The Wicker Sport – Basketball

On the edge of the ‘Oławka’ sports complex there is a basketball net hanging above grass – in this case, a highly improper surface. This marginality and inadequacy was noticed by Ivo Nikić, who placed a wicker equivalent of a proper basket. Wicker was also used to make the lines on the grass field. Metal and tarmac, attributes of basketball as a typically urban sport, were substituted with wicker and grass, that is elements belonging rather to the rural imaginarium. Emphasising the ambiguity and arbitrary character of the boundary between nature and culture by creating a humorous installation highlights the contrast between amateurs’ ludic plays and the calculated precision of professionals’ games.

> Xawery Stańczyk

photo: Peter Kreibich