On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Olympic Games, the IDZ invites you to a discussion on the vision of the Munich Games and the status quo as well as the future of the Olympic movement on 26 August. The event at Berlin’s Akademie der Künste on Pariser Platz is part of the “otl aicher 100” initiative, which highlights Otl Aicher’s diverse cosmos of topics on the online platform otlaicher.de. Aicher, whose birth centenary we are celebrating this year, was responsible for the visual appearance of the Munich Games as design supervisor.

Berlin, 2 August 2022 – 36 years after the first German Olympics, above which the Nazi flags still flew, Otl Aicher created an all-encompassing design system for the Games of the XX Olympiad in Munich, with the rainbow as the color palette and a dachshund as the mascot. While the 1936 Games served the propagandistic interests of the Nazis, the 1972 Games attempted to present an open-minded image and set a deliberate counterpoint to Nazi Germany’s past.

The organizing committee saw the hosting of the Munich Games as a historical obligation and task. They were to present a Germany as a reliable, peaceful partner in the global community, living the Olympic idea of friendly cooperation between nations. An elementary component in building this image was the visual appearance, developed under the direction of Otl Aicher. It was intended to convey the sporting and programmatic content while simultaneously emphasizing the playful side. The “Rainbow Games” have set standards that are still valid today.

However, the Munich Games also provided a tragic stage for the conflicts in world politics. The utopia of the “youth of the world” meeting for cheerful games in a tolerant country was shattered by the Palestinian terrorist attack on the Israeli team on 5 September 1972. The fact that the games were not canceled in the wake of this tragedy led to critical discussions across the world regarding the IOC’s sense of moral responsibility. After Munich, the Olympics were further politicized and commercialized. “The games must go on,” Avery Brundage’s statement after the assassination has gained seemingly eternal validity. In 2036, the Olympic Games could once again be held in Berlin. And in Tel Aviv. An idea entirely in the sense of Otl Aicher? Would he have supported it?

The debate about the ideals and status quo of the Olympic movement has been with us for decades. The public image, unfulfilled promises of sustainability and, not forgetting, a newly adjusting world order raise fundamental questions about the future of the Games and their social acceptance. The event “we have bread, we have games” recalls the utopia and vision of the Munich Games and addresses these questions.

Greetings:
Prof. Fritz Frenkler, Director of the Architectural Art Section Akademie der Künste
Prof. Karsten Henze, Chairman of the Board of the IDZ

Talk:
Karsten de Riese, photographer
The officially commissioned photographer of the organizing committee of the 1972 Olympic Games shows his view of the development of a utopia – a vision as a counter proposal to Berlin 1936 and to games of the present like 2022 in Beijing. De Riese was an active observer in front of and behind the scenes and accompanied the Games and their protagonists, including Otl Aicher, Willi Daume as well as the officials of the IOC and its president Avery Brundage. His photographs show sports venues that did not serve as purely functional architecture, but were created as a backdrop for an Olympic festival with its own special spirit. The 1972 Games present themselves as a timeless and, to this day, unique intercultural event that united people and nations, where the world was a guest. sense.

Panel Discussion:
Dr. Benjamin Bendrich, sports scientist, teacher and blogger: derballluegtnicht.com
Dajana Eitberger, luger, winner of the Olympic silver medal in Pyeongchang 2018, presidium member of the independent athlete representation “Athletes Germany”
Dr. Tobias Hoffmann, director of the Bröhan Museum, curator of the special exhibition “Otl Aicher. Olympia 72,” August 26 to October 30, 2022
Uwe Ritzer, reporter at the Süddeutsche Zeitung, co-author of “The Games of the Century: Olympia 1972, Terror and the New Germany,” dtv, Munich 2021

“we have bread, we have games”
Olympia als Politikum, Olympia as politics, Olympia as utopia, Olympia as big business. An event of the IDZ Berlin in the context of “otl aicher 100”

Venue: Akademie der Künste, Plenary Hall, Pariser Platz 4, 10117 Berlin
Termin: Friday, 26 August, 2022, beginning at 7:00 pm (admission from 6:30 pm)
After the event there will be a get-together.

We ask for an early registration over the IDZ-homepage.
We have compiled image material for your press coverage on our press page. 

Editorial team:
Florian Aicher, Thomas Edelmann, Prof. Dr. Chup Friemert, Kai Gehrmann (Artistic Director), Jasmin Jouhar, Katharina Kurz, Prof. Dr. Dagmar Rinker, Gerrit Terstiege and Fabian Wurm (Chief Editor).

Sponsor:
Funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation. Funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.

Corporate partners:
Bulthaup GmbH & Co KG; ERCO GmbH; FSB Franz Schneider Brakel GmbH + Co KG

Other sponsors and cooperation partners:
Bauhaus Dessau e.V.; Akademie der Künste, Berlin; Deutscher Werkbund Berlin e.V.; HfG-Archiv Ulm

Media partners:
ARCH+; brand eins; ndion