Art Basel in Miami 2025, December 4

Conversations | Rethinking the field: Museums and the power of sports

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Presented in collaboration with OffBall 
Seph Rodney, Freelance Arts Writer and Curator, Newburgh Paul Pfeiffer, Artist, New York Moderator: Shanon Kelley, OffBall, Head of Partnerships, San Francisco 
Sports and the culture surrounding it are more popular than ever. As both artists and audiences increasingly look to sports for purpose and inspiration, museums and cultural institutions are rethinking how to meet this moment. This panel brought together art critic Seph Rodney, co-curator of the touring exhibition ‘Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture’, currently on view at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and artist Paul Pfeiffer to explore how museums, curators and artists can bridge the worlds of athletics and art. Through discussion of ‘Get in the Game’ and other recent exhibitions, the conversation considered how the language, aesthetics, and mythology of sport can expand the possibilities of storytelling, community, and impact – redefining what belongs within the walls of cultural institutions. 
Seph Rodney is a regular contributor to The New York Times, and a former senior critic for Hyperallergic. He has also written for CNN, NBC, Art in America, Artforum, The Guardian, and other publications. In 2020 he was awarded the Rabkin Prize for arts journalism, and in 2022 the Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant. He co-curated ‘Get in the Game’, at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. 
Paul Pfeiffer has been making work in video, photography, installation, and sculpture since the late 1990s. Known for his innovative manipulation of digital media, Pfeiffer recasts the visual language of mass media spectacle to examine how images shape our awareness of ourselves and the world. A major retrospective of Pfeiffer’s work was recently staged at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2023–24) and has traveled to the Guggenheim Bilbao and to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. 
Shanon Kelley is the head of partnerships at OffBall, a media platform and content studio at the intersection of sports and culture. With extensive experience in media, including at PAPER Magazine and Vice Media, she has now made her way into sports. She is an avid basketball fan.

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