What do a sedan chair and a “lotus shoe” have in common with paintings and prints depicting scenes of work, hunting, games and sport? They all tell of the possibilities and constraints of movement experienced by those portrayed or of the owners of the objects on display, while also bearing witness to their status. The exhibition STATUS POWER MOVEMENT. Delight and Drudgery of Physical Activity highlights the potential of movement as a means of representing status across various cultural, temporal and geographical spaces.

Five exhibition sections examine how status and power on the one hand and necessity and duty on the other can be expressed through certain forms of movement.

A Foundation in Work

The first section focuses primarily on movement serving to secure livelihoods. Diverse exhibits ‒ ranging from leather shoes to a tile, and amphorae to prints ‒ tell of working people and their efforts to acquire food.

Off to the Hunt!

Continuing along these lines, the exhibition illustrates the transition of hunting from a movement, originally involved in securing livelihoods, to one expressing status, and associated with prestige and privileges in many cultures.

En Route in Style

For millennia, the ability to travel distances was determined by the physical capabilities of animal or human bodies. To this day it is important to move not only comfortably but also according to one’s status, as can be demonstrated by the brand-name trainers and the ornate sedan chair shown in the exhibition.

Sweet Idleness

The absence of goal-oriented, purposeful movement is explored in the fourth section. The exhibits ‒ including photographs with leisure themes, drinking vessels, board games from Babylon and a Game Boy Classic‒ provide insight into how certain types of movement, but also a demonstrative lack of movement, can represent social status in the context of free time and the pursuit of leisure.

Body (De)Formation

Finally, it is important to consider the deliberate influencing of the human body through movement or its intentional restriction. Cultivating the body, for example, through sport, which originally was part of aristocratic education in many cultures, is often reflected in the development of distinctive body shapes that signal physical superiority and performance. In contrast, the use of a corset, for instance, severely limits the body’s capabilities and can sometimes irreversibly damage its structural integrity.

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin