Sport and Art Under One Roof: Which Exhibitions Can You Visit Right Now?

Racing Salon

The exhibition at Galerie Cejla in Brno connects the worlds of horse racing, economic competition, and contemporary art. The salon is part of a broader series called Bets and Races, inspired by the board game of the same name and its logic of investing, speculation, and unexpected wins and losses. The collective launched this cycle with the HorseChain exhibition in March 2025 at Galerie PAF in Olomouc.
This exhibition features a diverse group of artists from both the Czech Republic and abroad. The horse motif serves not only as a visual element but also as a conceptual symbol of movement, performance pressure, and game pieces. Horses represent accelerated work rhythms, the real estate market, and the competitive environment of the cultural scene.
Formally, the exhibition follows the tradition of historical art salons, which were places for both presentation and sale of art. Each exhibited work—each “horse”—is therefore for sale. However, the exhibition is not merely a critique of the market but aims to open a dialogue about the value of art and the sustainability of creative work within independent galleries.
Artists exhibiting:
Radek Belanec, Anna-Marie Berdychová & Samuel Stano, Štěpán Brož, Polina Davydenko, Clara Goldenstein, Martin Gračka, Ondřej Homola, Wiktoria Kieniksman, Masha Kovtun, Beata Kurucz, Denisa Langrová, Lištica, Barbora Lungová, Filip Nádvorník, Teodora Nešković, Ola Nenko, Marko Obradović, Natálie Roučková Opatrná, Jitka Petrášová, Terezie Rausová, Olivia Rosa, Johana Střížková, Alexandra Surovková, Šimon Sýkora, Lívie Škutová, Denisa Štefaniga, Ognjen Tadić, Jakub Tajovský, Sofie Tobiášová, Adam Žufníček.

Where? Galerie Cejla, Brno
Until: June 11

WORKOUT

The WORKOUT exhibition at The Bottle Factory explores how our society perceives the body, movement, and fitness. The artists show that exercise often goes beyond just trying to be healthy — it becomes a symbol of the pressures imposed on us by the media, culture, and ourselves. We all know the feeling of comparing ourselves to the ideals of slimness and perfection that are constantly presented to us. The exhibition examines why we are so obsessed with measuring performance, counting calories burned, and how our bodies look.
It draws on ideas from well-known philosophers and critics who argue that our bodies are under constant surveillance and that society often views us as objects that must meet certain standards. The artists at WORKOUT reveal how this surveillance and pressure affect our freedom, and how exercise is often not just about the joy of movement but also about the necessity to “comply.” The exhibition invites reflection on why we set such demanding goals for ourselves and what it really brings us.
Artists exhibiting:
Vincent Arnold, Michael Chance, Ladina Clement, Marc-Aurèle Debut, Rosie Gibbens, Alex Gilmour, Guy Haddon Grant, Abi Hampsey, Lucile Haefflinger, El(ena) Hoskyns-Abrahall, Christian Jankowski, Mark Jackson, Kieran Leach, Gabriela Pelczarska, Michael Petry, Rosie McGinn, Moussa David Saleh, Helena Samarasinghe, Ke Zhang
Where? The Bottle Factory, London
Until: May 24

Fashion on the Move #3

The final chapter of this exhibition tells the story of winter sports and the fashion that gradually became synonymous with them. Over 180 selected pieces reveal how clothing has adapted over centuries to movement, performance, and new lifestyles — from the earliest sporting adaptations of women’s wardrobes in the late 19th century to today’s sportswear elegance, which long ago evolved beyond mere functionality to become an expression of personal style.
The exhibition takes you into the worlds of skiing, skating, hockey, and sledding, showcasing not only iconic items like down jackets, ski suits, and elegant gloves but also fascinating collaborations between fashion houses (Hermès, Jean Patou) and leading sports equipment manufacturers (Rossignol, Fusalp). You’ll also see how notions of beauty and bodily freedom changed with new sports and how fashion responded to the demands of an active life in cold mountain environments.
Where? Palais Galliera, Paris
Until: October 1

Where Are All the Flowers: Textile Prints – Clothing and Scarves 1920–1990

The exhibition Where Are All the Flowers opens a fascinating world of printed textiles from the 20th century, spanning from the 1920s to the 1990s. It reveals how clothing and scarves are not just fashion accessories but carriers of stories — stories about art, technique, history, and everyday life. Visitors explore the evolution of patterns, from simple dots and stripes to floral designs that seem to tell their own tales, and onward to abstract and geometric shapes. Each piece of fabric uncovers not only changing fashion trends but also the cultural significance of its time.
A large part of the exhibition is dedicated to sports and major events such as Sokol gatherings and the Olympic Games, which influenced textile design. Printed scarves and garments here are more than decorations — they are witnesses of history, ranging from promotional flags and military camouflage to historical symbols that sometimes carried heavy messages. This exhibition shows how textiles can be powerful conveyors of cultural and personal narratives that go beyond mere beauty and fashion.
Where? Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague
Until: September 14

David Hockney 25

Swimming pools, spring landscapes, self-portraits, and digital drawings on an iPad—David Hockney returns with the most comprehensive exhibition of his career. David Hockney 25 showcases more than 400 works, spanning seven decades of his artistic journey.
Among the highlights are his iconic California pool paintings from the 1960s and '70s, which catapulted him to global fame. One of the centerpieces is A Bigger Splash, capturing the precise moment after a dive, when the swimmer has just disappeared beneath the water’s surface. Another standout, Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), became the most expensive artwork ever sold by a living artist when it went to auction in 2018.
Alongside these classics, the show focuses on the past 25 years of Hockney’s work, when he turned to the landscapes of Yorkshire and Normandy, embraced the iPad as a creative tool, and explored connections between art, music, opera, and art history.
Where: Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris
On view until: August 31, 2025

SURF!

A hundred years of swimming? How about a hundred years of wave riding? The exhibition SURF! 100 Years of Waveriding in Cornwall traces the evolution of surfing in England’s southernmost tip—a peninsula surrounded by the Atlantic, where the first wooden boards hit the waves back in the 1920s.
Today, surfing in Cornwall is more than just a sport—it’s a way of life, deeply woven into local culture and community. Curated by Sam Bleakley, a former professional surfer, the exhibition also revisits a time when surfing was banned on some beaches, with surfers seen as too free-spirited, even “undesirable tourists,” out of sync with the image of a tidy seaside resort.
The show explores how Cornish surf culture has shaped music, film, fashion, and art, and it features previously unseen works by leading contemporary artists, including Damien Hirst and Abigail Fallis. It also showcases 100 surfboards—each telling a unique story, from pioneering surfers to today’s champions, from often-overlooked women in the sport to environmental activists. Surfing emerges here not just as a movement, but as a mindset—a way of living in the world, even if it means going against the current.
Where: The National Maritime Museum, Cornwall
On view until: January 2027

Splash!

The Design Museum in London dives into a century of swimming and style with Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style—a vibrant exhibition tracing how our relationship with water, and what we wear in it, has evolved over the last hundred years.
Told through the lens of design, the show spans sport, fashion, and architecture, and is divided into three thematic zones: the swimming pool, the lido, and wild swimming. With over 200 objects on display, the exhibition takes visitors on a journey from the earliest bikinis to daring 1980s men’s Speedos and the ultra-sleek LZR Racer suit, banned from competitions in 2008 for giving swimmers an “unfair advantage” thanks to its drag-reducing technology.
Highlights include the iconic red swimsuit worn by Pamela Anderson in Baywatch and a glimpse into how swimwear has shaped—and been shaped by—society’s shifting values and aesthetics. The exhibition is curated by fashion historian Amber Butchart.
Where: The Design Museum, London
On view until: 17 August 2025