Guernica by Hank Willis Thomas, made up of NBA jerseys, features prominently in 'Get in the Game.'
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Arkansas’ Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is celebrating the world of sports with its newest exhibit, "Get in the Game: Art, Sports, and Culture."
Crystal Bridges, which opened in late 2011, sits in the heart of Bentonville. The nonprofit organization was founded by philanthropist Alice Walton and designed by renowned architect Moshe Safdie, as it aims to blend “the power of art with the beauty of nature.”
That lofty goal is bearing fruit, with the unique museum announcing a major expansion set to open in summer 2026. With that on the horizon, "Get in the Game" arrives at an inflection point for the museum, and Chief Curator Austen Barron Bailly believes that variety will give museumgoers a wealth of options to explore. “We’re trying to bring a huge variety of programming, of exhibition, of art, architecture in nature. We’re building an expansion increasing the museums by 50% to meet that demand now and in the future. We think shows like 'Get in the Game*'* offer that point of access,” Bailly said.
Originally held in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the exhibit wasn't simply reproduced in Arkansas. Instead, it received a bit of a Southern splash upon arrival, adding local fan favorites into the mix. The showcase is split into five sections that help craft a flowing narrative detailing how artists relate to sports, how fans relate to sports and the various offshoots that stem from athletics.
But "Get in the Game" isn’t all about those on the court, field or pitch. Everything touching the sporting world is fair game. Late designer Virgil Abloh’s final piece with Louis Vuitton titled "Look 28" takes center stage in one of the rooms. The sporty mannequin fits perfectly at home among the myriad memorabilia, traditional art and archive pieces.
Newsweek spoke with Bailly and Laura Pratt, manager of curatorial affairs, to discuss the challenges of bringing the exhibit to Arkansas, making it their own and the collaborative efforts in the museum field.
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Game On
While a minuscule percentage of people possess the skills required to become a professional athlete, most have engaged in sports at some point in their lifetime, even if only as a fan. That universality is what made the theme of sports such an easy choice for Crystal Bridges. “I personally am really thrilled about the ways in which it collapses the distance between two seemingly very separate spheres,” Bailly told Newsweek.
That collapsed distance is made apparent upon entry with NFL player-turned-artist Ernie Barnes’ piece, “Fumble on the Line,” depicting a chaotic scramble for the football, prominently on display at the show’s entrance.
“When you think about the risks and the practice and the excellence that artists go after to achieve their work or try to even make it into museum exhibition, and you think about how hard athletes train to get that win, there's really a lot more similarities between these two fields than you might think, and this show helps you see it all,” Bailly said.
“When it opened at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, it was actually their largest show to date, and took up two floors. Here at Crystal Bridges, we had to fit it to our specific galleries,” Pratt said while discussing the logistical challenges of restructuring the exhibit.
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Building on the exhibit’s origins at the San Francisco museum, the transition to Crystal Bridges offered a unique opportunity to reimagine the presentation for a new audience.
“It grants our guests the chance to experience the artworks in a more intimate way, and see those incredible details that really add to the overall impression,” Pratt said. “We also had to make some changes and some additions to really speak to our local audiences and make sure that this show was just as exciting and just as relevant to them as the San Francisco show was to their audience.”
This adaptation not only embraced the museum’s distinct architectural layout but also infused the showcase with local flavor, making it a truly personalized experience for visitors in Arkansas.
“One of the great things about this show is that there's truly something for everybody. We wanted to continue along that theme. There are 22 sports represented in the show with our inclusions of biking and fishing,” Pratt continued on the exhibit’s retooling.
"And since Bentonville is colloquially known as the mountain biking capital of the world, and we have the world famous White River in our own backyard here, we wanted to make sure that the incredible athletes who go and compete and enjoy those areas really saw their own sport and their own experiences reflected in this incredible show all about sports and play."
To make the exhibit resonate more deeply with local audiences, the curatorial team at Crystal Bridges took thoughtful steps to incorporate regional sports culture and community partnerships. This localized approach not only broadened the scope of the exhibition but also ensured that visitors could see reflections of their own experiences within the gallery walls.
“We wanted to give them the opportunity to really see their own favorite sport represented in their own museum,” Pratt said.
“We were able to tap our network through teams across our museum, from the University of Arkansas to USA Cycling to Gaston White River resort here in Arkansas, and through the generosity of partners and friends and collaborators with the museum, we were able to secure these loans and find great examples and bring those right into the galleries,” Bailly added.
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Connecting Worlds
This thoughtful reimagining of the exhibit’s layout underscores the museum’s commitment to curatorial excellence, but that's only part of the equation. Beyond the physical arrangement of the artworks lies another essential element of the exhibition’s success: the spirit of collaboration that fuels the museum world.
“Museums rely on each other to borrow and to lend works to tell the stories and advance the scholarship and present artists to wider publics,” Bailly noted, stressing the constant communication between the two to maintain the spirit while iterating on the exhibit. “They created this show. We take their content and we kind of express it and make it relevant to our audiences, but always working closely with San Francisco to make sure we're respecting their original curatorial integrity.”
For the team at Crystal Bridges, "Get in the Game" gives audiences a chance to connect to sports in various media to show that art can be accessed and expressed in myriad ways.
Into fashion and design? There’s a display of archival sneakers like the original Air Jordan 1 on display. Prefer textiles? Hank Willis Thomas’ re-creation of Pablo Picasso’s iconic "Guernica," formed entirely of cut-and-sewn NBA jerseys, takes center court.
By merging those disparate threads, the team hopes the communal nature of sports helps highlight the connectivity sports and competition can foster, all while enjoying the community-based experience of Crystal Bridges.
“I would love for fans to come together for 'Get in the Game' and find their community of fellow sports lovers. Get to enjoy some incredible examples of contemporary arts. Learn a little bit more about artists that may be familiar, may not be familiar,” Pratt said.
“More than anything, we want people to come in and have fun and enjoy their museum experience in a way that is really relevant to their everyday lives,” she continued.
For Bailly, the excitement stems from the inclusivity of the art. Each of the exhibit’s five sections offers something unique for the museum’s patrons, allowing them to see the expression of sport across a wealth of different fields.
“As an art historian, I really am excited about the range of art in the show, and I think it's really amazing for people to come in here. No matter what age you are, you're going to realize the power and the depth of sports in our culture and throughout time, and the same for art,” the curator said.
“You're going to see tradition. You're going to see tradition reimagined. You're going to see innovation. You're going to see excellence, and it's going to inspire you. And you'll be able to think about it and think about where you fit in that grand story and how you appreciate it.”
"Get in the Game: Art, Sports, and Culture" runs through January 26.
Correction 10/8/25 3:25 p.m. ET: This article was updated to correct the exhibit's end date.
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