SIDELINED Asks What Happens When Sport Stops Producing Winners and Losers

What happens to the world of sports when competition, scoreboards, and the binary of winning and losing are stripped away? This is the core inquiry behind SIDELINED, an exhibition that urges audiences to rethink jerseys, playing fields, and rules as designed objects. By treating them like any piece of architecture or design, the project asks a fundamental question: who were these structures originally built for, whom do they include, and how might they function differently?

The project first sparked conversations as a proposal inside the Dutch Pavilion at the Venice Biennale before evolving into a fixture of everyday cultural life at the Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Unlike its time in Venice, the installation in Rotterdam invites visitors over the coming months to continuously return, play in workshops, and gradually reshape the physical landscape of the exhibition space itself.

Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event

At the center of the exhibition are physical installations that break traditional athletic conventions. A Fluid Foosball Table completely abandons fixed sides, while Multiform combines transformable uniforms with a three-sided playing field, forcing players to navigate shifting alliances through careful observation rather than relying on visual team cues. Meanwhile, a reimagined sports bar serves as a community hub, highlighting local Rotterdam initiatives like Queer Gym Rotterdam and Sportcafé Costa del Sol.