About
Football Practice is a software simulation and workshop series that delves into histories and cultural impacts of American Football. The work reflects on the various modes of storytelling within the sport and how these stories have come to shape current understanding of community, citizenship, and nationalism. Inspired by popular sports video games such as Madden as well as the practice game mods where users change, alter, or manipulate how a game looks or behaves, Football Practice uses simulation to challenge and reimagine how a game like football is practiced in society. Ultimately, the emergent narratives that form within the simulation and the narrative arcs of sports indexed through workshop conversations open new access points to parsing the structural histories of America’s most lucrative sports enterprise. The work is a new media tool to imagine alternative strategies of competitive play and consensual violence.
The Team
- Kristin McWharter: Lead Artist/ Coach
- Alm Chung: AI Consultant/ Team Trainer
- Anna Strain: Illustrator
- Jackie Turpin: Sound Design
- Carlos Mercado: Web App Development
- Iris Luo: Studio Assistant + Web Design
- Sara Drake: 3D Modeller
- Natalee Decker: 3D Modeller
- Adrian Pijoan: 3D Modeller
Recuiters:
Past workshop participants who co-drafted the 2021 team players:
Adrienne Dawes, Aleen Hernandez, Alex Exum, Alex Leff, Aniket Das, Anna Strain, Bernard Roddy, Camillo Riva, Chaz Evans, Delaney O'Brien, Davy Walker, Douglas Moreno, Eleanor Schichtel, Grace Lalanne, Hannah Shikle, Holly Newlands, Jackie Turpin, Jessica Jokhi, Joan Howard, Jocelyn Leon, Jonathan CK Williams, Julia Tsai, Kate Hollenbach, Maxwell Neely-Cohen, Michael Durkin, Miller Klitsner, Missi Davis, Nikki Rosengren, Nimrod Astarhan, Nina Sarnelle, Paul Fayet-Faber, Rebecca Longworth, Quamesia Carter, Randall O'Connor, Samantha Fickle, Sara Drake, Sarah Brophy, Sila Ulug, Tyler Brownlow-Calkin, Tyler Yin, Yolanda Cesta Cursach Montilla, Yoo Bin Lee
Sponsors:
Amazing organizations who contributed space, financial, and material support to this project.
Chicago Artist Coalition, Carl and Marilynn Thoma Foundation, High Concept Labs, School of the Art Institut of Chicago, Art and Technology Studies Department, Odyssey Works Experience Design Incubator, Crosstown Arts, Culture Hub, and VGA Gallery