How can sport be used as a lens to explore social dynamics?

Sport is a universal language. Whether you’re an avid football fan who spends Saturday afternoons at your home stadium, or you’ve shied away from physical activity since being traumatised by PE in school, almost everyone has some sort of connection to sport.

I’ve often commented on sport’s ability to bring communities together; to welcome new members into the fold when joining the local club or it fan-base. But something I’d not previously actively considered before speaking to social designer Gabriel Fontana was how much sport operates as a binary structure – one team versus another – “us” vs “them” – that fosters not only unity but also division.

Gabriel’s work uses sport as a lens to explore how social dynamics shape human interaction and challenges traditional notions of competition, inclusivity and teamwork.

So, what happens if we reject the traditional boundaries of binary competition and reinvent sport as a form of queer pedagogy by designing a new framework that alters the rules?

Last week at La Biennale di Venezia, I had the privilege of witnessing Gabriel’s work in action. Hosted on a basketball court a stone’s throw from the Giardini, on the Island of Sant’Elena, Gabriel explained the rules of Multiform – a game he designed for three teams which uses transformable jerseys (in dark blue, white and light blue) to disrupt the traditional assumption of a stable team.

Throughout the game, teams try to score by throwing the ball between players. But at regular intervals, players are asked to make a transformation to their coloured jerseys which alters the team they are playing on. Allies become competitors; the majority becomes the minority; and the players required adaptability to the constantly shifting dynamic.

Twelve players from local community groups were invited to take part. Intriguingly, during the game, teams began to develop strategies for scoring points – only to find themselves on opposing teams to their comrades only minutes later. Throughout, one player at a time was designated the referee – switching with each transformation so that those who once has all the power were now part of a team, and vice versa.

Designed to embrace fluidity and disorientation, the most fascinating thing to watch was how quickly players developed a rhythm with their new teammates after a jersey transformation. Creating new ways of working together, when only two minutes ago they were on opposing teams, players embraced the roles they were given and put everything into supporting the team that they had just been trying to beat.

In Gabriel’s work, sport becomes a metaphor to unpack, question and reinvent the social structures that shape how we relate to each other.

“These games are designed to queer the binary structure,” he says, “to create a framework that stimulates unity by unlocking endless possibilities for new configurations, interactions and collaborations between players. In this way, we have created a new social infrastructure more fitting to contemporary society.”

Team sports have remained largely unchanged since the 19th century, often reflecting outdated values. Now, more than ever, we must seek new means of forming connection and understanding, and to open up possibilities for new kinds of togetherness.