16 May 2020

Exhibition about the history of people's sports activities '2nd Worker's Olympiad in Vienna' at Waschsalon Karl-Marx Hof opens on 17 May

Yesterday on 15th May, the coronavirus measures (regulation) were lifted for spaces where more people, who are not living in one household, come together such as at restaurants, museums or sports facilities. Last mentioned are used by professional as well as hobby athletes. The current regulation makes in times of the Covid-19 pandemic comprehensible differences between professional and non-professional athletes (training in outdoor areas, distance of 2 meters); professional athletes can also train indoor but have to follow special rules concerning health checks, hygiene plans or codes of conduct.

Vienna has a long tradition with sports culture. The exhibition '2. Arbeiter-Olympiade in Wien' ('2nd Worker's Olympiad in Vienna) at Waschsalon Karl-Marx Hof explores the history of the intellectual and by socialist ideology driven counter-movement of political workers' parties to 'bourgeois' sports which was defined mainly by materialistic values like records or commerce. By following the activities of the association for sports and physical culture in Austria 'ASKÖ' - former 'Arbeiterbund für Sport und Körperkultur in Österreich', today 'Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Sport und Körperkultur in Österreich', the exploration reaches from the founding of the ASKÖ and people's sports clubs at the end of the 19th century to the Workers' Olympiad in 1931 which was held in Austria; the winter games happened in Mürzzuschlag and Semmering, the summer games in Vienna.

The exhibition '2. Arbeiter-Olympiade in Wien' opens tomorrow and is prolonged on occasion of the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games until 28 November 2021.

Images from left: With the boat from Wörgl, Tyrol to Vienna. Right: Hurdle race. Photos: © ASKÖ WAT Wien.