Former Manchester United star Juan Mata will curate a world premiere art exhibition celebrating the beautiful game as part of this year's Manchester International Festival.
The Spanish professional footballer, who played for Manchester United between 2014 and 2022 before joining Turkish team Galatasaray last September, will co-curate the exhibition with Berlin-based artist Hans Ulrich Obrist. The announcement comes as part of Manchester International Festival's 2023 programme, which was revealed earlier today.
The festival, which will be back in the city between June 29 and July 16, also announced stars such as Janelle Monáe, Maxine Peake and Lemn Sissay to head up the biennial arts festival. People will also be able to step inside Manchester's £210m arts centre, Factory International, as it hosts some of the festival's events ahead of its official opening in October.
A major visual art highlight of the festival, 'The Trequartista – Art and Football United', will bring together 11 contemporary artists and 11 footballers to produce new works inspired by the Trequartista, a legendary position and style in football that is rapidly disappearing.
Commenting on the two-year long art project, Juan Mata said: "It is fantastic to be returning to Manchester, the city I called home for more than eight years, and to be part of Manchester International Festival for the first time. I am thrilled to be co-curating ‘The Trequartista – Art and Football United’ with Hans Ulrich Obrist over the next two years, bringing together two of my passions: the worlds of football and art."
The exhibition has been developed by writer Josh Willdigg, and 11 teams of footballers and artists will work together over two years, culminating in a group show at the 2025 edition of Manchester International Festival. The project kicks off at this year's festival with a world premiere of This entry – a new work by artist Tino Sehgal, made with the involvement of Juan Mata and presented at the National Football Museum and the Whitworth.
Known for artworks composed using exclusively the human body, voice and social interaction, Tino has exhibited his work at the world’s biggest art galleries –from New York’s Guggenheim to London’s Tate Modern. His entry to Juan Mata and Hans Ulrich Obrist's collaborative art project is described as a 'playful choreographic exchange between a footballer, violinist, cyclist and singing dancer'.
Named after a football playmaker who operates behind the front line but in front of the midfield, 'Trequartista', literally translated from Italian, means 'three quarters'. The new art project is inspired by the legendary position and style in football, which Bleacher Report says requires 'superb ball skills' and a 'good range of passing and confidence in possession'.
Classic examples of players who fit this style of play include Diego Maradona, Juan Roman Riquelme and Zinedine Zidane, while more recent examples include Antonio Cassano and Kaka.
Juan Mata had already bagged the Champions League, FA Cup and Europa League when Manchester United signed in January 2014. During his time at the Reds, the popular Spaniard lifted the FA Cup trophy again at the end of the 2015/16 season, before he quadrupled his haul with United when he added the Community Shield, League Cup and Europa League in 2016/17.
As well as Juan Mata's curated art exhibition, the world-famous biennial arts festival will host a wide-ranging programme of original new work by artists from around the world, including a city-wide treasure hunt for collectable coins, a celebration of our connection to water on the banks of the River Medlock, and adaptation of a lost dystopian masterpiece by Maxine Peake at the John Rylands Library.
A major exhibition of Japanese artist, Yayoi Kusama’s inflatable sculptures will also form the centrepiece of the festival, with her exhibition 'You, Me and the Balloons' taking over the vast warehouse space.
'This Entry' by Tino Sehgal as part of 'The Trequartista – Art and Football United', will be shown at the National Football Museum from June 29 to July 5, before moving on to The Whitworth from June 7-11. Tickets for MIF23 are on sale to Factory International members from March 28, while general sale tickets will be available from March 30.
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