Art in the Cowboys Stadium

Along with curators and advisers, Gene Jones (wife of Dallas Cowboys football team owner Jerry Jones) worked to get permanent art in the new $1.15 billion dollar Cowboys Stadium. The new stadium art includes works by Lawrence Weiner, Olafur Eliasson and Dave Muller.

The Moment (a New York Times blog) interviewed Muller about his art for the stadium. This is Muller’s second time making a commissioned public work of art and it is very different than anything he had done before. Muller had to come up with a work that would last through countless viewings—he was told that this “would be seen by more people in one week than all the other work [he has] ever shown combined.”

He was given plans for the space over the concession stand—other than that, he was free to do what he wanted. After receiving the plans, he returned with a wall drawing that was meant to be a “whimsical diagram of a portion of the solar system.” Muller decided on this for the project because of his interests in astronomy and cosmology. In addition, he mentioned that the stadium itself resembles a spaceship.

Muller stated that he “actually liked the challenge of coming up with a project that would appeal to whoever was stuck in line waiting for a BBQ beef sandwich, nachos and a beer.”

As a college student, I’ve been to my share of football games at the University of Georgia’s Sanford Stadium. After reading about the art in the Cowboys Stadium, I think that Sanford could use something similar. Don’t get me wrong, I love our stadium, but it would actually be nice to see some art. It's something I had never thought of before reading this article. Having permanent art on stadium walls is definitely unusual, but I think it’s a great idea.