To celebrate The Design Museum’s current exhibition, Football: Designing the Beautiful Game, The Design Museum and cultural content platform The Wick have teamed up to present:
An Audience with Gary Lineker
Tim Marlow OBE in conversation with Gary Lineker OBE about his illustrious football career to celebrate. Football: Designing the Beautiful Game is the first major exhibition that explores the story behind football, unpicking how design has been used to push the game to new limits. Take a journey through over 500 objects, films and interviews in sporting performance, kit development, and stadium design and immerse yourself in the stories behind the most popular game in history. The Wick is a global content platform on a mission to connect the culturally curious and light up our world with arts and culture.
An Audience with Gary Lineker OBE at the Design Museum 7pm – 10pm
Tickets can be purchased HERE For a 25% discount use discount code LINEKERDM22
For further information see: thewickculture.com
We manged to grab a few words with Tim Marlow to chat about the exhibition and Football in general ahead of the talk.
Tim how did Football Designing the Beautiful Game come about?
It was an idea curator Elly Watson had for a touring exhibition and as soon as I saw it on a list of possible projects I realised no-one had ever done a major exhibition about Football seen through the lens of design, so we developed it as a large-scale show. I’ve seen plenty of Art and Football exhibitions – most don’t really hit the back of the net it has to be said. But the more you think about it, the more critical design has been in the evolution of the game over the past 150 years, starting with the technological design of balls and boots and kit through to stadia, tournaments and the mediation of the game. Even team formations are designed – from pyramids to inverted pyramids on to the gegenpress. Anyway, I’m really excited by the resulting exhibition and I really think it offers a new way of looking at the great global game – but that’s really up to visitors to decide. Interestingly, people within the professional game have been complimentary about what Elly and the curatorial team have done and there’s considerable interest in touring the exhibition.
Is Pele more creative than Picasso?
Not more but equally creative in different ways. And Picasso never had the shit kicked out of him in the way that the young Pele did – although the Montmartre years were certainly a struggle.
What do you think is the best designed stadium in the world and why?
Although everyone is raving about the new Spurs stadium – and it’s very impressive – I lament the fact that so few stadiums are landmark statements. I think Herzog and De Meuron’s stadiums in Basel and Munich are wonderful in very different ways and I’m convinced their designs for that brick temple for Chelsea would perhaps have been the best in the world, certainly the best in this country. But my favourite is the Estadio Municipal de Braga designed by Eduardo Souto de Moura. It was built in 2003, a beautiful concrete, cantilevered, late Modernist construction which seems almost literally to be carved out the rockface on the site of a former quarry. It’s spectacular and a landmark in itself as well as a stunning location in which to stage games.
Liverpool or Real Madrid?
Tough – as a Chelsea fan I’m conflicted. I admire Ancelotti and Benzema is having a miraculous season and he was the difference between us winning and losing the quarter final. I admire Klopp too but I’m still reeling from two cup final defeats on penalties against Liverpool. We’ve played them four times this season and drawn every game until penalties. I guess I should be gracious and say Liverpool – their seventh European Cup rather than Real Madrid’s fourteenth. Liverpool were never backed by a dictator either, so I like the historical redress.
Which section in the exhibition is most unexpected?
There are moments of surprise and revelation throughout and getting the chance to watch the entire 93 minutes of Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno’s ‘Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait’ is a joy I’m still clearing the diary to enjoy. But I think the realisation that design’s role in the evolution of the game is so central and extensive and which is established in the opening section still surprises me. There are two balls from the inaugural World Cup Final of 1930. Each of the competing teams, Argentina and hosts Uruguay, argued over whose ball should be used. The first half was played with a twelve leather panelled ball designed in Argentina. At half time Argentina led 2-1. The second half was played with an eleven panelled ball from Uruguay. The final score was 4-2 to Uruguay. All those arguments we used to have in the playground about whose ball to use …
To celebrate The Design Museum’s current exhibition, Football: Designing the Beautiful Game, The Design Museum and cultural content platform The Wick have teamed up to present: An Audience with Gary Lineker – Tim Marlow OBE in conversation with Gary Lineker OBE about his illustrious football career to celebrate. Football: Designing the Beautiful Game is the first major exhibition that explores the story behind football, unpicking how design has been used to push the game to new limits. Take a journey through over 500 objects, films and interviews in sporting performance, kit development, and stadium design and immerse yourself in the stories behind the most popular game in history. The Wick is a global content platform on a mission to connect the culturally curious and light up our world with arts and culture.
Purchase tickets for the talk Tuesday 24th May 7-10pm at designmuseum.org
For a 25% discount use discount code LINEKERDM22
In collaboration with The Wick thewickculture.com, The Design Museum, 224-238 Kensington High St, London W8 6AG
