This November 2nd, I am pleased to be presenting new works at CAC
The Chicago Artists Coalition is pleased to present S-W-O-O-$-H, a HATCH Projects exhibition featuring new works by Oscar Gonzalez and Matthew Wead, curated by Courtney Cintron.
S-W-O-O-$-H looks at the rise in the global popularity of soccer and sportswear as a prism through which to understand, probe, and critique the broad social and economic impact of globalization.
As the harbinger of neoliberal economics, commercial sports has become one of the most discernible faces of global capitalism. Sponsorships and broadcasting have transformed athletes and clubs into capital generating mechanisms that resemble brands, and behemoth sports events such as the FIFA World Cup have had considerable widespread economic implications.
Using the World Cup as a backdrop and employing a variety of source materials including media excerpts, Mexican soccer balls, and prints, artist Oscar Gonzalez examines The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA; an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.) and its impact on trade during and preceding the current U.S. administration. Utilizing the manufacturing of soccer balls in Mexico as a case study, Gonzalez investigates how these materials are exported and imported from the country and elucidates how this process creates spaces of economic uncertainty.
Sportswear giants such as Nike and Adidas have also become highly visible transmitters of corporate liberalism, amassing a fortune on cotton-based fabrics in fashion and urban streetwear marketed primarily to people of color. Through a series of subversive fashion installations and prints, artist Matthew Wead probes the ongoing relationship between cotton and Black Americans and its effect on the global economy. Drawing further on this concept, Wead considers the recent move of sportswear companies such as Nike towards ‘capitalism with a conscience’ and questions whether the re-branding of these companies exploits consumers purchasing brands that outwardly convey their political beliefs.
Exposing several polemical concerns, Gonzalez and Wead move beyond a critique of the commercialization of mass sporting events and sportswear companies and aim, instead, to delineate the role that sports play in fueling the global capitalist order.
