Let’s Play! Sports and Games in Art and Culture will be on display December 6, 2022 through March 3, 2023.
With this exhibition, it’s not a matter of winning or losing, but how student curators interpret and perhaps also play the games on display. Under the direction of Prof. Yan Sun, Gettysburg College students examine diverse depictions of sports and games across cultures and historical periods. Included in this exhibition are photographs of sporting games and major athletes, such as Michael Jordan and Muhammed Ali, illustrated playing cards of One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets from the Meiji Period in Japan, and a print by William Hogarth of a gaming house, among other historical objects. The student curators make cross-cultural connections to consider the political, social, and aesthetic significance, as well as the virtues and vices, of these contests and competitions. From representations of drinking games and gambling to celebrations of athletic abilities, the exhibition offers a new way of considering the intersections of art, physicality, and leisure.
Student curators will give presentations about the works on display on Tuesday, December 6 at
4 pm. The reception for the exhibition will follow the talks until 6 pm. Light refreshments provided.
All events are free and open to the public.
Curated by Macey Cohen ’23, Hagen Krebs ’23, PaulPelham ’23, Kate Sallee ’25, and Devyn Wesolowski ’25 under the direction of Professor Yan Sun