About Exhibition Match at Vintage Southbank

110 years since the foundation of the Table Tennis Association, Exhibition Match at Vintage Southbank put a new spin on the classic British game of Table Tennis.
Dunlop donated six full sized table tennis tables to the project.
Five artists and designers customised a table tennis table each, this could mean altering its shape, structure, appearance, anything really, although the tables must remain, in some way, playable.

For the sixth table, the visiting public assisted by volunteer students and graduates from the University of Brighton, coated the table with 1000’s of Paralymipic Table Tennis stamps, designed by Michael Craig Martin. These stamps are part of, perhaps, the most ambitious Special Stamp issue ever commissioned. 30 stamps by 30 artists of 30 Olympic and Paralympic Sports to be played at the 30th Olympiad and Paralympic Games 2012

The Exhibition Match Open Tournament at Vintage took place just outside the Hayward Gallery, at the Southbank Centre on the 29th, 30th, 31st of July 2011. The Tables were open for visitors to play on over the three days. ETTA Youth players played special Exhibition Matches on Saturday (including some Paralympic hopefuls). The English Table Tennis Association (ETTA) is the governing body of table tennis in England, responsible for representing, coordinating, administering, regulating, promoting, marketing and developing the sport.
The Tables featured at Exhibition Match will be auctioned in aid of the British Heart Foundation’s “Mending Broken Hearts” Appeal
Mending Broken Hearts Appeal Director Kate Shanley says, "When your heart muscle is damaged, it can't heal itself. Once your heart "breaks", it stays that way. There are ¾ of a million people in the UK alone living with heart failure, for whom even simple tasks leave them breathless and exhausted. Heart failure cuts short thousands of lives each year.
This year the British Heart Foundation launched the Mending Broken Hearts Appeal in our 50th anniversary year, to give hope to people living with heart failure after a heart attack. We want to fund the research that could begin to literally "mend broken hearts" in as little as ten years' time. But we need to spend £50million to do this.
That's why we are delighted that the customised tables featured in Exhibition Match at Vintage at Southbank Centre will be auctioned in aid of the Mending Broken Hearts Appeal and help give hope to millions of people worldwide that one day their damaged hearts could be healed". (Details of the Auction TBC)