Squeezing Football into an Exhibition

Photographs, documentaries, cups, whistles, newspaper cuttings and other stuff about football that narrate that "the ball was not just a ball, and football was not just football," before they became hot topics with the World Cup, will be exhibited at the Yapi Kredi Culture and Arts Center on May 24, as part of the "The Ball is a World" activities.

The activities will begin with the march of the Municipality Band from Taksim to the Tunnel. After the march, panels displaying the photographs and life stories of 92 "football stars," 46 of them being foreign players, will be placed on the electric poles on the Istiklal Avenue.

Records, important events, and the significant players in the history of the World Cup, will be displayed on the inner and outer surface of a gigantic ball placed at the Galatasaray Square.

Abidin Dino, footbal and "Goal"

The Yapi Kredi Culture and Arts Center team worked for six months to put together the "The Ball is a World" activities.

Newspaper pages which reflect Turkish media's view on football, cups from Turkey and the world, uniforms, tribune banners and photographs will be among the pieces displayed during the activities, and will be exhibited indoors.

"Goal," a documentary filmed by Abidin Dino for the 1966 World Cup and 84 football prints he prepared for the shootings will be exhibited at the Kazim Taskent Arts Gallery. Every Tuesday, under the title of "Football Days," discussions will be held on "football in Turkey and the world," and 11 short films with the topic "Rocking the Goal Post Pillars," will be shown.

At the press conference held on May 21, for the promotion of the activities, writer Enis Batur, the general manager of the Culture Center, stated that they were holding this exhibition for "those who are not very interested in football, and those who are used to looking at football through one viewpoint."

Calling the supporters to be sober-minded

According to Batur, to be able to make clear that football is not something that hypnotizes the masses, we need to explore the world outside the stadium, and do more than just discussing football on the television.

Batur argued that the "supporting the national team" message we keep hearing on the World Cup advertisements lead to an immoderate attitude towards the opposite team. Batur expressed that the "The Ball is a World" activities in a way aim to call the supporters to be sober-minded.

A giant-screen television will be placed at the Yapi Kredi Culture and Arts Center, all through the activities organized with the aim of communicating football, the "mass entertainment" in different ways. The World Cup games starting on May 31, will be broadcasted live from this television.

* On the last day of the activities, which will go on till July 13, a book composed of the works of writers and poets from Ahmet Hasim to Nazim Hikmet, who have contributed to the "sports literature," will be put out for sale. (ÖG/BB/EA/NM)