The product at ICFF that gave me the most pleasure was a silly one: a fussball table by R S Barcelona with teams of female players. Very early in the morning, after a tortuous trip from home that included three subway transfers and a descent into the basement of the Javitz Center, it made me smile. The table comes in different candy-colored metal enamel finishes, all far too pretty for a bar. Their bright sheen drew me in and then, a full minute later, I realized what was really going on.
There’s nothing feminist about the table and nothing revolutionary about it either. It’s all in the service of the same rather dumb parlor game and time-waste. But it’s refreshing to see female figure primed for action rather than dress-up, and it’s reassuring that the table is from Spain. In America the likeness of a female fussball team would most likely have been implemented (and then interpreted) in the spirit of Title IX. My image of Spanish womanhood had always been the eye-popping, overdressed Madrilenas in Pedro Almodovar films. This toy throws a new figure into the mix.