In uncertain times, it sometimes helps to look back. Occupying oneself with the classics and stories from the past can help us to regain firmer ground underfoot. New audio books serve this need, while filling many gaps in one’s knowledge at the same time.

Bavaria isn’t the only place in Germany with mountains. Achim Bogdahn has been to the highest peaks of each of the German states, always with a celebrity in town.

In new picture books, the little ones can immerse themselves in the circus and dream worlds, but also experience how important friendship and loyalty are.

Visitors to museums and archives usually interact with exhibits locked in display cases in darkened rooms. Yet modern technology has given us ways to more directly experience art and cultural artefacts. Coding da Vinci is an open, cultural data hackathon that digitally brings museum pieces to life.  

University teaching has become increasingly specialised over the centuries. But the topics addressed in research today increasingly require an interdisciplinary approach.  Leibniz Association president Matthias Kleiner sees a renaissance of universal research. 

Carbon offset schemes promise to compensate for the emissions caused by private individuals – as air travellers, for instance – with donations to climate projects. But are they not just a way of salving guilty consciences?  

Over the past 120 years, Marxist ideas have undergone frequent revivals on the silver screen.

German television shows tend to have a bad reputation for poor writing and cheap productions not suited for an international market and audience. Now series like “Deutschland ‘83” and “Babylon Berlin” are putting a new shine on that tarnished image. 

Who are they and how do they live? The advertising and media world has discovered a new target group: Generation Z, fully digitalized since birth, is coming of age. But on screen they are (still) representing the lives of Millennials.

2022 was a year of contradictions. While at festivals and sold-out stadium concerts it seemed as though everything was back to pre-pandemic normal, smaller-scale gigs and tours galore were called off – owing to insufficient demand. Economically speaking, it was an anxious year, and musically speaking, all the more provocative: from the clash over the sexist hit party song “Layla” to some raucous grunge anthems and retro R&B that fit right in with the Y2K retro trend. Meanwhile, over in the USA, Kim Petras made history as the most successful German pop singer on the American charts since Nena.

After two years of Covid restrictions, 2022 did not deliver on hopes for a sudden return to normal in the classical music scene. A lot of issues came to a head in the classical, early and contemporary music scenes. And politics became definitively inseparable from the arts – which is pretty exhausting. Though it did bear some remarkable artistic fruits in 2022.

The German jazz scene is alive and well. Even after two years of Covid, it’s extremely diverse and innovative. On the other hand, despite various state “support packages”, hardly anyone in the scene made it through this dry spell unscathed. Clubs were shuttered, festivals, tours and concerts cancelled. Many highly qualified professionals in the event sector, especially technical and catering staff, have ended up working in other industries and only a few came back after the lockdown.