mime artists and musicians were slated to take part in the 30 minute spectacle, including 80 hip hop and break dancers from Berlin and a rhythm section comprising 120 drummers from all over the world. The day before revellers and football fans had gathered before the Brandenburg Gate to witness the capital’s opening ceremony gala, which involved scores of celebrity musicians as well as video footage of legendary players of the game, such as the Brazilian genius Pele, Argentina’s Diego Maradona, and German uber-man Franz Beckenbauer.
To commemorate the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the organisation commissioned a series of posters by popular artists on the theme of football. These original artworks are a far cry from the tacky official souvenir mascots that have been a spectacular embarrassment for FIFA in achieving such the poor sales and bringing allegations of shady dealings to the doorstep of football’s governing body once again. From Hisashi Tenmyouya’s football samurais to Jess MacNeil’s evocative rural football landscape, the posters offer a new perspective on footballing culture and suggest there’s a lot more to the game’s appreciation than the beer drinking and hooliganism its widely stereotyped reputation would suggest.
In keeping with the FIFA tradition the posters are comparitively expensive. Although the standard prints sell for 32 EUROS a pop, a special range of limited edition posters, signed by the artists, Tokyo to London. French artist Michel Briat has even speculated that passion for football can inspire even the most unlikely fan to become a painter – such unbounded delight needs an outlet! A lasting testament to football-inspired street art is Play Loud! published this year, which presents the graphic street art as well as football inspired illustrations, posters and flyers. And is billed as, “an eclectic visual compilation taking you on a fantastically colourful journey through the world.”
Footballs don’t just pop up in the visual arts. The UK’s BBC recently hosted Sports Shorts, its second annual competition to find broadcast quality dramatic radio scripts based on a sports theme. Predictably the vast majority of entries centred on football.
As well as providing employment and inspiration for artists and creative professionals, the World Cup will also provide a boost to local German museums and galleries. Tourists in town to watch the football are being encouraged to visit local attractions between games. In Munich the Stadtische Galerie, one of city’s main art galleries housing an extensive collection of 19th and 20th century works of art, including the “blue rider” group of artists of which Kandinsky was a member, has been hotly promoted in the free tourist literature.
There is a prevailing notion that football is a global passion that transcends all boundaries. This spirit is supposedly epitomised in the glorious World Cup event, and this intent cannot be summed up better than by the reciprocal arrangement between three-time World Cup winners Germany, and the world’s greatest footballing nation, five-time champions, Brazil, to share football-inspired artworks between those countries. Art and football, football and life, it all comes together during the one true World Cup.
