Exhibitions

Ten nationally and internationally acclaimed artists—photographers Alec Soth, Hank Willis Thomas, Hiroshi Watanabe, Alex Harris, Frank Hunter, Kate Joyce, Elizabeth Matheson, Leah Sobsey, and Jeff Whetstone, and video artist Ivan Weiss—converged on the stadium for all 72 home games.

The exhibition presents a subtle yet powerful group study of the obsessive routines and crafts of baseball, mirrored by routines in the stands, in concessions, and behind the scenes, a story unfolding daily yet rarely documented, the repeating drama slightly different each time. Project director Sam Stephenson describes Bull City Summer as “a portrait of the art and craft and grit of baseball and the community that revolves around it.”

Bull City Summer is produced by Sam Stephenson (of Jazz Loft Project acclaim) and his Rock Fish Stew Institute of Literature and Materials, based in Durham; and Taj Forer and Michael Itkoff of Daylight Books, based in Hillsborough. Daylight is publishing the related book Bull City Summer. The central writer for the project is Adam Sobsey. More details are available on the project website.

Lead sponsors of Bull City Summer are Triangle Orthopaedic Associates, Capitol Broadcasting Company, and the Durham Bulls Baseball Club. Additional sponsorship provided by Baker Roofing.

The exhibition is organized by the North Carolina Museum of Art in collaboration with Bull City Summer. This exhibition is made possible, in part, by the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources; the North Carolina Museum of Art Foundation, Inc.; and the William R. Kenan Jr. Endowment for Educational Exhibitions.