PAIDEÍA | The Stadium as a Theater of Power
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The modern stadium grew alongside mass politics. Twentieth-century regimes early on discovered that a tournament allows a country to be showcased without uttering a word about it, because the anthem, the flag, and the uniform say it all. George Orwell described serious sport as “war without bullets,” and since then, the field has belonged to the language of power.
On Sunday, July 19, the World Cup final will be played. Two nations will face off for ninety minutes before an audience that no spokesperson can reach, and what is at stake exceeds the outcome. There, symbolic power is both consecrated and contested.
This week, four works interpret the field as a stage where a nation projects itself to the rest.
