Brooklyn Art Exhibit Is A Handball Court You Can Actually Play On

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN, BROOKLYN — A new art exhibit coming to Cadman Plaza Park this spring won't just be for looking at. The north side of the park will soon be home to a public art installation in the form of a handball court that visitors can actually play on during the 10-month exhibit.

The new handball court will be made by Brooklyn-based Belgian artist Harold Ancart, who was inspired by New York City's "ubiquitous handball courts," according to the Public Art Fund, which will commission the piece. It will be featured in the north end of the park from May 1 until March 1, 2020.

"Ancart’s immersive painted sculpture brings a new context to this quintessential New York City game, merging contemporary art and recreational sport to create an engaging and inclusive experience," the art fund said in a release.

Ancart has been inspired by handball courts since he first moved to New York City in 2007. He noticed the “democratic walls, waiting for murals” while wandering his Brooklyn neighborhood.

There are more than 2,000 handball courts throughout the city.

The piece will be titled "Subliminal Standard" refers to the standard set of colors that are used to paint the courts' area of play, which Ancart will reference with his mural paintings on the court's walls. He will also attempt to imitate the "inadvertent abstract compositions" that are created when courts in the city are repaired or repainted to mask graffiti and wear and tear.

The court will be Ancart's first public art commission in the United States.

His works typically blur the lines between sculpture, painting and drawing, the art fund said, and is known for "his signature style of gestural jagged marks and graphic swaths of color."

To prepare for the final concrete court, Ancart created several smaller, painted plywood handball courts. The final 16-foot-tall structure will come to the park in April, when Ancart will begin painting on it so that the public can experience the piece being created.

“Harold Ancart paints in a highly physical and meditative manner, almost like an athlete engrossed in his sport,” said Public Art Fund Associate Curator Daniel S. Palmer. “His work always has a forceful directness that captivates the viewer within his compelling compositions. By bringing his practice to a public space, we can now physically experience Ancart’s immersive painted environment with the same vigor, as participants actively engaging through play.”

Rendering provided by The Public Art Fund.