MIF25, Factory International, Manchester
04 July - 24 August 2025
Football meets art in this major new exhibition of brand-new works made in collaboration between legendary footballers and contemporary artists.
Football City, Art United. is an ambitious group exhibition for MIF25, presenting brand-new artworks created by 11 legendary footballers and 11 contemporary artists. Together, they explore what happens when two worlds known for flair and imagination - both on the pitch and the studio - come together.
Inspired by the boundary-pushing creativity of the trequartista - football’s visionary playmaker - each artist-footballer duo has produced a new work for this unique show. Expect sound installations, play arenas, paintings, drawings, animation, sculpture, film and genre-defying collaborations.
Conceived by World Cup and Champions League winner Juan Mata, curator and Serpentine Galleries Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist, and curator, writer and filmmaker Josh Willdigg, and co-developed with Holly Shuttleworth, the project invites its creative teams to step into one another’s fields and ask: what can art and football learn from each other?
Alongside the artworks, a series of video portraits document the creative journey of each pairing, revealing a truly global project - from São Paulo to Los Angeles to Paris.
Both playful and progressive, Football City, Art United. expands the worlds of art and football and the cultural contributions both make to our daily lives.