Bereitschaft

In the organizer's words:

The German sculptor Arno Breker, one of the most prominent artists of the so-called "Third Reich", created a statue entitled "Bereitschaft" in 1939. It depicts a muscular, male body, a sword-pulling warrior who was intended to symbolize the German people's readiness to fight. In 2023, this statue became an obsession on TikTok, trending as a male body ideal and a symbol of self-discipline in the fitness sector. In a video sculpture almost four meters high, Jakob Ganslmeier and Ana Zibelnik explore this glorification of the "sculpted" male body, complete with fascist undertones. The work illustrates how an extreme striving for physical perfection goes hand in hand with reactionary tendencies, misogyny and enthusiasm for militarization. Even if much of the TikTok material presented seems harmless at first glance, "Bereitschaft" succeeds in showing the extent to which the visual language of the mainstream has been appropriated and influenced by extremism.

Jakob Ganslmeier (1990, Munich) & Ana Zibelnik (1995, Ljubljana) are an artist duo from The Hague (NL) who work in photography and video projects on the identity formation of young people under the influence of extreme ideologies. They are interested in how visual art can counteract radical political narratives and raise awareness of social issues. Her work has been exhibited at the Fotografic Museum FOAM in Amsterdam, the Fotomuseum Den Haag and the Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für Moderne Kunst, among others.

Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday 10am-6pm. Closed on Mondays.

The installation will be opened on Wednesday, August 20 at 3:30 pm. On Sunday, September 7 at 3 pm, there will be a finissage with a workshop presentation and discussion on the installation "Bereitschaft" with Jakob Ganslmeier and Ana Zibelnik, Caspar Weimann from onlinetheater.live and Jasmin Degeling, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.

To accompany the video installation, the museum is offering workshops for groups of young people and adults as well as further training for teachers.

Price information:

Reduced/regular admission to the Museum of Forced Labor included. Participation in the vernissage and finissage is free of charge.