De groote wedstrijd

It could just as well have happened in the 1920s: a big competition lasting for several days in which different teams led by tough guys like Jan Tulleken, Cor Bleekemolen, Piet Straat and Frits Wiersma compete for the highest honour in various disciplines. They participate in road and field races on motorbikes. They have a car race and there is a cycling race. And of course an opening and closing ceremony, graced by demonstrations of gymnasts and jockeys. This is how it could have been. But the students from the Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU) have invented this ‘big sports event’ themselves. They compiled it from a multitude of short silent films and newsreels from the 1920s from the EYE archives. Complete with on-screen names of participants and the occasional running score, as is the custom now. HKU students also composed a score for the screening and will perform it, accompanying a film that shows a sporting event in Olympic style.