The Eleventh Olympic Games In the Context of the Formation of the Art of Performance
Abstract
The work examines the question of the influence of Ancient Greek and Roman culture in the
aspect of studying the process of formation of performative practices. Research is made of the
theatrical productions carried out within the framework of the cultural program of the Olympic
Games which took place in Berlin in August 1936. During the process of studying the synthetic
nature of the sportive holiday as a central component of the action the chronotope of the text of
the festivity is examined. The productions of Carl Diem’s “Olympische Jugend” and Eberhard
Möller’s “Frankenburger Würfelspiel.” The methodology of research is based on the application
of a multidisciplinary approach and the inclusion of methods of culturology and the theoretical
positions of history and political science. The material of research was provided in various forms of
storing: cinema, phono and photo documents of the holidays celebrated in Nazi Germany, as well as
memoirs of the participants and organizers of the festive actions. As the result of the accomplished
out research it has been established that the succession of the culture of Ancient Greece and Rome
and the culture of the Third Reich is demonstrated not only in building such constructions, but in
the creation of a sacred atmosphere by means of recreating the ritual component of the ancient
Greek and Roman holidays. The achievement of a special emotional state during the carrying
out of the theatrical action “Frankenburger Würfelspiel” recreated the sacred atmosphere of the
ancient Greek and Roman theater and helped provide unity for the participants of the action. The
specified technologies, so uncharacteristic for contemporary democratic society, were applied at
the specially constructed time and space of the holiday in a separately examined society. This
precedent discloses the danger of nationalist views in society.
Keywords: The Eleventh Olympic Games, the performative aesthetics, the festive culture of
Nazi Germany.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.33779/2587-6341.2020.4.088-096
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