Wednesday, April 12, 2006

For many, Germany and Brazil would be the two dream-teams in the 2006 World Cup final. For the moment, however, that idea is all show - more precisely, a dance performance. The famous Brazilian choreograph­er Deborah Colker has pitted a dancing Germany against a dancing Brazil, thereby turn­ing the stage into a stadium and the auditorium into a fan terrace. Be it fouls or overhead kicks-here, Brazil­ian and German dancers interpret the movement pat­terns typical of a soccer match in a completely new way and with the respective physical effort. The sporting dance spectacle Maracana - named after the legendary soccer stadium in Rio de Janeiro - was premiered at the Ham­burg Kampnagelfabrik on January 25. Later, it will be performed in Cologne, Berlin, Frankfurt and on stages abroad.

Football and art? Moracana is a perfect example of how these two supposedly distant poles can be brought togeth­er. That is why it was selected from 400 contending projects to become one of the 48 offi­cial contributions to the Artis­tic and Cultural Programme of the Federal German Gov­ernment for the 2006 World Cup. The guiding principle behind this programme is that "Football is more than just a sport". And it is the very first time that, months in ad­vance of the kick-off, a World Cup championship is to be ac­companied by such a creative artistic and cultural pro­gramme. The undertaking will be financed by the Feder-al Government with 30 million euros from the proceeds from sales of 2006 World Cup silver coins and it will be organized by the DFB Kulturstiftung (German Football Association Culture Foundation). The programme repre­sents an opportunity to present Germany in all its cultural diversity and at the same time create the mood for the huge festival of football: the Artistic and Cultural Programme, on offer not only in Germany but at 120 venues worldwide, is certainly destined to whet people's appetite for the 2006 World Cup.

The person entrusted with the post of curator and artistic di­rector of this large-scale cul­tural enterprise is surely one of Europe's most versatile artists, the Austrian Andre Heller. Heller knows well how to make dreams materialize on stage. He sees his task as "conjuring up excitement at the prospect of the 2006 World Cup", while at the same time emphasizing cer­tain nuances and engaging critically with the overall theme. In this process, foot­ball is respectfully acknow­ledged not only as a sporting event, but also as a cultural mass phenomenon that is ca­pable of having an impact so­cially, geographically and po­litically, irrespective of na­tional borders. The variety of projects in the programme, therefore, is correspondingly wide, ranging from literature, dance and theatre to perfor­mances, music, events and festivals, film, television and video to exhibitions that link the theme of football and cul­ture in the most diverse ways. The more than 900 artists and initiators involved in realiz­ing the programme contribu­tions, as well as the ideas un­derlying it, are all indebted to an exclusive aspiration. The contributors include interna­tionally renowned photogra­phers, authors, directors, ac­tors, choreographers, light artists and up-and-coming de­signers. The US American William Forsythe, who has been repeatedly designated as the world's most important choreographer, will stage a hip-hop spectacle in Frank­furt am Main in March - an untypical genre for the classi­cal dance revolutionary. ( It has already happened-ed).The Soccersongs music project that will be staged by director Robert Wilson in conjunction with the State Opera House Unter den Linden in Berlin in late May is also des­tined to be very excit­ing. On the only match-free Sunday before the World Cup final, on July 2, 2006, the Deutsche Symphonieorchester Berlin will extend an invitation to a free open-air concert. Con­ductor Ingo Metz­macher will use high­points in classical or­chestral music to in­volve the nations rep­resented in the round of 16 in a musical competi­tion, so to speak.

A network consisting of the houses of literature in eight German cities has jointly con­ceived a poetic football pro­gramme for the World Cup in­volving famous authors from the countries participating in the group matches. Fashion, by contrast, will be in the lime­light when young designers present their collections under the headings New Fanwear, Elements of the Game or Ball­room Fashion at trend fairs to be held under the motto Cat­walk with Ball. Thus, football will also feature prominently on the catwalk, which is sure­ly something completely new. Federal Minister of the Interi­or Wolfgang Schauble also re­gards the Artistic and Cultur­al Programme as "unique". "People involved in art and culture worldwide have al­ways been enthusiastic about

this relatively simple game, football, because it unleashes such emotions," he says. "Ar­tistically capturing these emotional worlds, as for ex­ample in the exhibition `Rundlederwelten', is both provocative and inspiring. Just as good football matches are. Then the best players be­come artists and their actions inspire millions of people." Rundlederwelten, the exhibi­tion that featured 74 artists from 20 countries and ran from October 2005 to January 2006 at the Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin, was surely one of the programme's exhibi­tion highlights.

Meantime, the most interna­tionally famous project in the Artistic and Cultural Pro-gramme is the Football Globe -FIFA 2006 World Cup, which has been touring the twelve German match venues since December 2003 - a mobile 20­metre high pavilion in which football culture is presented to visitors in an emotional and playful way. The striking ar­chitecture of the Globe links the image of the world with the form of the football, sym­bolizing the all-embracing and thus integrative fascina­tion of the game. During the day, the Globe is an interac­tive exhibition space where cult objects related to football are on show: Oliver Kahn's goalkeeper's gloves, Zidane's signed boots, the ball used in the 1954 World Cup. In the evening, the Globe is regular­ly transformed into a studio stage on which German and international football stars, politicians, poets, musicians, actors and scientists present ever new aspects of the inter­play between football and culture.

Since last October, a smaller modified form of the Globe has been travelling the world -as a kind of international am­bassador of the excitement to come - presenting Germany by informative, humorous and artistic means.

The Goethe Institute is also dis­patching football around the world: the 144 Goethe Insti­tutes in 80 countries are show­ing a large photography exhi­bition entitled Weltsprache Fussball in cooperation with the famous Magnum photo agency. In exciting shots taken in the most varied regions in the world, the exhibition illus­trates how the "global lan­guage of football" links and fascinates cultures and peo­ples across national borders - which is very much in tune with the German World Cup slogan: "Die Welt zu Gast bei Freunden", or "A time to make friends".

Text courtesy: DEUTSCHLAND Feb/Mar 2006 issue. Embassy of Germany in Kathmandu-ed