Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.
More Than a Game: Exploring the Intersection of Art, Sport, and Society
For too long, we’ve held onto the idea that art and sport live in separate worlds. One belongs to the gallery, the other to the stadium. One is thoughtful, the other physical. But look more closely, and that boundary begins to dissolve.
This is the idea at the heart of Why We Play, a collaboration between the Aspen Institute’s Sports & Society Program and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), which explores how we express the human condition through art and sport organized around three core pillars:
Power: How sport asserts influence and challenges structures. Belonging: The community built in the bleachers and on the field. Freedom: The liberation found in movement and breaking barriers.
“When you start looking at other facets of society — urban design, fashion, and more — you realize sports don’t just reflect society, they help shape it.”
– Tom Farrey, Founder and Executive Director of the Aspen Institute’s Sports & Society Program
Insights From the Voices Behind Why We Play
The conversation series is co-moderated by Tom Farrey, executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Sports & Society Program, and Britt Salvesen, curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).
In this conversation, they introduce Why We Play and reflect on what the games we play — and the art we share them through — tell us about the society we’re living in.
Art and sport are more connected than we think
There is more common ground between athlete and artist than we often acknowledge. Both art and sport are rooted in creativity, experimentation, and expression. They’re not separate disciplines. They’re different expressions of the same human drive.
Both art and sport are driven by creativity, expression, and a search for meaning. Both athletes and artists operate in a kind of “flow state.” And both shape how we see ourselves and the world around us.
Through both art and sport, we begin to see power, who holds it, and how it shifts. We see belonging, who is included, and who is left out.
Sport and art are both mirrors and hammers
We often think of sports as a reflection of society. But they don’t just mirror what’s happening around us. They actively shape it.
From urban design to the clothes we wear, the influence of athletics is baked into our environment.
It shows up in defining moments, like Jackie Robinson stepping onto a major league field decades before the civil rights movement gained national momentum. And it shows up in everyday life, in ways we don’t always notice.
Like sport, art gives us a medium for expressing and understanding the human experience. From team mascots to iconic paintings, both create symbols that serve as shorthand for cultural moments, memories, and movements.
