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The twentieth anniversary of the fall of the wall, fiftieth anniversary in India, new institutes and new ideas around the world: Hans-Georg Knopp looks back at a year of jubilees and new beginnings. In this interview, the secretary-general of the Goethe-Institut talks about success, difficulties, plans and Max Müller.

An eventful year is coming to an end. How would you sum it up?

Knopp: Very positively. Three years ago, you know, the Goethe-Institut began a series of reforms with the project Goethe 09. The basic outline of these reforms has now been implemented, and we can already see that the decisions we made were the right ones.

What was it about?

Decentralization was at the top of the list. The head office in Munich now has more the role of an advisory office for the institutes abroad, which in turn develop suitable schemes for their own work according to the local circumstances. The motivation for the staff abroad to mastermind projects that are then separately promoted by the head office has risen considerably. Truly outstanding projects are being submitted.

What were the year's highlights?

The first thing I must mention is our partner school project PASCH, although it began before 2009. Together with the Foreign Office and the Zentralstelle für das Auslandsschulwesen, we identified 1,400 partner schools where German is now being taught. This is a success story that none of us anticipated. What is happening right now in Africa is another highlight. Our repositioning there has been optimal. In previous years, the Goethe-Institut had closed many institutes on the continent, but now we have reversed the trend. It is obvious that the region of Africa has a very special signature style. Take the wonderful project Cracking Walls in Johannesburg, for example, where the wall around the Goethe-Institut South Africa was broken down. That was a not a grand project requiring great effort, but it was hugely symbolic.

What was your own personal highlight this year?

That is very difficult to say, but if I would have to choose one, it would probably be the theatre project After the Fall. In this case, the Goethe-Institut London was able to get a great deal in motion with one brilliant idea. We asked young playwrights all over Europe: What does the topic of the fall of the wall bring to mind for you in your countries? The resulting plays were then produced by a number of European theatres and then brought back to Germany in the form of the festivals in Mühlheim and in Dresden.

Did the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall play any more of a role in the work of the Goethe-Institut?

Did it ever. We had dozens of projects going on worldwide that dealt with the anniversary. I was also especially enthusiastic about the wall in the world. For that, we looked to see where the wall theme, which is very strongly linked with Germany, is also an international theme. We sent wall stones out into the world and asked artists to design them in countries where walls and division play important roles. Right on time for the 9th of November, the stones were returned to Germany. Overcoming walls, tearing down walls: that is really not just a German theme.

Let's stick to anniversaries then: I'm sure you followed the fiftieth birthday of an institute in India named after a certain Max Müller with some interest, considering you earned a doctorate in Indian studies and lived in India for a long time.

You can say that again. In India, after a time of cuts and shrinkage, we can see how the Goethe-Institut, which is called Max Mueller Bhavan there, has had an incredible rebound. I also must point out that quite outstanding projects have been carried out in India for a very long time. For instance, the expansion of the PASCH schools, the overall boom in German lessons, as well as projects like 48 Degrees. It was the first time that a significant art project dealt with the urban space of Delhi. We showed India what impact long term cultural work can have. When I first went to Mumbai in 1975, every taxi driver knew right away where the Max Mueller Bhavan was. The Max Mueller Bhavan is highly recognized in India.

Where do the Indian people get their great interest in Germany?

For one, there is a very pragmatic reason: there are many German firms in India that play an important role through liberalization of the economy. Yet, there is another reason that is not less important: we show an interest in India and demonstrate clearly that India and Indian culture are important to us. This mutuality is also expressed in the name Max Müller.

Who is this Max Müller?

Max Müller was an expert on India who never travelled to India and who also hardly taught in Germany. He spent most of his time in Great Britain, where he also published the Sacred Books of the East; translations from all of the eastern religions that were still very important when I was a student. Yet, other names could also have been used since Indian studies, or Indology, was a very significant field of study in Germany in earlier days.

2009 was also the year of the founding of a number of Goethe presences – Novosibirsk, Luanda, Alexandria, Gaza ... is the Goethe-Institut in pioneering mood right now?

I would not call it pioneering, but we are experiencing a revival. We have increasingly been asking ourselves whether there are any places in the world that we treat shabbily. However, we have to be very flexible when it comes to the type of presences we establish in order to keep the infrastructure costs down.

Is there any white spot on the map that pains you?

Not really, but there is one place where I would very, very much like to see a presence for the Goethe-Institut and that is Ouagadougou. I know from my own experience that Burkina Faso is a country that considers itself a land of culture. It has a highly diversified arts scene. It is perhaps also a place associated with Christoph Schlingensief – supported by the Goethe-Institut . I could also envision a bit more activity for us on the Arabian Peninsula.

The "expansion" of the Goethe-Institut is, though, no longer a matter of spreading the German culture and language...

No, not so platitudinous. Nowadays, cooperation is far more important, producing ideas together, inspiring one another mutually... It is a matter of taking up local interest and, naturally, interest requires information. We therefore have to inform the people about what's going on in Germany. What is happening here culturally is practically unique worldwide and is acknowledged with enthusiasm almost everywhere. If we don’t go out like missionaries, then the interest is all the greater. For I think we've had enough of false and one-sided missions. And that was always the way the Goethe-Institut worked.

Is the promotion of multilingualism also a part of this concept?

Absolutely. I believe that German only has a chance in the scope of multilingualism. We have to accept that English has become the lingua franca. Recently someone said to me, "Our common international language is broken English." Years ago, the slogan of the Goethe-Institut was: "English a must, German a plus." I think it's a wonderful motto.

This year's Bundestag election also brought decisive changes for the Goethe-Institut. We now have a new foreign minister and for the first time in eleven years, the Goethe-Institut's employer is a man from the FDP. How have the first few weeks with Guido Westerwelle been?

We haven't had any direct contact with him yet, but there will soon be a first meeting between our president Klaus-Dieter Lehmann and the foreign minister. We know that the next years will be difficult to budget. But, since we have positioned ourselves so well over the past three or four years both structurally and with regard to content, I am convinced that we will not have a roller coaster ride. In particular because under Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the importance of foreign cultural and educational policy was once again clearly placed in the awareness of politicians and the public.

Enough of looking back. What are you looking forward to most in 2010?

I am really very much looking forward to Germany Year in Vietnam. I am also looking forward to the world premiere of the Amazon music theatre project. I am looking forward to the Climate exhibition, to Celluloid Curtain, to the neighbourhood project and much more.

Am I mistaken or has the way the Goethe-Institut does its project work changed? The "Tropics exhibition" or "After the Fall" would not have been possible a few years ago – at least not in this form.

All the better that they are now. Yes, today we more often have projects that are visible in Germany, too, and pay more attention to taking up subject matter with our international partners that interest us mutually. Yet, this dialogue approach is a basic principal of the Goethe-Institut.

Then let's talk about a few actual projects. What is the "Amazon Music Theatre in Three Parts"? Sounds like Fitzcarraldo.

Not quite. It is about the Amazon, but not only about the very important global theme of the climate, but about the people who live there. Artists from Brazil and from Germany are involved at the opera and it will premiere here in Munich at the Biennale. The project is being created by a network of a number of cultural institutions, for instance the ZKM in Karlsruhe plays a very important role in it. Today this is the only way to do something like this; we're no opera house. What we can do is create connections.

What does the "Promised City" promise us?

It is about the promises of modern cities. Artists from Germany and Poland and later from Italy and Romania will deal with the dreams and illusions of big city inhabitants in a number of productions. This project will finally be focusing on Warsaw and Berlin; this is long overdue. Besides France, Poland is our most important neighbour, but look at how much we in Berlin, only 80 kilometres from Poland, know about the country.

Is this also the theme of "The Neighbour in Me?"

Yes, among others. The Neighbour in Me is an interdisciplinary conference that we will hold in May at the former Tempelhof Airport that is dedicated to inner-European neighbourhoods. I think these events are very important at the moment. It seems that our enthusiasm for our neighbours has waned somewhat. We have to stir up the embers of the emotional fire a bit.

-db-