The Berlin Olympic Village Project
- Submitting institution
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The University of Bolton
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 0049_32_REF2_DG_03
- Type
- M - Exhibition
- Venue(s)
- Deutsche Kreditbank AG centre, Berlin; neo:gallery, Bolton
- Open access status
- Compliant
- Month of first exhibition
- July
- Year of first exhibition
- 2016
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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3
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- The Berlin Olympic Village Project is a multi-component output of paintings, photographs and film which document David Gledhill’s responses to the Athlete’s Village at Elstal.
Contextual information: Inspired by a three day site visit, the project was a new development in Gledhill’s research into the representation of historical subjects and themes insofar as it addressed the question of how a contemporary form of history painting can engage seriously with the historical as it is currently understood.
Based on historic photographic images of the Olympic Village taken in 1936, Gledhill created the works entitled Olympisches Dorf 1-5, large-scale canvasses using oil paint which aimed to capture the social meanings of the situations shown in the photos. By combining painting and photography, Gledhill sought to open up a distinctive, new perspective on historical events. Stills from the film Soviet gave rise to Treppe im Hindenburghaus 1-6; here Gledhill employed a gum-arabic transfer printing technique to convey the specific atmosphere of the place. Soviet shows the housing estates built by the Soviets, and the murals in the Hindenburghaus, as well as the interior of the Speisehaus der Nationen, with its walls still pasted with old newspaper clippings of the time. In the oil painting Hindenburghaus II Gledhill responds to the former site of musical and theatrical performances, which evokes the spirit of absent spectacle.
The research found that first-hand engagement with the ‘spirit of place’ at Elstal gave rise to a visual practice which conveys historical meaning without telling an overarching narrative, thereby doing justice to both its contesting representations and the poetics of place.
The works were exhibited at the Deutsche Kreditbank AG centre, Berlin, 19th July- 26th August 2016, the Olympic village at Elstal 11th September 2016, and neo:gallery Bolton in 18th March and 30th April 2017.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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