Miami’s cultural institutions are foregrounding the long-standing relationship between art and athletics through two concurrent exhibitions, aligning with a surge of global sporting events hosted across the city. As major competitions draw international attention, museums and galleries are responding with programming that examines how sport shapes visual culture and collective identity.
Museums explore sport as cultural language
They might not be the first perfect pairing that comes to mind, but art and athletics go way back (let’s not forget that at one point art making was an Olympic sport). With the ongoing Open, F1 Grand Prix and FIFA World Cup heating up in Miami, the city’s art institutions are chiming in with two concurrent shows exploring the link between sports and creativity.
At Pérez Art Museum Miami, Get in the Game brings together more than 100 works and archival materials that trace the visual and social impact of sport. Featuring artists such as Virgil Abloh, Derek Fordjour, Julie Mehretu, Paul Pfeiffer, and Hank Willis Thomas, the exhibition examines how athletic imagery permeates everyday life. Consequently, it connects high-performance spectacles, such as NASCAR racing, with grassroots experiences like neighborhood games, framing sport as both spectacle and social practice.
Wrestling and painting converge in design district
Meanwhile, in the Miami Design District, on Sunset Flip offers a more focused exploration of athletic identity through painting. The exhibition pairs Thekla Kaischauri and Lee Moriarity, both active competitors in professional wrestling circuits. Curated by Adam Abdalla with Nina Johnson, the show bridges performance and visual art by translating in-ring experiences into figurative compositions.
As a result, the works explore themes of triumph, defeat, discipline, and introspection. In addition, the dual presentation highlights the parallels between athletic training and artistic practice, particularly in terms of repetition, endurance, and expression. Therefore, the exhibition situates wrestling not only as entertainment but also as a performative art form.
A citywide dialogue between sport and creativity
Together, these exhibitions reflect a broader curatorial interest in the intersections of physicality, identity, and representation. Moreover, they demonstrate how institutions can respond to global events with programming that extends beyond spectacle into critical inquiry.
Both exhibitions are currently on view across Miami, offering audiences multiple entry points into the evolving dialogue between art and sport. Ultimately, the city’s cultural response underscores how creative practices continue to reinterpret athletic experience as a powerful visual and social language.