„Top Athletes on the Run” – The exhibition “ZOV Sportverräter. East German Top Athletes on the Run“ in Berlin

Between the years 1949 and 1989 more than three million people left the German Democratic Republic, many of them illegally and under dangerous circumstances. Sports, an area which had prominent model character for the SED regime, was seriously affected by the phenomenon of escaping.

Hundreds of top athletes turned their backs on Eastern Germany, looking for greener pastures in the ideologically defamed west, a step that turned them into „traitors” in the eyes of the political leadership.

This exhibition presents the fates of 15 selected athletes, who have escaped, their bodies and faces are captured in the moment of remembering. The video installation of the artist Laura Soria creates a room for reflection, which enables the visitor to contact a silent interlocutor, to explore, to ask questions, and to set the narrative in motion by pressing a button. This is the moment, the personalities are made alive: their voices tell a story, reveal, confess, and confide.

The exhibition “ZOV Sportverräter. East German Top Athletes on the Run“ presents fifteen pictures, black and white, of the portrayed athletes in upright or landscape format (120 x 160 centimeters). The portraits are printed on Hahnemühle-paper and fixed on Alu-Dibond-plates. Each portrait is provided with a desk, equipped with a beamer, a player and two headsets.

The beamer is projecting interviews with the athletes on to their respective portraits, which are fastened to walls or movable walls. Each portrait is completed by a board, which is printed on both sides with pictures and information regarding the biography of the athlete. Additional boards present an introduction into the exhibition, explaining the topics of serious sport in the GDR, the phenomenon of escaping to the West as well as the intentions of the artist Laura Soria.

The exhibition requires a room of 200 square meters, depending on the local preconditions. The show is presented in German, English an Espanol.

 

Sportverräter

www.zentrum-deutsche-sportgeschichte.de

 

Willy-Brandt-Haus

Wilhelmstraße 140 / Stresemannstraße 28
10963 Berlin-Kreuzberg
phone 49 (30) 25993-700
fax 49 (30) 25993-720
email info(at)vbb-wbh.de
internet www.willy-brandt-haus.de

Subway
lines U1 or U6, station “Hallesches Tor“
line U7 station “Möckernbrücke“

S-Train
lines S1 or S2, station “Anhalter Bahnhof“

Bus
line M41 Willy-Brandt-Haus

Opening Hours:

Tuesdays through Sundays 12 p.m.-6 p.m.
Mondays closed
Admission is free
Please bring your passport, identity card, or driver´s license