Radical Playgrounds presents Massimo Furlan's re-enactment of the historic 1974 World Cup football match between East Germany and West Germany, which unexpectedly ended 1:0, for the first time not in a stadium, but where the Berlin Wall once stood, right next to the Gropius Bau.
Image gallery
Fußball im Tor
This performance is a celebration of the power of imagination.
Two players re-enact the movements of the 1974 players. Two original radio commentaries accompany the game. The audience can switch back and forth between these parallel realities in East and West.
In 1974, this was the only direct duel between the two German teams at a World Cup.
The 1974 football match was about the representation of asymmetry and the surprising victory of the supposedly weaker team - that of the GDR.
As both teams had already qualified, this was above all a political encounter between two countries that had only recently recognised each other.
The game was a confrontation of strength and weakness, of arrogance and underestimation, and of unconscious dividing lines.
Based on these aspects, we ask where the lines of asymmetry lie today, in politics, in sport, in everyday life, and shed light on the situation of women and queer representation in football.
The idea arose from the shattered dream of a young boy who failed to become a famous footballer. Many children around the world are experiencing the same story, especially as football becomes increasingly commercialised.
Massimo Furlan shifted his hopes to the arts.
As a choreographer, he repeated the movements of Michel Platini as he ran into the Parc des Princes, of Zbigniew Boniek in Warsaw or of Sepp Maier in Munich's Olympic Stadium.
Dreams come true in art.
Do you know the story? Listen again.
Massimo Furlan (born 1965) is a Lausanne-based choreographer, actor, performer and writer who often explores the connections between play as competition and free play.
Tanja Walther-Ahrens is a former Bundesliga player, special needs teacher, sports scientist and activist. She is still a passionate footballer in the Berlin state league with SV Seitenwechsel.
- 1 h 30 min, without break
- In German language
- For all age groups
Sunday, 7 July 2024
20:00-21:30
Niederkirchnerstraße in front of the Gropius Bau
Admission 19:00
