Mazzoleni is delighted to celebrate Melissa McGill’s participation in The Art of the Game, a public art programme presented by ARTS 14C in partnership with the New York New Jersey 2026 World Cup Host Committee.
Created for FIFA World Cup 2026™, The Art of the Game transforms the world’s most recognised symbol of sport into a series of monumental public sculptures by twenty-three internationally recognised artists. Installed across New York City and New Jersey from 11 June to 7 September 2026, the reimagined six foot soccer ball sculptures invite residents and visitors to experience contemporary art in public spaces throughout the summer.
Nominated for the project by Glenn D. Lowry, Director Emeritus of the Museum of Modern Art, Melissa McGill presents These Waters, installed at Maxwell Place Park on the Hoboken waterfront.
Developed from a photograph of the Hudson River taken by the artist near her studio in Beacon, New York, These Waters transforms the form of the football into a meditation on water, connection and shared experience. The work reflects McGill’s ongoing exploration of water as a life force, and of the ways in which public art can bring communities into closer relationship with the landscapes that sustain them.
Installed beside the very river that inspired it, These Waters invites viewers to consider the Hudson not only as a site, but as part of a wider system of interconnected places, people and natural forces.
As The Art of the Game unfolds across New York and New Jersey, McGill’s work offers a powerful reflection on the capacity of art, like sport, to create moments of collective attention, encounter and connection.
Melissa McGill, These Waters
Maxwell Place Park, Hoboken waterfront, New Jersey
11 June to 7 September 2026
