PASSERS-BY in Oxford city centre were invited to take part in a three-day table tennis tournament organized by two performance artists.
The competition in Bonn Square, which ran from Friday to Sunday, was put on by Bristol duo Search Party, with Jodie Hawkes taking on all comers and Pete Phillips providing a running commentary on the action. This was the 15th city challenge the pair have held, with other ping pong events across the UK, in Finland and Tasmania.
The match was staged with the help of Modern Art Oxford, as part of a series of sport-related art projects being held by the gallery in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics.
Natasha Vicars, Modern Art Oxford’s Offsite projects manager, said: “I saw Search Party having a tournament in Barking in London and thought it would be great to have a tournament here. People seem to have really taken to it.
There have been a few tense moments - there was a stand-off between Jodie and one of the players earlier. People have been really getting into it and cheering on other players for Oxford, there’s a really good team spirit.”
Pete Phillips said: “We are exploring the notion of people’s allegiance to the place that they live in. You can have people that support a football team representing a place that they don’t live in anymore or have never lived in and you have players from across the world playing for teams in England.
“It’s interesting to do have a tournament in a city like Oxford, because you have students and people living here from all over the world but you can bring them together and for a little while and they are team for Oxford. It’s about exploring the relationship between people and where they live.
“People like that it is totally inclusive, it’s not like theatre where you have to pay to get in. This event is free, we’re just in the middle of the city and anyone can take part.
“You see different levels of engagement, some people play a game, others watch, others walk past us few times and glance over, maybe on their way back from work and then pluck up the courage to have a go and play a game.“
Michael Lucca, 32, an engineer from Cowley, who took part in a match, told the Journal: “I haven’t played for a while but I thought I’d give it a go just for fun. I think it’s really good to see people coming together, I’ve got chatting to a few people through this, it’s a really good event even though it’s really cold.”
