By Justin Tyler Tate

I don’t actually know where to begin talking about the Softwood Basketball Court. It’s relational aesthetics but not just that - you can’t hide behind relational aesthetics. We can talk about it in relation to minimalism, conceptualism and land art of the 1960/1970/1980’s; something related to Richard Serra, Robert Smithson, Jeff Koons or Carl Andre or all of the above.

Then of course you could just talk about the experience you have while playing on the court; the feel of it all and how the typical experience of playing a game is changed and how you are changed while playing; people seem to become more aggressive, like wild animals while playing on the court (is it just the people or is it the court?).

We could talk about this hybridity of nature and urbanism, but that’s kind of boring for me. Maybe it is interesting that the court and game are defined by the environment; the height of the hoops changing with the growth of the trees and the surface of the court being modified by ferns and grasses.

What is the Softwood Basketball Court? Minimalism/installation/ conceptual/performance/participatory-art, relational aesthetics, monumental sculpture, or something else, or all of the above?

Also we could talk about how the structure of the installation acts as a bridge between two points in nature while also bridging countries and enthusiasts; Basketball was born in Canada but is the national sport of Lithuania, basketball’s relationship to these countries is similar to my own geopolitical movement, and there is also the bridge created between art and team sport(two subjects who’s participants aren’t known to mingle).

So, where do we start?

Shoot to see who goes first?

Come play!

Disclaimer: You Will Get Hurt

Amenities offered by the softwood basketball court