{"id":281595,"date":"2026-06-29T21:13:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T21:13:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/281595\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T21:13:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T21:13:57","slug":"six-artists-envision-ping-pong-tables-for-exhibition-at-rockaway-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/281595\/","title":{"rendered":"Six artists envision ping-pong tables for exhibition at Rockaway Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Victorian England, table tennis<\/a>, or ping-pong, was a recreational activity enjoyed after dinner. Since its days in the royal court the racquet sport<\/a>\u2019s ubiquitous table has become a fixture in finished basements, central to Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet\u2019s recent flick Marty Supreme, and more recently the subject of an art installation staged on Queen<\/a>\u2019s Rockaway Beach<\/a> this summer.<\/p>\n

Between Tides, a Public Art Fund\u2013backed installation<\/a>, located at Beach 67 in Rockaway Beach, Queens, commissioned six artists<\/a> to envision their own ping-pong tables. Some of the play objects keep the well-known form of the table intact\u2014legs and a rectangular flat top\u2014while others turn the game\u2019s structural elements into bespoke sculptural objects.<\/p>\n

Each of the six designers\u2014Moko Fukuyama, Ilana Harris-Babou, Las Hermanas Iglesias, Carlos H. Matos, Amalia Pica, and SUPERFLEX\u2014came up with their own thematic rendition for their table design. Each playing surface is unique in its execution, and no two tables have the same surface, legs, or net.<\/p>\n

\"ping-pongAmalia Pica enlarged and replicated the colorful patterns of maritime signals across the halves of the playing surface table. (Timothy Schenck\/Courtesy Public Art Fund)<\/p>\n

Amalia Pica enlarged and replicated the colorful patterns of maritime signals across the halves of the table. Rather than just one table for play, the Argentinian artist combined several play tables together in a boxy arrangement, allowing multiple games to take place simultaneously.<\/p>\n

\"ping-pongTentacles wrap around a salvaged boat and pierce through the ping-pong table.(Timothy Schenck\/Courtesy Public Art Fund)<\/p>\n

Moko Fukuyama also deployed a sea theme; her work Old School locates a boat, salvaged from nearby Marina 59, next to the play object. Wrapped around and inside the boat and table are tentacles from a sea creature that appears to be emerging up from the sand.<\/p>\n

A table built out of pink Cantera stone takes cues from Brutalist architecture and housing blocks in the Rockaways. Its pinkish hue is known to promote coral growth and holes cut into the playing surface and its legs form habitats where, if submerged in the ocean, microorganisms would set up life. For SUPERFLEX, the Copenhagen-based collective behind the design, the work is a continuation of its research into \u201cinterspecies living.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ping-pongObjects synonymous with the beach were replicated in ceramic and scattered on the tabletop, creating obstacle for paddle play. (Timothy Schenck\/Courtesy Public Art Fund)<\/p>\n

The design by Ilana Harris-Babou also found influence in the beach. Arranged atop the playing table as obstacles for the game are several typical beach objects rendered into a ceramic form: a pair of sunglasses, a beach read, and a flip-flop. The tabletop was made from terrazzo, while its \u201cnet\u201d was creatively crafted out of the same powder-coated steel used on the legs.<\/p>\n

\"ping-pongCymbals and xylophones were inserted into this playing surface. (Timothy Schenck\/Courtesy Public Art Fund)<\/p>\n

Las Hermanas Iglesias incorporated sound into his design. Instead of the plastic clink of the ball hitting the racquet and table, the playing surface, finished in stainless steel, also incorporates cymbals and xylophone instruments to bring orchestral sounds to the ocean. For the artist, the musical instruments also nod to ancient Indian temples and jazz, which Queens lays claim to be the home of.<\/p>\n

\"ping-pongCarlos H. Matos\u2019s Tlachco, combines ping-pong with Ulama, a Mesoamerican ballgame. (Timothy Schenck\/Courtesy Public Art Fund)<\/p>\n

Another design with ancient roots is Carlos H. Matos\u2019s Tlachco. Here, ping-pong is combined with Ulama, a Mesoamerican ballgame. Matos scaled down Ulama\u2014an early sport played on a field that measures approximately 225-feet long and 13-feet wide. In the Mesoamerican game players use their body to hit the ball through hoops and, with Tlachco, Matos mimicked this sort of play by constructing angular walls and small hoops attached to pointed poles.<\/p>\n

The six ping-pong tables are on view, and available for play, through September 13. On August 22, they will host a ping-pong tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Victorian England, table tennis, or ping-pong, was a recreational activity enjoyed after dinner. Since its days in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[1149,10341,9,24,63,122,124,123,23565,319,15547],"class_list":["post-281595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-art","tag-exhibitions","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-rockaways","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}