sharmistha ray turns pittsburgh pickleball courts into playable geometric artwork

GEOMETRY OF PLAY TAKES OVER ARTS LANDING

Artist Sharmistha Ray transforms Pittsburgh’s first artist-designed pickleball courts into a large-scale playable artwork through Geometry of Play. Painted directly across the playing surfaces at Arts Landing, the colorful ground mural brings abstract painting into an active civic setting, allowing movement, sport, and public participation to become part of the composition.

Seen from above, intersecting circles, triangular forms, grids, and radiating pathways spread across the two courts in a dense geometric arrangement. The patterns extend beyond the conventional markings of the game, producing a vivid visual field that changes according to the position and movement of players. The installation is the latest commission in the Arts Landing Public Art program, curated by Anastasia James for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.

HISTORIC GAME BOARDS INFORM THE COLORFUL MURAL

Ray draws inspiration from the geometric systems found in historic game boards, particularly the Indian game Pachisi, which was later adapted in the United States as Parcheesi. These references are translated into interlocking structures that recall kaleidoscopic mandalas, architectural ornamentation, and the visual rules used to organize play across different cultures.

A palette spanning the full rainbow spectrum covers the courts in shades of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Beyond creating an energetic surface for pickleball, the rainbow operates as a symbol of inclusion, visibility, and belonging. Bodies moving across the artwork continually reorganize its relationships between color, pattern, and space, turning every game into a temporary performance.

PUBLIC ART BECOMES PART OF EVERYDAY RECREATION

Rather than separating artwork from everyday activity, Geometry of Play invites visitors to step directly onto its painted surface. The project builds on pickleball’s accessible and social character, using recreation to encourage interaction between people of different ages, abilities, and levels of experience. Players do not simply observe the mural but activate it through their movements, pauses, and exchanges across the courts.

The installation joins seven other public art commissions at Arts Landing by artists including vanessa german, Thaddeus Mosley, Shikeith, Mikael Owunna and Marques Redd, Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis, Darian Johnson, and John Peña. Designed by landscape architecture studio Field Operations, the $31 million civic space hosts performances, festivals, visual arts, community events, and daily recreation within Pittsburgh’s Cultural District.

project info:

name: Geometry of Play
artist: Sharmistha Ray | @sharmistharay
location: Arts Landing, Pittsburgh Cultural District, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
photography: Ross Ribblett and Chris Uhren | @chrissycliche
courtesy: Pittsburgh Cultural Trust