Sound and Vision

It was German concept artist Ruppe Kosselleck’s (*1967) first time: "1974, the final between Germany and Holland was just around the corner. My parents didn‘t own a television set (not even in black and white). The only option was to go to the pastor. Since then, the round ball and the flimmering screen have always been connected for me. And thus it was football which turned us to the church and then directly to the pastor – this was my first experience with tension and flickering, my first contact with the world of television. Since then, the round ball is forever associated with the flat screen."

Only when Helmut Schmidt became chancellor in 1976 we got a television set. This shows an – incomprehensible for me – superiority of politics over football, because only the “heavyweight round” of politicians let my parents come to the tv.

Also Holger Frohne’s football memories are formed by media. During the EURO of 1980 a new record player entered the household of his family in Herdecke. Frohne is twelve years old, the record is called “Viva Fußball” and the famous Franz Beckenbauer is on the cover. He presents songs together with the newspaper “Bild am Sonntag”.

A few hits are among them – Udo Jürgens performs Buenos Dias Argentinia – but also live sounds from the stadium, fan chants and excerpts from the live commentary of the final match of 1954 in Bern. Does he remember his favourite song? “I thought Rod Stewart was so cool”, says Frohne. Stewart even had two songs on the record and sang together with the Scottish national team. And Today? “Today I don’t own a record player, but the record will stay”.

A small television and the original LP are on display at Schmackes.

Text: Daniela Berglehn
Translation: Matthias Fabry