TANKODRÓM: Site of rifts and tank drifts

The Tankodróm is a former training ground for tanks near the Slovakian town of Martin. The disused ZŤS steel industry factory, where tanks were produced until 1992, is located directly below the site. (In the 1980s, Czechoslovakia was one of the world’s leading tank producers). After its military use, the Tankodróm developed a cosmos of its own. The performer Katarína Marková has been exploring this space with various guests for four years. For the “Nebenan” festival, she is tracing new paths on the site with artist Marlene Ruther. They have gotten to know the Tankodróm as a place that is constantly being dismantled and is currently being used as a dumping ground for masses of earth. Equipped with cameras and audio devices, they traverse the 40-hectare site. Instead of tank tracks, the two follow obscure sound sources, deer trails into the forest and spy on trucks loaded with earth. The result is a performative video essay with which they bring the Tankodróm to Dresden.

Duration: ca. 50 min
Language: German, English

Biografie

Katarína Marková’s work oscillates between site-specific art, performance and sound and is based on concrete situations, events or places that open up broader interrelationships for her. Marlene Ruther is a movement-loving artist who prefers to work outdoors on location and in the fields of film and performance. Both studied Scenic Research at the Ruhr University in Bochum. Together with Franziska Schneeberger, they founded the group MFK Bochum, which places great value on DIY strategies and principles of pleasure. 

Cast & Credits

Concept & Performance: Katarína Marková
Guest & Performance: Marlene Ruther
Dramaturgy: Milo Juráni
Outside Eye: Caroline Kapp