Art-Sports = Aesthletics

May 18, 2009 8:20 AM

...many artists say their absurdist sports are an outgrowth of the contemporary art-world trend toward participatory art, which is intended to break down walls between artist and audience. But beyond the high-mindedness, the skinny-armed aesthetes also seem to be on a personal mission to reclaim sports from the bull-necked athletes of their youth. The NYT Fashion & Style section examines the trend of "art-sports," high concept games that are gaining in popularity amongst a demographic not typically know for their athletic endeavors. Some practitioners have dubbed these games "aesthletics" and have established an Institute of Aesthlectics for their promotion.

More information on some of the "art-sports" mentioned in the article:

-Circle Rules Football

-Wiffle Hurling

-VikingBall Sure to be a MeFi favorite for the name alone.

posted by Bango Skank (42 comments total)

Give me rugby any day, but VikingBall sounds AWESOME.
posted by Loto at 8:32 AM on May 18, 2009

Awesome, but I want shirling.
posted by condour75 at 8:36 AM on May 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

On-on?
posted by The Man from Lardfork at 8:36 AM on May 18, 2009

"Class-conscious kickball"? I don't know, that sounds less like fun and more like a boring lecture.
posted by dammitjim at 8:37 AM on May 18, 2009

This reminds me of Stoppard's Jumpers. Only less clever and less funny.
posted by lucia__is__dada at 8:43 AM on May 18, 2009

Baseball used to be a different game too.
posted by netbros at 8:43 AM on May 18, 2009

I'm all for weird sports but all of this has a very too cool for school vibe. From the NYT article:

Mr. Manley, who gave up soccer and football for theater in high school, said that making up your own sport leveled the playing field — no one knows the game better than you do — something not possible if artists tried to square off in basketball against people who had been playing for the last 15 years. “We’ve been out of practice awhile,” he said.

The vast majority of people are not expert-level basketball players, so why not just play basketball with normal people? As someone who is terrible at all sports but still likes playing them, it's annoying that so many people have the attitude that if they aren't good then they won't play.
posted by burnmp3s at 8:47 AM on May 18, 2009

No thanks--I'll stick with real sports like bike polo and disc golf.
posted by box at 8:49 AM on May 18, 2009 [3 favorites]

burnmp3s: I agree. Mr. Manley is also going to be sorely disappointed when someone with an athletic background beats him at his own game since having knowledge of the rules is only a small portion of playing well.
posted by Loto at 8:52 AM on May 18, 2009

that sounds less like fun and more like a boring lecture.

Yes, there's something dangerous going on here. I've always approved of absurdity, but it kind of turns in on itself when it becomes fodder for a New York Times article that spews out such quotes as:

When artists become interested in sport, “they become terribly anxious that they could be confused with the quote-unquote normal fans,” said Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, a professor of comparative literature at Stanford University and author of “In Praise of Athletic Beauty” (Belknap Press, 2006). “So intellectuals, when they play games, they cannot just play normal games. It has to be intellectualized.”

Please, don't let any of these people near my next croquet free-for-all. This shit does not need to be explained and/or justified anymore than 43 Man Squamish does.
posted by philip-random at 8:53 AM on May 18, 2009

ooops. That was supposed to be link to 43 Man Squamish.
posted by philip-random at 8:55 AM on May 18, 2009 [3 favorites]

Aesthletics aims to unleash the great opportunities inherent in competitive contests for social rather than monetary capital. As such, aesthletics merges the language of sports with the methods and goals of participatory art to produce games that foster social interaction, deliver significant meaning and context, and promote a more creative and widespread culture of socio-physical activity.

"Are you going out with your buddies to play ball in the park again?"
"No, I'm off to engage in participatory art that promotes a creative culture of socio-physical activity."
posted by lucia__is__dada at 9:01 AM on May 18, 2009

Simply because there was a net at the end of the driveway on which we constructed our winter rink, my brother and I played one-on-one basketball on ice skates, while wearing parkas. As we were about 13 and 14 at the time, we didn't consider making our innovation grant worthy by writing an artist's statement.
posted by TimTypeZed at 9:06 AM on May 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

Yes, there's something dangerous going on here. I've always approved of absurdity, but it kind of turns in on itself when it becomes fodder for a New York Times article that spews out such quotes as:

No matter how well intended as a bit of participatory art when invented, the minute it hits the style section of the NYT, it's now another hipster affectation.
posted by fatbird at 9:08 AM on May 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

So intellectuals, when they play games, they cannot just play normal games. It has to be intellectualized.

I think he's confusing 'intellectuals' with 'pretentious wankers'. It's an easy mistake to make, since so many of the latter identify themselves as the former, but accuracy is important.
posted by Dr.Enormous at 9:09 AM on May 18, 2009 [6 favorites]

making up your own sport leveled the playing field — no one knows the game better than you do

oh how very equal of manley, et al. creating a new competition without giving anyone else the opportunity to have input on the rules. how very artistic of them to allow themselves the opportunity to break those rules if a "bull-neck" manages to physically beat them at their own sport. the real game appears to reinforcing cultural division under the banner of inclusiveness and diversity.
posted by the aloha at 9:11 AM on May 18, 2009

Viking ball looks an awful lot like floor/street hockey. Also, seconding what box said, with the addition of Ultimate Frisbee!
posted by Mister_A at 9:21 AM on May 18, 2009

reinforcing cultural division under the banner of inclusiveness and diversity.
posted by the aloha at 12:11 PM on May 18 [+] [!]

Welcome to Williamsburg. The list of approved things to like is in your Welcome Kit. Someone from the Irony Enforcement Division will be contacting you shortly to schedule your training sessions.
posted by spicynuts at 9:22 AM on May 18, 2009

To be fair, circle rules football looks like a lot of fun.
posted by kowalski at 9:28 AM on May 18, 2009

I did this kind of stuff more than 30 years ago. My retroactive label for it is "Childhood". It was a fair bit of fun.
posted by srboisvert at 10:07 AM on May 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

Neat post.

It's amazing how innovative human beings can be when it comes to finding enjoyable ways to squander free time.

This tendency appears to a near universal instinct. You can watch little kids invent a game completely spontaneously. The game will evolve rules and given more than a hour a sport culture will evolve with expectations and techniques.

As people get older I notice men tend to retain this tendency more than women. There have been any number of times where we've been on vacation with a group of friends and the will invent a little game with whatever is at hand. Some of these games have even stuck and now we play them when ever we get together.
posted by tkchrist at 10:08 AM on May 18, 2009

Some practitioners have dubbed these games "aesthletics"

I can't wait to show them my new art sport of freestyle groin-kneeing.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 10:08 AM on May 18, 2009

"the [insert] guys will invent a little game"
posted by tkchrist at 10:10 AM on May 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

I swear to God that one day I'll manage to get a irregular Calvinball game going...
posted by Kattullus at 10:15 AM on May 18, 2009

Anyone else reminded of the New Games movement of the 70s?

Circle football looks pretty fun and I can see it spreading, but it can't be seen as just for "actors and artists." Cubicle dwellers probably need it more than people whose jobs are considered to be entertainment.

Now, I'm bummed out that I didn't buy that old parachute at an estate sale last month!
posted by vespabelle at 10:15 AM on May 18, 2009

Pronouncing 'Aesthletics' is a sporting event in itself.
posted by Flashman at 10:23 AM on May 18, 2009

Now that I've watched the videos I have to say that while vikingball and whiffle hurling don't really appeal to me circle rules seems like a well-designed game. It's not really art, not like Slaughter was, as described by one of vespabelle's New Games links:

When an anti-war group in 1966 asked him to create a public activity to oppose the war, he created the game Slaughter. Slaughter was a game of no-holds barred physical combat with nearly no rules except: throw everyone else out of the ring, and dunk the six foot ball over "the other side of the field".

Slaughter was a game of intense physicality and competition, which was almost a slap in the face to the event organizers who preached non-violence. On the other hand, the actual experience of Slaughter was art. The ball was painted like a small Earth. It was impossible for everyone not to be involved. Teams were not declared, they simply formed. But interestingly enough whenever the ball got closer to one side of the field, people spontaneously switched sides to defense.

There were the two "teams", who were really one team, pushing the Earth in different directions for no apparent reason, but switching sides to help out when the other side was losing. If that's not art, nothing is.

And here in Providence there's been a kickball league for years that is largely about getting drunk on Saturday afternoon, dress up in silly team costumes (the team I'm on dresses in 80's workout wear) and just have fun. Sure, there's a trophy involved and people keep score, but it's mainly for enjoyment. I doubt Providence is unique in this.
posted by Kattullus at 10:42 AM on May 18, 2009

They forgot sloshball.

But, really, who cares? Calvinball is the only true form.
posted by paultopia at 10:46 AM on May 18, 2009

Anyone else reminded of the New Games movement of the 70s?... Now, I'm bummed out that I didn't buy that old parachute at an estate sale last month!

Whoa! You're giving me flashbacks of elementary school gym class circa 1978. There was always that one kid who managed to piss off the teacher by trying to put his head through the giant hole at the top of the parachute.
posted by jonp72 at 10:49 AM on May 18, 2009

Some practitioners have dubbed these games "aesthletics"...

Did you just spit on me?
posted by rokusan at 10:55 AM on May 18, 2009 [2 favorites]

The described sports are all fine, but they don't hold a candle to Sam and Max style Fizzball.
posted by Joey Michaels at 11:18 AM on May 18, 2009

Not to lump it in with the foofery of "aesthletics", but you should be aware that Ultimate Team Cardboard Fortress Battle is a recently-minted game which my friends have enjoyed.
posted by breath at 11:24 AM on May 18, 2009 [1 favorite]

Remainderosity vs. hasbeendividedbyosity? Lets try 10 mod -3.

Alternatively, I could revert to doing modular arithmetic under it's old name of "clock arithmetic". For 10 mod 3, the face has 3 numbers and I'm going to take 10 steps around it, starting at 0 and moving clockwise. I end up on 1. For -10 mod 3, I'm going to go counterclockwise. I end up on 2.

To me, this second interpretation is better. For one thing, rounding leftwards seems to be as counterintuitive as the original problem. For another, this clock method explains what a 10 % -3 should be. The clock face contains the space of possible answers. Doing mod 3, the answers can only be 0, 1 or 2. Doing mod -3, the answers can only be 0, -1 and -2.
posted by dirty lies at 11:26 AM on May 18, 2009

In college, I played a game called Ball Pipe. It involved a long copper pipe, two men with an intact scrotum, and walking towards each other.

It wasn't participatory art. It was being fucking drunk.
posted by munchingzombie at 11:36 AM on May 18, 2009

I play in the wiffle hurling games sponsored by the Institute of Aesthletics. We play most often in Prospect Park in Brooklyn, but locations vary. All are welcome ... MeMail me for more info / if you wanna get on the email list.
posted by beukeboom at 11:56 AM on May 18, 2009

Don't these people have vintage eyewear to shop for or something?

Here's a new game: it's called "I'm So Fucking Clever". Here's how you play: stand in a field and yell, "I'm so fucking clever!" Soon, similarly-minded others will gather around, exclaiming, "Clever! He's so clever! We're clever, TOO!" Then everyone takes out ball-peen hammers and bashes in their skulls.

/hates everything
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:57 AM on May 18, 2009 [4 favorites]

Did you know that Joel Silver is credited with inventing Ultimate Frisbee?

I remember a letter to Sports Illustrated years back extolling the virtues of some martial art or another in which the two players were "enveloped in a circle of non-violent motion, symbolizing the coming world order." Frankly, I think a good, hard linebacker hit is probably more like it.
posted by stargell at 12:52 PM on May 18, 2009

philip-random, you are the best ever. I have been trying my entire adult life to remember the name of that crazy board game I read about in MAD when I was a kid, and the first thing I see when I click your link is "Three-Cornered Pitney". It was like an epiphany.
posted by rifflesby at 1:29 PM on May 18, 2009

And now, fifteen minutes later, I have the entire issue, as .jpgs, on my computer.

God I love the internet.
posted by rifflesby at 1:47 PM on May 18, 2009

Yesterday evening I saw a first--an ironically worn NFL Giants jersey.


I'm gonna predict hipsterism's death within 6 months.
posted by Ironmouth at 5:15 PM on May 18, 2009

So, basically, they are all playing really lame versions of Calvinball.
posted by oddman at 6:20 PM on May 18, 2009

Break out the time-fracture wickets!
posted by Ndwright at 6:30 PM on May 18, 2009