Features, reports and interviews from around the world
The Latest at Goethe 2017

Visitors illuminated by Mischa Kuball’s light installation „spacespeechspeed“ in Perm.

Season's greetings
Wishes for the New Year

The Goethe-Institut wishes you a very happy and healthy New Year 2018!

The Goethe-Institut wishes Happy Holidays!

Season's Greetings
Happy Holidays!

The Goethe-Institut wishes you happy holidays and a wonderful start to the year 2018.

Performance "Math Book" from Hiba Alansari.

Mina-Festival Beirut
Just Artists

The Mina Festival in Beirut addressed prejudices against Syrian artists in Lebanon and in Germany. It showed that the freedom of art is as important as the recognition of artists.

CEO Johannes Ebert

Interview with Johannes Ebert
“Freedom is the foundation of our European society”

Civil societies are under ever-increasing pressure from worldwide populist movements. Cultural institutions therefore bear a special responsibility: Their mission is to initiate discussion processes and promote international dialogue. In an interview, CEO Johannes Ebert explains how the Goethe-Institut is presently meeting these global challenges.

Johannes Ebert, the CEO of the Goethe-Institut, talks with Miren Arzalluz, director of Etxepare Basque Institute and Csilla Hegedüs, president of the Transylvania Trust.

European Culture Forum
Culture on the Agenda

Every two years, the European Commission holds a cultural forum that brings together key figures in European cultural policy. Various panels discuss cultural initiatives of the EU. In this year's forum in Milan, the CEO of the Goethe-Institut, Johannes Ebert, spoke about the challenges of European cultural policy as well as cultural cooperation with European partners.

What connects Martin Luther to Mark Zuckerberg? Actresses and friends of the studio Hrdinů read manifestos at the foyer of the theater for twelve hours.

#LutherLenin
Reformation and Revolution

Three stages, three radio stations, twelve hours of programming. The theory festival #LutherLenin by the Goethe-Institut in the Czech Republic transformed three rooms in the Prague theatre Studio Hrdinů into radio stations. The question that was the focus: Are we still living in the age of revolutions?

Dr Anne von Oswald (Immigration Office) and Laura Kolland (BAMF) during the panel discussion.

Conference in Munich
"Mein Weg nach Deutschland"

Integration is also decided on the employment market. The new offering Virtuelle Entdeckungsreise in die deutsche Arbeitswelt (Virtual Journey of Discovery in the German Working World) on the Goethe-Institut’s web portal Mein Weg nach Deutschland provides orientation for new immigrants on their start in the complex German vocational world, thereby contributing to more participation in society. It was now presented at a conference in Munich.

Exhibition space at the Centro Municipal de Arte Hélio Oiticica with works by Ayrson Heráclito (left) and Ana Leticia Barreto (right).

Hubert Fichte in Brazil
Love and Ethnology

Hubert Fichte was a poet, ethnologist and early pioneer of new disciplines such as Queer and Postcolonial Studies. In the 1970s he travelled to several countries in South America, the Caribbean and Africa and wrote down his observations. As part of the project Hubert Fichte: Love and Ethnology by the Goethe-Institut, the exhibition Implosão: Trans(relacion)ando Hubert Fichte is showing artistic considerations of the author’s controversial topics in Rio de Janeiro.

Participants in the Art Games game jam.

Games and Politics
“Silicon Taiga”

Novosibirsk is the only city in Russia to show the Goethe-Institut’s interactive exhibition Games and Politics. Where cutting-edge Soviet scientific research once blossomed, is the seat of Russia’s leading game designers today.

Intern Neda Zargar Talebi

Iran Horizons
"The walls of those days no longer exist!"

How do young, qualified professionals from Iran experience working life in Germany? As part of the initiative Iran Horizons: Opportunities for the Future, eight young people made contacts with a foreign culture when they spent two months as interns in German companies. All of the participants in the joint initiative met at the German Foreign Office for the ceremonial awarding of their certificates.

Japan’s young generation lives in the here and now

Das Goethe: Issue 2/2017
What do you believe in?

On 16 November, the fourth issue of the Goethe-Institut’s ZEIT supplement will appear. This time, das goethe travels to young people in Tokyo, Lagos and Jakarta and asks them, “What do you believe in?” As a result, in Japan’s capital city the journalist Kyoko Iwaki encounters a devoted generation, in which hardly anyone still believes in a permanent job and a secure future.

Workshop

Women’s and Gender Projects
A Human Concept

Oppression, exclusion, physical and psychological violence: The women’s and gender projects of the Goethe-Institut Cairo counter them with education and empowerment in workshops for women and men. It is about raising awareness and about renegotiating the distribution of roles within a society.

Nino Haratischwili at a reading with Olga Gryaznova

Villa Tarabya
Nino Haratischwili in Istanbul

The multiple award-winning writer and theatre director Nino Haratischwili comes from Georgia, lives in Hamburg and presently holds a scholarship for a residency at the Kulturakademie Tarabya in Istanbul. There, the 34-year-old author of the novel The Eighth Life is living and working for three months on the grounds of the former summer home of the German ambassador.

Moskau, 2017 "We are in a cocoon!” A performance of Artúr van Balen

"Metamorphoses" in Moscow
The Time of Monsters

A 15-metre-long inflatable caterpillar hovered through Gorky Park in Moscow this weekend. The bizarre monument is a work of art by the action artist Artúr van Balen. The performance as well as the current exhibition Metamorphoses, which documents the previous actions of van Balen’s group Tools for Action, were supported by the Goethe-Institut Moscow.

Feeling instead of seeing.

Beyond Seeing
More Than Meets the Eye

Sonja Köllinger and Lydia Zoubek both write blogs about fashion, lifestyle and their everyday lives. What they don’t have in common is that Sonja is sighted and Lydia is blind. For BEYOND SEEING they both took part in a Franco-German event for bloggers organised for the Woche des Sehens (Week of Sight) by the Goethe-Institut Paris in cooperation with the German Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted (DBSV).

Participant Irma Wahyuni.

Visitors’ Journey
“The open congregations made me proud”

The Islamic scholar Irma Wahyuni visited Germany for two weeks for a visitors’ journey organised by the Goethe-Institut for Muslim intellectuals from Indonesia. Here, she speaks about refugees, radicalism and individualism.

Host Sonja Koppitz speaking live from the breakfast table.

Warsaw Radio Bridge
Live from the Goethe-Institut Warsaw

It seems as if Berlin and Warsaw are worlds apart: A push to the right and judiciary reform, media censorship and demonstrations against the ban on abortions. Yet the Warsaw arts scene is one of the most creative in Europe. Radioeins broadcasted live from the Goethe-Institut Warsaw. Now the shows can be heard again on the podcast.

Premiere of Emocracy.

Emocracy
No one is immune to populism

How strongly is democracy influenced by emotions? And educated citizens by populism? More than we think, as we learn from the performance Emocracy, a coproduction of Goethe-Institut and Sophiensaele, which celebrated its premiere in Berlin. One of the highlights: the audience essentially decides the course of the two-person play.

Arbeitsgruppe

Open Situation Room
Europa, bleib vernünftig

Startfreigabe in München: Im Rahmen eines Workshops über das „Radikale Europa“ eröffnete der Generalsekretär des Goethe Instituts, Johannes Ebert, den ersten „Open Situation Room“ (OSR) der Stiftung Mercator im Goethe-Institut. Er dient dazu, entschieden gegen Radikalisierungstendenzen in Europa Position zu beziehen.

Ursonate by Dadaist Kurt Schwitters.

Persimfans Orchestra
When no one sets the tone

In the centennial year of the October Revolution, Tonhalle Düsseldorf brought the local symphony musicians together with the Persimfans Orchestra of Russia. Its unique feature is that, true to the maxims of the original Persimfans Orchestra of 1922, the musicians play without a conductor. A joint concert in Moscow in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut unites the highlights of the two Düsseldorf performances.

Street art from the guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair

Frankfurt Book Fair
Goethe at Home

The Goethe-Institut makes its way to the vibrant literary scene of the Frankfurt Book Fair with an extensive programme.

Visitors of the big opening-party danced to techno and trance.

Goethe-Institut Beirut
Celebrating the New Premises in Lebanon

The Goethe-Institut has had a presence in Beirut since 1955. It’s time it had more space, so a new building was opened in the Lebanese capital with a big party. The new space will also be made available to Lebanese artists.

Timm Thaler wins a horseracing bet.

22nd Schlingel Film Festival
Timm Thaler wins the Youth and Children’s Film Award

This year’s Goethe-Institut Youth and Children’s Film Award went to Timm Thaler oder das verkaufte Lachen (The Legend of Timm Thaler or The Boy Who Sold His Laughter) by Andreas Dresen. The award ceremony took place on 30 September at the Schlingel Film Festival in Chemnitz. Dresen’s film tells the story of Timm, who makes a pact with the devil and trades his laughter for luck in betting.

Carolyne Kariuki from Kenia.

Afrika kommt!
(I Wish I Could) Sprechen Sie Deutsch

Afrika kommt! or “Africa is Coming!” is the name of an exchange programme launched by German companies in 2008 that offers advanced training for junior executives from sub-Saharan Africa. It aims to make them familiar with workflows and management methods and create long-lasting economic alliances. The participants learn German at the Goethe-Institut in Bonn.

The Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir at the Desert Song Festival 2017 in Alice Springs.

Philosophical Series
“Culture is in fact a river of sand”

A philosophical tour group is travelling the Australian desert. Together with Philosophie Magazin, the Goethe-Institut Sydney invited four German philosophers and humanities scholars to Australia for ten days. They are dealing with the human identity in a world of increasing fragmentation and alienation, even from nature.

Maya relict or present for baby Jesus.

Episodes of the South
New Perspective(s)

The decolonialisation of thought is the declared aim of Episodes of the South. The many-voiced project by the Goethe-Instituts in South America visualises perspectives of the Global South. At the Ruhrtriennale, artists, sociologists and art historians met at PACT Zollverein, conducted dialogues with objects and approached the subject matter artistically and musically.

You’re never too young to get a feel for the ball.

Moscow
Taking German to the Title!

The project Mit Deutsch zum Titel! gives language acquisition a sporting edge. Prior to the 2018 Football World Cup in Russia, the Goethe-Institut is inviting about 1,000 pupils across the country to special football-related German lessons. The best teams can look forward to the Goethe Cup. The patron is German team manager Joachim Löw.

Performance at the Gender Bender Festival 2017.

Gender Bender 2017
Solace in dismal times

For the third edition of the Gender Bender festival, the Goethe-Institut Bangalore asked artists from all genres to express their views of prevailing gender images and portrayals of the human body. The writer, director and actor Deepika Arwind gives us an insight into the festival that was held in early September at the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan in Bangalore.

CEO Ebert (centre) and Ambassador Ernst Reichel (on the right) in the literature garden

German-Ukrainian Year of Languages
The Land of German Learners

Concerts, theatrical performances, summer camps etc, etc, etc ... The German-Ukrainian Year of Languages now opened in Kiev.

One of the genres Antonia Baehr and Carola Caggiano work in is sound art.

Artists’ Residency in Colombia
Forest Utopias

During their Forest Utopias residency in the rainforest of Colombia’s Departamento del Chocó, participants deal artistically with the region and its inhabitants. Here, we present the work of some of the resident artists.

Children’s theatre production Woodways: Encounter with the raw material wood.

Theatre Festival in Luanda
Performances with Wood and Sand

Woodways and Sandscapes: Theatre ensembles with children and adolescents from Kenya, Cameroon, Zimbabwe and Nigeria were guests of the FESTECA theatre festival in Luanda. Their plays addressed how people encounter the raw materials of wood and sand. Both of the productions are wordless.

Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, Irina Scherbakowa, Johannes Ebert, Marianne Birthler, Emily Dische-Becker, Emily Nasrallah, Christina von Braun, Urvashi Butalia, Christa Wichterich

Goethe Medal 2017
Three strong women

Publisher Urvashi Butalia of India, writer Emily Nasrallah of Lebanon and civil rights activist Irina Shcherbakova of Russia were awarded the Goethe Medal on 28 August.

The students get to know each other in various competitions.

Asia-Pacific German Olympics
"The best week of my life"

Getting to know and learn from one another in German, 8,000 kilometres from Germany. Seventy-seven pupils from ten countries met in Thailand for the first Asia-Pacific German Olympics.

Performance in a brilliant outfit at Haus der Kulturen der Welt.

Kinshasa Collection
In the Realm of the Cuts

The Goethe-Institut and Pong Film presented the Kinshasa Collection at Haus der Kulturen der Welt.

Goethe-Institut Lomé, 1976 – Two students take a short break while the gentleman between them takes care of the equipment

66 Years of Goethe
When the world is spinning even faster

It is another anniversary for the Goethe-Institut. Although it’s not a milestone year, this anniversary needs to be celebrated.

Participants present their favorite german words at the booth of PASCH-net during the PASCH-Forum of the IDT.

IDT 2017
German as A Voice in the Chorus

On 4 August, the 50th anniversary of the world’s largest conference for German as a foreign and second language was topped off by a resolution: in Fribourg, Switzerland, 1,700 teachers voted in favour of integrating immigrants’ native languages more extensively into the concept of worldwide teaching.

Martin Roth

Obituary
“The world was his field”

With the passing of Martin Roth, the Goethe-Institut has lost a lively catalyst and an esteemed member of the General Meeting, which he belonged to since December 2015. A personal tribute by Klaus-Dieter Lehmann.

The exhibition A House United.

Hong Kong and Berlin
Comic Exchange of East and West

In Berlin and China, two exhibitions by the Goethe-Institut Hong Kong bring together comic strip artists and readers from Hong Kong and Germany.

Liz Rosenfeld

Liz Rosenfeld at Goethe at LUX 2017
Queered thinking in London

The artist Liz Rosenfeld deals with queer perspectives on history. As an artist-in-residence at the Goethe-Institut and the LUX archive for moving image newly established Goethe at LUX Residency in London, she is working on a short film. She spoke about her residency and her work in a video interview.

Musiciens mauritaniens

Musique Maure
Blues from the Desert

Needs the history of pop music to be rewritten? The Goethe-Institut Senegal supported jazz pianist Mike Herting’s project to capture the musical heritage of Mauritania. His study entitled “Blues from the Desert” declares Musique Maure as the origin of blues and jazz.

Anand Batbileg und Tristan Göbel in Durban

International Film Festival
Goodbye Berlin – Hallo Durban

In Goodbye Berlin, Fatih Akin’s adaptation of Wolfgang Herrndorf’s coming of age novel Why We Took the Car, the two actors Anand Batbileg and Tristan Göbel experience the perfect summer. They were on the screen at the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) in South Africa at the invitation of the Goethe-Institut. Between the gala opening of Focus Germany and a visit to a dolphin show, we caught up with them for an interview.

A dream comes true: Indian pupils and teachers meet the chancellor.

Startup with German
Group Portrait with a Lady

German pupils and teachers from India take a three-week journey to the place where their elective subject is part of everyday life. They delight in pedestrian traffic lights, waste separation and chocolate, but most of all in their visit to see Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Installation with puzzle pieces by Varsha Bhide.

Double Road
When the Isar joins the Vrishabavathi

During their stay in the Bavarian state capital, six Indian artists from the Double Road exchange project ask about similarities and differences between Bangalore and Munich. It is all about political co-determination and urban resources. Their works can now be viewed at three places in Munich.

Interactive installation on time.

500th Anniversary of the Reformation
“Guided by the People’s Tongue”

“There is a time for everything.” Figures of speech used by 500 years ago have been passed down to our daily usage. The exhibition "Aufs Maul geschaut. Mit Luther in die Welt der Wörter" (roughly: "Guided by the People’s Tongue: With Luther in the World of Words") invites us to feel, hear, read and experience these words. We spoke with the curator, Friedrich Block.

The exhibition "Kinshasa 2050" also showed digital works.

A Digital City?
Kinshasa 2050

An interdisciplinary festival in the Congo capital invited artists to explore the digital future of Kinshasa. Nadine Siegert was there as the curator of the exhibition Kinshasa 2050.

Picture from the exhibition

Canada 150
German-Canadian Stories

The Goethe-Institut and the German Embassy in Canada, along with many Canadian and German partners, are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the confederation of the country with a series of cultural events underscoring German-Canadian friendship. The exhibition Canada and Germany: Partners from Immigration to Innovation / Le Canada et l’Allemagne: Partenaires de l’immigration à l’innovation shows the history of the close ties between the two countries.

Klaus-Dieter Lehmann during the interview

An Interview with Klaus-Dieter Lehmann
“Life’s reality is what’s decisive”

In view of the political changes in the USA, the work of the six Goethe-Instituts there is becoming increasingly important. In a video interview, President Klaus-Dieter Lehmann explains how the Goethe-Institut aims to strengthen transatlantic communication and cooperation.

Nino Haratischwili and Stephan Wackwitz

Festival: Literature in Dialogue
Georgia is a pluralistic society

Producing intellectual and artistic sources of friction, working out similarities, revealing differences and illustrating the necessity of social change: At the literature festival in Georgia, the Goethe-Institut Tbilisi offers encounters between German and Georgian writers. German-Georgian author Nino Haratishvili spoke with institute director Stephan Wackwitz.

The entrance to the new Institute

New Site for the Goethe-Institut Munich
In Conversation with the City

The Goethe-Institut Munich has moved to Haidhausen, one of the city’s most popular neighbourhoods. Time to look back at 66 years of shared city history in an interview with institute director Manuela Beck.

Oliver Scheytt, president of the Kulturpolitischen Gesellschaft, and Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Sigmar Gabriel

WORLD. CULTURE. POLICY. // Ninth Federal Cultural Policy Congress
New Pathways to Understanding

What are the consequences of globalisation for culture and cultural policy? Is there still a boundary between “domestic” and “foreign”? What challenges do cultural mediators face today? These questions were negotiated in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut at the Ninth Federal Cultural Policy Congress in Berlin.

Helmut Kohl, Hilmar Hoffmann and Bernhard Vogel 1996 in Weimar at the opening of the first Goethe-Instituts in the new federal states.

Obituary
Helmut Kohl believed in Europe’s cultural dimension

The death of the former Chancellor Helmut Kohl is the loss of a friend and advocate of the Goethe-Institut. In many ways, the Kohl era also guided the work of the Goethe-Institut, particularly in the years following the fall of the wall.

The winning Email

das goethe contest
Europe – as we like it

In the cultural magazine das goethe that was issued as a supplement to the weekly Die Zeit in mid-May, readers were asked about their favourite place in Europe and given the chance to win a drawing for a journey to Brussels with an exclusive art gallery tour. The head office of the Goethe-Institut received more than 800 responses. They demonstrate Europe’s great diversity and beauty.

Johannes Ebert shows the Goethe-Infocontainer of the PopUp Tour to the chancellor Angela Merkel

Year of Germany in Mexico
An Alliance for the Future

After twelve months with more than 1,400 events, the Year of Germany in Mexico has come to an end. Last weekend’s AleMANÍAfest drew more than 35,000 visitors including Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“We’re off and away!” – seven teens from Berlin on stage

Third European PASCH School Theatre Festival 2017
A New Life

One subject – one stage – five interpretations. At this year’s PASCH theatre festival in Berlin, teens from all over Europe met with plays in German they’d written themselves in tow.

Project manager Anne Schönhagen accepts the award for Umwelt macht Schule

Transformation Project Umwelt macht Schule Receives Award
Think, Research, Act

What can be done when a Russian village has only one natural source of drinking water left? How can paper be manufactured without chopping down forests? In the Goethe-Institut Moscow’s networking project Umwelt macht Schule, teenagers successfully developed solutions for the environmental problems in their neighbourhoods. Their dedication won over the German Council for Sustainable Development.

Titles of both productions

Dual Productions of The Ridiculous Darkness by Wolfram Lotz in Porto Alegre
Theatre as an Instruction Manual for Reality

For the first time, The Ridiculous Darkness by Wolfram Lotz will be staged twice in Brazil. For the 2017 Palco Giratório theatre festival, the directors Camilo de Lelis and Alexandre Dill are each putting their interpretation of the play on stage in a first for Brazil.

Adriana Altaras in Iceland

Writer-in-Residence for the Goethe-Institut Denmark
Reykjavik, the City of Literature– Seen from Within

In cooperation with Reykjavik, the UNESCO City of Literature, the Goethe-Institut Denmark offers German authors the opportunity to spend two months in the capital of Iceland to write and to do research. The writers-in-residence document their experiences and impressions in Iceland on the blog Literaturstadt Reykjavik – von innen betrachtet (Reykjavik, the City of Literature– Seen from Within). Adriana Altaras wrote an exclusive blog entry for The Latest at Goethe.

Performative program at the opening of the exhibition "Zeit zum Jubeln"

Street Art Museum
Russian Revolution on the Walls of St. Petersburg

In 2017, Russia is celebrating the centennial of the Russian Revolution. The Goethe-Institut St Petersburg has dedicated a major cultural project (an exhibition and performance programme) to the occasion in collaboration with two German curators. Yasha Young is the director of the Urban Nation Museum in Berlin and co-curator of an exhibition at the St Petersburg Street Art Museum. The dramaturge, curator and author Florian Malzacher is artistic director of the Impulse theatre festival in Cologne, Düsseldorf and Mülheim an der Ruhr. He is working on his cultural programme at another St Petersburg art institution: the Access Point Summer Festival of the Arts. Here, the two report on their work.

Mephisto welcomes the guests

Long Night of Ideas
Being Faust – Enter Mephisto

Love, familiy, friends – What would I sell my soul to keep? Not only Goethe’s Faust asked himself this question, but also the players of the game Being Faust – Enter Mephisto. After stops in South Korea and Hong Kong, the co-production by the Goethe-Institut and NOLGONG had its premiere in Berlin during the Long Night of Ideas.

Excerpt from the cover of the latest Goethe-Institut ZEIT supplement

das goethe: Edition 1/2017
“Letter to (and from) Europe” by Juan Gabriel Vásquez

The third edition of the Goethe-Institut ZEIT supplement will be issued on 18 May. The focus of das goethe is on an outer-European look at Europe. In his essay for the cultural magazine, the Colombian writer Juan Gabriel Vásquez advocates a tolerant, liberal, open Europe: a Europe of empathy.

Awardee Miroslav Klose with Sigmar Gabriel and Roland Bischof

Football Honour
And the ambassador is...

Horst Kriete, Miroslav Klose and Bastian Schweinsteiger have been named Football Ambassadors of the year 2017.

The residents

documenta 14
Between improvisation and distanced sparkle

The Goethe-Instituts in South America are taking part in documenta 14 with several projects including the Capacete residency programme in Rio de Janeiro, which offers artists a ten-month stay in Athens. Six of the residents now report on Athens and their initial experiences in the city.

The children in the temporary housing are looking forward to the upcoming film screening

Cinemanya
Film cases deployed for refugee children and teens

The Goethe-Institut’s CINEMANYA film cases have been in use across Germany for media education work with refugee children and teens since 2015. In the year 2016 alone, they reached over 10,000 youngsters. A visit to a film screening at the initial reception facility of the German Red Cross in Hamburg offers insights into the work of the volunteers.

Participants of the project in Brussels

Sweating for Europe
Bathrobe Debates

Citizens and members of the European Parliament get closer in and around a mobile sauna, discussing politics and cultures in a relaxed atmosphere. This is an event that Brussels has never experienced before and it is for Finland’s centennial.

Exhibition of Gerhard Richter at DE_TSCH 2017

Czech-German cultural spring
Gerhard Richter and the grey appeal of randomness

Ema, Betty, Gudrun, Rudi ... these are names one should know in order to navigate contemporary painting. People with these names are on the pictures by painter Gerhard Richter that can be seen at the National Gallery in Prague being held as part of the Czech-German Cultural Spring in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Prague.

The exhibition as a platform for diaolge

ACTOPOLIS – Touring Exhibition
Artistic activism for the city of tomorrow

What possibilities are there for shaping and changing cities? Action strategies were tested in the search for urban alternatives. We asked curator Angelika Fitz about findings and strategies between art, urban planning and activism.

The final concert of LAUTSTARK

German Spring in Tallinn 2017
The cuckoo clock in a digital society

Germany and Estonia are closely connected by a mutual history and culture, as well as their long and amicable political and economic relations. In the German Spring, events centred on art, culture, business, science and the German language will present a diversified programme being realized together by the Goethe-Institut Tallinn, the German Embassy in Tallinn and many other partners.

Intervention Mobilization, Crime and Security

Mexibility
We are in the city - we cannot leave it

Mobility, not as physical movement in the city, but as a question of social, economic and ecological movement, is the focus of Mexibility. The project was realized as part of the Year of Germany by the Goethe-Institut in Mexico and uses mapping, photography and narrative to make social and political circumstances palpable.

Atlas der Gesten in Genoa

Atlas of Gestures/Dance 1866
Virgilio Sieni Turns Genoa into a Stage

Can a society that has lost sight of the meaning of relationships over the course of time come together once again and reshape its coexistence? To this end, Virgilio Sieni, together with the Goethe-Institut Genoa, choreographically explored Genoa.

Kamakan in Berlin

Insights into the Iranian Art, Music and Literary Scenes
More modern than many think

Within a period of less than four months, more than thirty Iranian and exiled Iranian artists, cultural professionals and many visitors gathered in Berlin to demonstrate the vibrancy of the Iranian arts scene. Iranian Modernity, the Goethe-Institut’s cultural programme, produced encounters, inspired people to think and enhanced our image of what modernity means in Iran and for Iranian cultural professionals.

Visitors of the fringe programme For Keepsake, Keep Me

IKAT/eCUT in Jakarta
Fast Fashion is Unfashionable

Traditional handcraft, fair production, contemporary design: The IKAT/eCUT project’s textile residencies bring six designers from Germany together with producers of traditional textiles in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. Fast Fashion – The Dark Side of Fashion is an exhibition in the context of the project.

Video with Rachel Nyangombe and Bebson de la Rue.

Congo: Music in a Post-Colonial Context
The Silence after the Beat

How do raves and colonialism fit together? The artist Henrike Naumann playfully reversed colonial practices using the example of Belgian “New Beat,” an early version of European Techno.

Klaus-Dieter Lehmann talks to artist Ünsal İçöz.

Sixtieth Anniversary of the Goethe-Institut
Telling It Like It Is

German-Turkish relations are currently under stress. In his speech for the 60th anniversary of the Goethe-Institut in Ankara, Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, the president of the Goethe-Institut, stressed that it is all the more important to maintain the dialogue and stand up as a guarantor of freedom of expression. “There could be better times for a jubilee celebration, but certainly no more necessary time than now,” he said.

„Factory of the Sun“ by Hito Steyerl

“Fabrik” touring with the Biennial Pavilion
The Journeying Pavilion

If they can’t come to us... “Fabrik” is sending the artistic positions of the German Pavilion at the 2015 Vienna Biennial on a world tour. Together with Goethe-Institut the wandering exhibition will show works by five international artists on the themes of work, migration and revolt. The first stop will be made at the Sursock Museum in Beirut.

The word was center of "Competing Narratives"

Competing Narratives
Standing Up for Liberal Values

The power of words: In Berlin, literary and political theorists, philosophers, journalists and scientists discussed on “Competing Narratives” and tried to figure out why the liberal narrative is at crisis. Johannes Ebert hopes for new insights in the work between Goethe-Institut, cultural and social partners. Cornelius Wüllenkemper talked to some participants of the conference and wrote for Deutschlandfunk.

“From Book to Bot” – How did the meaning of self-determination change after the Reformation?

Leipzig Book Fair
“Until twenty years ago only serial killers had profiles”

“From Book to Bot” addresses self-determination in the digital age in one of many events organized by the Goethe-Institut at the Leipzig Book Fair. Panellist Andreas Bernard reveals in advance why our criticism of the media would have gone over well rhetorically in the Middle Ages.

For some participants, Ohrwurm was their first encounter with the German language and pop culture.

Ohrwurm
MfG: Sincerely yours

The TV song contest Ohrwurm (earworm) put German pop music on televisions across Thailand. The finale was broadcast live nationally. More than three million viewers rooted for their favourites.

Inseparable, Christoph Biemann and “the Mouse.” Amazing and making kids think is very important to him.

Children’s Online University
Christoph Biemann: “Laugh and You Learn Faster”

Why is the sky blue? Why do seashells hum? How does a television work? For years, the Sendung mit der Maus, called Mouse TV in English, has been answering these questions and more recently so has the Children’s Online University developed by the Goethe-Institut Moscow. We spoke with Christoph Biemann.

Architects in conversation: arch+ co-editor Anh-Linh Ngo (left) interviews star architect Võ Trọng Nghĩa from Vietnam in Berlin.

Panel discussion
The Return of Climate in Architecture

The renowned magazine arch+ is exploring modern architecture in Vietnam. The edition focused on the country’s star architect Võ Trọng Nghĩa with whom there was a discussion in Berlin.

The Award ceremony in Munich: Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, president of the Goethe-Institut, Abbas Khider and Uta-Micaela Dürig, manager of the Robert-Bosch-Stiftung.

Adelbert von Chamisso Prize
“I mistrust art that aims to convey a message.”

Female superheroes, Facebook chats and identity crises – for the last time, the Adelbert von Chamisso Prize was awarded to three authors whose work is shaped by more than one culture and language. They cannot be reduced to a simple message.

Education, culture, dialogue: Johannes Ebert about the responsibilities of cultural institutions.

An Interview with Johannes Ebert
Competing Values

Cairo, Ankara, Beirut, New York: Johannes Ebert, secretary-general of the Goethe-Institut, talks about new risks and strategies for foreign cultural work and the boundaries of dialogue.

Jasleen Kaur and eleven other international artists imagined what Europe might look like 2,000 years from now.

Collecting Europe
On the streets, the confidence is fading

London was always open to the world, but today, more and more of the British are closing themselves off. It’s as if dreams of a borderless Europe and diversity are only possible in museums

Young people report about their everyday lives in self-produced stories and videos.

Tell Me Your Story
Caught between fragile normality and banal brutality

Where do you come from and why are you here? What do you miss and what are you looking for? Young Syrian refugees tell their stories in videos and photographs. The Goethe-Institut is presenting them online.

Residenztheater actors present the readings of two Kurdish playwrights at Welt/Bühne II

Welt/Bühne II
Dramatic Linguistic Turmoil

The Kurdish culture and language have long been at the centre of political conflicts. The Goethe-Institut is presenting the works of two Kurdish playwrights to continue its Welt/Bühne series.

Berlinale Bloggers 2017
Gender Issues in a Bearskin

Bloggers from twelve countries accompanied the Berlinale, reporting daily for the Goethe-Institut. In the photo interview, one of them looks back at ten days in a bear costume and the hidden power of women.

Staff members were happy to answer questions about vocational training and further education over an espresso at the fair stand.

didacta 2017
For the Love of Learning

The didacta is Europe’s largest educational fair and shows what direction the future of learning is going – from early childhood to adult education. Have an espresso at the Goethe-Institut’s stand.

The exhibition is the first to show Claudia Andujar’s work in Europe.

Exhibition by Claudia Andujar
Tomorrow must not be like yesterday

Well-established in Latin America, her images deserve broad attention in Europe: In her photography, the Swiss artist Claudia Andujar bears witness to her adopted Brazilian homeland. The Goethe-Institut is dedicating an exhibition to her at Frankfurt’s MMK.

“Filmmaking is always a journey,” says Julia Jentsch.

Berlin & Beyond
“This film has to come to America”

With Berlin & Beyond, the Goethe-Institut is bringing the best films from German-speaking countries to the screen in San Francisco for the 21st time. Julia Jentsch, who received the Spotlight Award in Acting from the festival, travelled to the hilly city for the first time. In our interview, she talks about her new film that looks at the taboo topic of abortion.

Visitors at the vernissage in Moskow.

The Border
Between here and there, me and you

Borders are part of everyone’s lives – what do they signify? Who defines borders? When do they confine us and when are they important? With its travelling exhibition The Border, the Goethe-Institut is seeking answers to these questions by means of artistic considerations. Here, participating artists offer insights into their reflections and works.

My Book – My Teacher delivers picture and reading books to children at community centres and refugee accommodations all over Lebanon.

Transporting Literature
My Book – My Teacher

Awakening a love of reading: in January and February, the project My Book – My Teacher by the Goethe-Institut Lebanon in cooperation with Orienthelfer e.V. will distribute 33,000 free books to children in Lebanon affected by displacement.

When the earth seems light: Scene from a photography project about Georgian skateboarders by David Meskhi

Converter web portal
The Taste of Russulas

Goethe’s new web portal Converter is about the small stuff. Small stuff like life.

Short videos discuss themes of privacy.

P3M5 – Plurality of Privacy
Boundaries unbound?

With Plurality of Privacy, the Goethe-Institut is launching a transnational discourse about privacy. American and European playwrights address trump and vexation in the virtual world in five-minute videos.

Photo: ‘4017 Enacted’

Collecting Europe
How might our present be viewed from the future?

Throughout the festival “Collecting Europe” the Goethe-Institut London asks what defines Europe today? 12 artists from around the world will imagine what Europe might look like 2,000 years from now. Here you can read what the artists expect from Europe in 4017.

In short animated films, youngsters at HUMRA express what moves them about human rights.

HUMRA – Human Rights Animation
What rights do “humanoids” possess?

What does it mean to be human? And how do we protect the dignity of individuals? In the Goethe-Institut project HUMRA – Human Rights Animation, young people grappled artistically with human rights issues. In cooperation with Russian comic artists, they created short, thought-provoking animated films.

The Iranian music producer Ramin Sadighi has been part of Tehran’s music scene for over twenty years.

Iranian Modernity
For a more complete picture of Iran

The Goethe-Institut is immersing itself in the contemporary arts scene of Iran with the three-month cultural programme Iranian Modernity. In an interview, Iranian music producer Ramin Sadighi expresses his pleasure over the growing cultural diversity of Tehran’s music scene and hopes for more space and fewer restrictions.

For their House Calls, guests end up in quite dissimilar European everyday realities.

House Call
Hello, Europe! Anyone home?

With its House Call project, the Goethe-Institut plants ten authors in the everyday lives of European city dwellers. The hosts reveal a bit of their lives’ realities and their guests write about them. The result is a literary, connective, miniature Europe that will now be issued as a six-language e-book.

Kritikmaschine, a transnational series of events, brings together intellectuals worldwide for discussions.

Kritikmaschine
Kursbuch takes a trip around the world

Kursbuch is celebrating! For more than 50 years, the cultural magazine has been offering up-to-date discussions on politics, business and society. Together with the Goethe-Institut, the editorial team is organizing a transnational event series called Kritikmaschine. Watch videos here with excerpts from the socio-political talks in Moscow, Lisbon and Paris.

The activist Lukáš Houdek immersed himself in the LGBTI scene of Amman for two weeks as part of the project Carte Blanche Middle East.

Carte Blanche Middle East
“Perhaps everyone is struggling more with themselves”

Is there a LGBTI scene in Jordan? And is the Czech Republic really as liberal about same-sex love as it seems? These questions were discussed at an event called Amman Same Sex Love at the Goethe-Institut Prague. The results are surprising.

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The Latest at Goethe 2018

The Latest at Goethe 2019

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