Features, reports and interviews from around the world
The Latest at Goethe 2019

Season's Greetings

Season's Greetings
Happy Holidays

The Goethe-Institut wishes you happy holidays and a happy New Year 2020! An eventful and exciting year 2019 is drawing to a close. We would like to thank all our friends and partners for their support, cooperation and interest in our work. We wish you a good and healthy start into the New Year and look forward to an exciting 2020 together with you!

Dharmendra Prasad: “Late Harvest”

“Five Million Incidents”
Where Does Time Go?

“Five Million Incidents”: The Goethe-Instituts New Delhi and Kolkata are serious about the idea of the institute as a public space. Over a period of nine months, they are experimenting with the Raqs Media Collective with new forms of cultural programme work.

Johannes Ebert, secretary-general of the Goethe-Institut, in the interview with “The Latest at Goethe”

An Interview with Johannes Ebert
“Europe is Our Foundation”

Decolonisation, sustainability and Europe in times of populism: The Goethe-Institut is strengthening its network to facilitate the dialogue on these and other issues. For the annual press conference of the Goethe-Institut, Secretary-General Johannes Ebert reports in an interview on the focuses of the Goethe-Institut’s international cultural and language work in 2020.

On the train through South Africa developing games

“Train Jam”
A playful train ride through South Africa

A flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town takes a good two hours. A train ride? At least 27 hours, without air conditioning. This is part of the concept of the "Train Jam" supported by the Goethe-Institut, which connects game design students and game designers.

At the conference reSITE in Prague

“Shared Cities”
From Berlin to Belgrade

Human population is constantly increasing, and with its rapid growth meets many challenges on the way. How can we prepare and adapt in time? Can we increase the quality of life by sharing the living space? The Finale of the international project “Shared Cities: Creative Momentum”, coordinated by the Goethe-Institut, has tackled these questions in Prague.

Young voices in web politics came together at the Youth Internet Governance Forum.

Youth Internet Governance Forum
Combatting Fake News with Education

The Youth Internet Governance Forum has been in existence since 2012. Now, the forum met for the first time in Germany. The Goethe-Institut supported members in the global South in their participation.

“Invisible Inventories, Installation, 2018”

"Invisible Inventories"
The Return to Wakanda

At the end of November 2019, the launch of the exhibition project "Invisible Inventories", which is supported by the Goethe-Institut, took place in Kenya. At the "Object Movement Dialogue #4" in the Nairobi National Museum, the role of local communities within the restitution debate was discussed. The Kenyan journalist Abigail Arunga was on site for "Goethe aktuell".

Playing with language: Should we create a Krach-Haus, a Krach-Moment, a Krach-Baum or a Krach-Gedicht?

“Weltenschreiber – Writers of Worlds”
Writing without a Helmet

For the project “Weltenschreiber – Writers of Worlds”, seven authors from Germany directed writing workshops for young people in Central and Eastern European cities. Workshop director Thomas Richhardt reports on his experiences with a creative writing workshop with 15 young people at the Goethe-Institut Bucharest.

The director of the Goethe-Institut Ukraine Beate Köhler opens the congress Knowledge and Learning in the Digital Age in Kiev in November

“Knowledge and Learning in the Digital Age”
Tomorrow’s Teachers

How does digitisation affect teaching and learning, but also social development and the labour market? At the Goethe-Institut Ukraine’s congress “Knowledge and Learning in the Digital Age”, “The Latest at Goethe” spoke with Philipp Koch, an expert in artificial intelligence.

Filmmakers from seven countries

"#Nucleus"
Films for a better climate

The Goethe-Institut New Zealand hosted the smartphone film competition "#Nucleus", which stimulated discussion about the environment and sustainability. Now nine filmmakers from seven countries came together to develop a short film.

During the cultural week “The Burden of Memory” in Yaoundé

“The Burden of Memory”
Finally starting the conversation

How African artists see German colonial history became clear during the cultural week “The Burden of Memory” organised by the Goethe-Instituts of the Sub-Saharan African region, held in the Cameroon capital city of Yaoundé.

Secretary-general Johannes Ebert with institute director Lien Heidenreich-Seleme and partners on the way to the Goethe-Institut LA’s new project space

(Re-) Openings of Goethe-Instituts in the US
We’ve Come to Stay

At the end of the Year of Germany in the USA, the Goethe-Instituts in the United States have strengthened their network with three completely updated institutes in Boston, Washington and Los Angeles. This is a signal of how important it is to continue the cultural and civil society dialogue between North America and Germany.

Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, Detlev Rünger, German Ambassador to Denmark, Queen Margrethe and Rane Willerslev, director of the National Museum of Denmark, on the way to the opening of the “Tyskland” exhibition

German-Danish Year of Cultural Friendship 2020
To good neighbours

On Friday in Copenhagen, Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and his Danish counterpart Jeppe Kofod opened the German-Danish Cultural Year of Friendship 2020, which the Goethe-Institut is co-organising. To mark the start of the Year of Friendship, the “Tyskland” exhibition at the National Museum of Denmark tells the history of Germany through significant objects from past centuries

Young people in Bari: Luca Carofiglio, Ilaria Cramarossa and Antonio Maria Dentamaro

“Born after ‘89”
In the footsteps of a young generation

We are now marking the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. How did young people in Italy and Germany experience the time after this event? The exhibition “Born after ‘89”, which opens on 8 November at the Goethe-Institut in Rome, answers this question with photojournalistic works.

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier with his wife Elke Büdenbender at the reopening of the Goethe-Institut Boston together with Johannes Ebert (left), secretary-general of the Goethe-Institut, and Marina May (right), director of the Goethe-Institut Boston.

The end of the Year of Germany in Boston
“For the West to remain more than a direction on the compass”

At a joint concert by the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier heralded the end of the Year of Germany in the USA.

“Worlds of Homelessness”

“Worlds of Homelessness“
The right to housing is a human right

The Goethe Institute in Los Angeles organized a four-day conference last week, called “Worlds of Homelessness”, bringing local and international scholars, advocates, artists, architects and current or formerly unhoused people together for conversations held in downtown Los Angeles.

The event offered plenty of space for dialogue.

Conference Vocational Education and Labour Mobility – Think Globally!
“All we need to do is act!”

Robots not welcome: The Goethe-Institut’s conference “Vocational Education and Labour Mobility – Think Globally!” focused on international collaboration in the context of the migration of skilled personnel.

In the Takween exhibition

“Takween” at Amman Design Week
Creation, formation, development

Amman Design Week took place in Jordan from October 4 to 12. “Takween”, a programme initiated by the design collective platform and the Goethe-Institut Jordan was also part of the meeting of creative professionals from all over the Middle East.

One of the exciting venues of the festival: the symbolic Salaam Cinema

2019 "DokuBaku" Documentary Film Festival
The Shimmer of Perception

"Truthfulness" was the motto of this year’s "DokuBaku" Documentary Film Festival in Azerbaijan. In close cooperation with the Goethe-Zentrum Baku, 38 films from around the world were shown at three venues. The independent film festival was launched in 2017 in Azerbaijan with the aim of supporting local filmmakers and non-fiction film genres.

Screenwriter Susanne Finken with the two leads Yoran Leicher and Sobhi Awad

2019 Children’s and Youth Film Award of the Goethe-Institut
Very Close Together

The German production Too Far Away by Sarah Winkenstette received this year’s Children’s and Youth Film Award at the 24th International Film Festival for Children and Young Audiences in Chemnitz. The Goethe-Institut has conferred the award during the Schlingel Festival for several years now.

The mega-game Busara

Cultural and Creative Industries in Africa
The will to face the future

The African continent is young and full of creativity. The Goethe-Institut supports cultural actors and networks them through projects and exchange platforms. Johannes Ebert, secretary-general of the Goethe-Institut, presents the work of the Goethe-Instituts in the cultural and creative industries in Africa in a special issue of the newspaper Politik und Kultur published together with the German Cultural Council.

The artistic intervention “Black Sky” by Barbara Caveng

“48 Hours in Novosibirsk”
Siberian Garage Blues

Arousing interest in art, strengthening the local scene: The Goethe-Institut brought the idea of the Berlin art festival 48h Neukölln to Novosibirsk.

Promenade concert in Młyn Hilberta

"Local Calls"
It Began with Curiosity

A promenade concert in Młyn Hilberta in the small Polish town of Dzierżoniów was the closing event of the Goethe-Institut’s Ortsgespräche (Local Calls). Artur Celiński, curator of Ortsgespräche, takes a look back at the two years of work on this project for "The Latest at Goethe".

Talking about the museum of tomorrow

"Museum Conversations" 2019 in Windhoek
It’s About the People

The African cultural infrastructure is presently at a turning point. Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, president of the Goethe-Institut, highlights the positive and mutual interest in the urgent questions of postcolonial museum work in his keynote address at the opening of the final international Museum Conversations conference in Windhoek.

During a video production workshop for young people in Syktyvkar

The Earth is Flat – How to Read Media
Manipulation, Cyberbullying and Hate Speech

We can read media, but can we distinguish real news from fake? The Goethe-Institut Moscow is now entering its second round with The Earth Is Flat - How to Read Media? and is creating a participatory educational project.

Celebration of the tenth anniversary of kulturweit

Ten Years of kulturweit
“A manoeuvrable and stable ship”

In a ceremony in the Berlin Funkhaus, alumni and politicians celebrated the tenth anniversary of the international volunteer programme kulturweit. In 2009, volunteers were sent to Goethe-Instituts and partner schools of the Goethe-Institut abroad for the first time. Then as now, curiosity and a dose of courage are important prerequisites.

Designer: Jannis Pätzold

“Still young at 250!”: Exhibition at the Humboldt Forum
“We didn’t aim to make it a laudatory homage.”

To celebrate the 250th birthday of Alexander von Humboldt, the Stiftung Humboldt Forum is organising a two-day festival together with the Goethe-Institut. On 13 September, the exhibition "The Nature of Things: Humboldt, Comings and Goings" will open in Berlin as part of these festivities. It shows 14 contemporary artists in dialogue with 14 historical artistic positions. We spoke about it with curator Halim Badawi.

Author Maayan Ben Hagai is a guest at the German-Israeli Literature Festival 2019

German-Israeli Literature Festival 2019
Get rid of the sourpusses!

Rhetoric can exclude, hurt and define others, writes the Israeli author Maayan Ben Hagai. She is a guest at the German-Israeli Literature Festival organised by the Goethe-Institut together with the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung.

(Left to right) President Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, Vahideh Mahmoodi, Enkhbat Roozon and Doğan Akhanlı

Goethe Medal 2019
Truth and Fiction

The German-Turkish writer Doğan Akhanlı, the Iranian artist and filmmaker Shirin Neshat and the Mongolian publisher and political journalist Enkhbat Roozon were awarded the Goethe Medal on 28 August. Their credibility is based on their independence, not political activism, according to Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, the president of the Goethe-Institut.

Graphics by Johanna Benz with voices and feedback on games by Enter Africa

Enter Africa at gamescom 2019
Games Have the Power

The continent of creativity: Enter Africa, a network project by the Goethe-Institut in 15 African countries, presented the mega-game Busara for the first time in the Indie Arena Booth at gamescom 2019.

The two channel video and sound installation Somatic TaleOhrZ 1, 2019, by Vassiliea Stylianidou

New exhibition by the Goethe-Institut Karachi
Limitations, Possibilities, and the Spaces in Between

We become through language and can just as easily be undone by it: Commissioned by Goethe-Institut Karachi the exhibition “Is it Possible to Live Outside of Language?” offers a timely reflection on the exclusion of diverse voices. With acknowledgement and appreciation for bodies that language has often failed to honor, the art works presented attempt to reimagine possibilities for the written, the spoken, and the ineffable.

Artist talk and walk by Hannes Wiedemann

Obscura Festival of Photography 2019 in Malaysia
Granting Space in a Polarised World

The Goethe-Institut Malaysia supports two German artists at this year’s OBSCURA Festival of Photography in George Town, Penang. Simon Menner’s collection of East German surveillance photos and Hannes Wiedemann’s photographs of US bodyhackers are geocentric at first glance. Parked under the theme of Subculture at a Southeast Asian festival, discussions around the works change at OBSCURA.

The discussion was broadcast live on SABC News

A series by the Goethe-Institut South Africa
#FutureOfJournalism

What challenges do South African and German journalism both face? And what do digital and global developments mean for the future of journalism? The Future of Journalism, a series by the Goethe-Institut South Africa, wants to discuss and find out exactly that.

Impressions of the vernissage

Exhibition opening at the Goethe-Institut Mexico
The Counterpublic of Writing

On 1 August the photography exhibition escribiendo lo público/writing the public by the German artist Flo Maak opened at the Goethe-Institut Mexico. It shows artistic interventions in the public space of Tijuana. Dealings with violence run like a common thread through the works.

In a Detroit front yard

The Year of German-American Friendship
Road Trip for Friendship

Unfamiliar views of the land of opportunity: “Typical America” is far from the coastal cities. Detroit even has a special connection to Berlin. The Year of Germany in the USA presents the longstanding friendship from forgotten perspectives.

Visitors in front of the Caligari exhibition

“The Cabinet” in Poland
Come in, we’re open!

Come closer. “The Cabinet” is a container installation by the Goethe-Institut Warsaw that virtually transports the audience into Robert Wiene’s classic silent film The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. After three weeks and nearly 3,000 visitors in front of Warsaw’s Nowy Teatr, the container installation and its volumetric, “walk in” movie has now travelled on to Wroclaw.

Agnes Heller

On the death of Ágnes Heller
A valiant voice that we shall miss

Ágnes Heller, the Hungarian philosopher and sociologist, died last Friday at the age of 90. Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, President of the Goethe-Institut, calls the holder of the Goethe Medal 2010 “a courageous defender of a liberal society”. Johannes Ebert, Secretary General of the Goethe-Institut, emphasises that she defended freedom to the end. An obituary by Michael Zichy and Jonas Lüscher.

The travelling exhibition can still be seen in Yerevan until 07 September

Opening of the Exhibition The City of Tomorrow in Yerevan
The Communist Spirit in Everyday Life

From Young Pioneer camps to artists’ houses to the Wedding Palace: The life and legacy of Soviet city planning and architecture continue to shape the urban landscape of the former USSR. Now the Goethe-Institut’s travelling exhibition The City of Tomorrow in the Eastern Europe/Central Asia region is devoted to Soviet Modernism.

During the keynote from Paul Gilroy at the conference “Echoes of the South Atlantic“

Conference „Echoes of the South Atlantic“
Lexicon for a common world

Until the 15th century, the Atlantic Ocean marked the perceptible border between Africa and Europe on the one hand and America on the other. Their overcoming set in motion a history of colonization, enslavement, exploitation and migration. The Goethe-Institut's conference "Echoes of the South Atlantic" puts this past in the center of an intercultural discourse.

The film producer Artur Brauner

The Death of Artur Brauner
Lest We Forget

On 7 July 2019, the film producer Artur Brauner died in Berlin at the age of 100. Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, the president of the Goethe-Institut, recalls Brauner’s unflagging dedication, saying, “Thanks to him, examining the inhumane National Socialist dictatorship became a central concern of German film.”

Solène Mangin (right) and Edith Le Goff explain the mission of Off Kultur

Franco-German Creative Hub in Nancy
Oh my Goethe!

The winners of the contest initiative “Oh my Goethe!” developed their start-up ideas at the Franco-German Creative Hub of the Goethe-Institut Nancy. After six months, they presented their results: a music festival concept that transcends national borders, as well as pop-up installations that make public spaces places of dialogue.

The Giant Dundu, an illuminated limb figure, during the opening evening at the E-Werk Weimar

Kultursymposium Weimar 2019
Not machines are the problem; it’s people

The motto of the second Kultursymposium Weimar was “Recalculating the Route.” At the invitation of the Goethe-Institut, experts from all over the world spoke about the issues that are crucial for our future.

President of the Goethe-Instituts Klaus-Dieter Lehmann

Die Alten müssen von den Jungen lernen

An interview with Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, Präsident des Goethe-Instituts on current topics.

During the opening of the Tanzkongress in Hellerau near Dresden

Tanzkongress 2019
What do we need to gather around?

Care, equity or empathy: What do we need to gather around? The Goethe-Institutes’ Tanzkongress in Dresden and the previous Tanz Salons connected dance with questions of encounter in new ways. Finnish choreographer Maija Hirvanen summarizes her personal impressions for "Goethe aktuell".

The Queer as German Folk exhibition can be seen at the Goethe-Institut New York until 3 August

Exhibition Opening at the Goethe-Institut New York
Queer as German Folk

The fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising is a reason to celebrate, but also to continue fighting for queer rights. The exhibition Queer as German Folk will be on view at the Goethe-Institut New York until 3 August. It’s a space to experience the past and present of the queer movement.

The latest issue of das goethe is devoted to the theme of "Cultures of Equality"

das goethe: Issue 1/2019
Blind Spots and Double Standards

On 13 June, the new issue of das goethe will be published with the theme “Cultures of Equality.” Read here in advance how the Egyptian anthropologist Dina Makram-Ebeid describes the feminism debates north and south of the Mediterranean – highlighting the responsibility of the “North” for poverty in the “South.”

The Goethe-Institut is organising the second international Kultursymposium in Weimar from 19 to 21 June 2019 under the title Recalculating the Route

Kultursymposium Weimar 2019
Recalculating the Route

From 19 to 21 June 2019, the world will meet in Weimar. More than 300 international guests from culture, industry, science, journalism, media and politics will shed light on the great upheavals of our era. Participants include Anab Jain, Pankaj Mishra, the vice president of the German Bundestag Claudia Roth and the artists collective Most Mechanics Are Crooks.

Interior view of the der oilrig installation by Marco Montiel Soto in the Kapellhaus next to the German church in Baku

Exhibition opening "The Theft of Fire – From Prometheus to Petroleum"
The Price of the Black Gold

In Baku, ten international artists are probing the curses and blessings of oil. For millennia, natural gas and oil have been part of the national culture in Azerbaijan. An exhibition by the Goethe Center Baku is now devoted to this history

The “Enter Africa“ Team at A MAZE. / Berlin in April 2019

“Enter Africa” at A MAZE. / Berlin
Action games through Africa

For the first time, the creative African network “Enter Africa” had the possibility to present itself on the European gaming stage. Supported by Goethe-Institutes in Africa, members of the individual “Enter Africa” teams showcased their 15 location-based games at the A MAZE. / Berlin.

„Ailleurs: Soacha“ by Jose Luis Bongore

Launch of the theme year Humboldt y las Américas in Bogotá
Humboldt’s Legacy

With his realisation that “Everything is interconnectedness,” Alexander von Humboldt was far ahead of his time. Latin America is now celebrating the 250th anniversary of the German naturalist with the theme year Humboldt y las Américas. The opening event took place on 8 May with the exhibition The Nature of Things: Humboldt, Comings and Goings coproduced Goethe-Institut Colombia.

Dance performance “The Mourning Citizen” by Trixie Munyama in Windhoek

Postcolonialism
Listening to One Another

There is a debate on post-colonialism being conducted in Germany more vigorously than ever before. The Goethe-Institut is tackling the topic in a series of projects, thus providing a platform for those voices from the countries of origin that are still not heard often enough.

Norway is the Guest of Honour at this year’s Frankfurter Buchmesse. From 26 to 28 April 2019, the German-Norwegian literature festival On the Way to Frankfurt at the Litteraturhuset in offered a foretaste

German-Norwegian Literature Festival “On the Way to Frankfurt”
The Blue Sofa Phenomenon

The influence of traditional literary criticism on the book market is dwindling. Entertainment rather than analysis is in demand. At the German-Norwegian literature festival On the Way to Frankfurt, the question arose whether cultural criticism was facing a crisis.

The launch of C&AL in Bogotá, Colombia, 2018

Contemporary and América Latina
More Than a Magazine

The online magazine Contemporary and América Latina (C&AL), published by the Goethe-Institut and the Institute for International Cultural Relations (ifa), offers critical reporting on contemporary art in Latin America. It is now celebrating its first anniversary.

What is a good figure? The artist Abdulrazaq Awofeso replaces the bodies of Barbie dolls with blocks of wood.

Group Exhibition: A Doll’s House
My Selfie and I

Images of women: The group exhibition A Doll’s House at the Goethe-Zentrum Baku asks how women portray themselves in contemporary art. Artists including Andy Kassier, Leah Schrager and Leyla Alakbarova provide critical, ironic and playful answers.

Participants in the cultural hackathon Coding da Vinci Süd (from left to right): Leno Veras, Molemo Moiloa, Kofi Sika Latzoo, Ignatia Nilu

Coding da Vinci Süd
Hack the Hackathon – Digitising Cultural Assets

For the cultural hackathon Coding da Vinci Süd, the Goethe-Institut invited 15 cultural professionals, coders and hackers from Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, Indonesia, Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania to Munich to present ideas and innovative apps for the digitisation of cultural assets.

Photo: © Göran Gnaudschun

Kunstraum incontra... Göran Gnaudschun
Knowing What’s Really Important

On the tenth anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Onna, the Goethe-Institut Rome asked the photographic artist Göran Gnaudschun to produce an exhibition on the past and present of Onna’s village community. Voci che si cercano (Voices Seeking One Another) will be on display from 6 April to 15 September 2019 at the Casa Onna Community Centre. In a conversation with The Latest at Goethe, Gnaudschun talks about his encounters with the people of Onna and how they deal with loss.

Participants in the public debate "Recalculating the Route" had animated discussions about the Brexit and its effects

Recalculating the Route
Please turn around, if possible

Hardly any other topic is presently dividing political debates in Europe like the Brexit. While its outcome is still unclear, with its Europe Actually series of events the Goethe-Institut London emphasises the importance of the European sense of community. Brexit was illuminated from new angles in a public debate called Recalculating the Route. The chief results of the discussion will be presented in Weimar at the Goethe-Institut’s international Kultursymposium from 19 to 21 June.

“Rules of thumb and skinned knees. What is the up-and-coming generation writing about?” -at the Leipzig Book Fair.

Leipzig Book Fair: “Rules of thumb and skinned knees. What is the up-and-coming generation writing about?”
“It’s hard for me to locate myself”

The Serbian playwright Iva Brdar and the Croatian dramatist and author Dino Pešut talk with Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, the president of the Goethe-Institut, at the Leipzig Book Fair about censorship, what one learns while hitchhiking and what makes an Eastern European author in Berlin depressed.

"Culture in times of uncertainty", discussed in Brussels Johannes Ebert, Secretary General of the Goethe Institute, Kateryna Botanova, co-curator of Culturescapes, Sir Ciarán Devane, CEO of the British Council and Gitte Zschoch EUNIC Global

Thematic brochure by the British Council and the Goethe-Institut
Approaching each other

“Culture in an Age of Uncertainty” was the topic of a discussion in Brussels between Kateryna Botanova, co-curator of Culturescapes, Sir Ciarán Devane, CEO of the British Council, and Johannes Ebert, Secretary-General of the Goethe-Institut. The focus was on challenges faced in cultural work within societies in transition and the question of how foreign cultural and educational policy can respond to growing populism in Europe and beyond.

Okwui Enwezor during his video statement for the symposium "Vertagtes Erbe" on 22.11.2018 in his apartment in Munich.

Obituary on Okwui Enwezor
The Goethe-Institut mourns the death of Okwui Enwezor

The employees of the Goethe-Institut were shocked to learn that Okwui Enwezor died on 15 March in Munich after his serious illness. With his writings and exhibitions, he made a decisive contribution to the foundation of the global discourse on art. The regular collaboration with the Goethe-Institut, too, was marked by the great visions, the inexhaustible knowledge and the incorruptible critical eye, the professional precision and the human warmth of his impressive personality.

Full house at the opening of the complete exhibition of "bauhaus imaginista" on March 14 in Berlin. Photo: Laura Fiorio/HKW

bauhaus imaginista in Berlin
My Bauhaus, Your Bauhaus

The Bauhaus was international from the beginning. The institute had a lively dialogue with other avant-garde movements all over the world. The bauhaus imaginista research project dedicates a large-scale series of exhibitions to these transnational relationships. Since 15 March, the complete exhibition can be seen for the first time in Berlin.

Freedom goes through the stomach. The project Freiraum presents its results on the state of freedom in Europe from 12-17 March in Berlin

Freiraum
Narrating Europe Means Talking about Freedom

At around 40 locations in Europe, the Goethe-Institut’s Freiraum project is bringing partners from culture and civil society together to talk. In tandems from two cities each, they explored the question of what freedom means to them and where it is in danger. Together with the Center for Art and Urbanistics and the Stiftung Mercator, selected Freiraum tandems are now showing the results of their exchange in Berlin.

Popo Fan at the film shoot

Berlinale talk with Popo Fan
“My dream is to change society with the camera”

The Chinese documentary filmmaker and activist Popo Fan is committed to the freedom of homosexuals, bisexuals and transgender people in his homeland. For the project "Cut it out" he made a short film against censorship. In an interview with Goethe aktuell, he talks about how he deals with the topic of censorship and the goals he pursues with his films.

“25 km/h” opens the 23rd Berlin & Beyond Film Festival in San Francisco

Berlin & Beyond Film Festival
“You have to work dangerously”

At its opening, the 23rd Berlin & Beyond Film Festival is showing the film 25 km/h starring Bjarne Mädel and Lars Eidinger. Bjarne Mädel, this year’s recipient of the Spotlight Award in Acting, tells us what’s behind his acting career.

Anastasiia Sliusar took part in the Studienbrücke in 2015 and is now studying biology at the Ruhr University Bochum

Studienbrücke Educational Programme
Education with No Detours

In cooperation with the Alliance of Ruhr Universities, the DAAD and other partner universities in Germany, the Goethe-Institut is preparing international school graduates in as yet 18 countries to study at a German partner university. In order to further expand the Studienbrücke (bridge to studies) in future, the Goethe-Institut, the UA Ruhr and the DAAD are signing a Memorandum of Understanding. Anastasiia Sliusar, a successful alumna of the Studienbrücke from Russia, shares her personal experiences with The Latest at Goethe.

The exhibition "The Power of Reproduction" opened on 28 February at the Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei

Exhibition: The Power of Reproduction
Another World is Necessary

In the course of digitisation, reproduction processes seem to have become commonplace. But what impact do they have on art, politics and society? This question is explored by 14 Brazilian and German artists in the exhibition The Power of Reproduction, which was opened by Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, the president of the Goethe-Institut, at the Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei on 28 February.

The exhibition Movaland opened on 22 February 2019 at Ў Gallery in Minsk

Movaland by Slavs and Tatars
You Are What You Speak

The artists’ collective Slavs and Tatars is showing Movaland, its first solo exhibition in Belarus. At the invitation of the Goethe-Institut, the group has been illuminating the historically evolved diversity of languages, cultures and identities – issues under heated discussion in Belarus due to prevailing multilingualism and the present-day (geo-)political situation – in the Minsk Ў Gallery of Contemporary Art since 22 February 2019.

Antanas Sutkus with Snape, Vilnius

Antanas Sutkus – Photographic Retrospective
Spurned Memory

To celebrate the centenary of the restored state of Lithuania, the Lithuanian National Gallery, in cooperation with the Institut français and the Goethe-Institut, presented the exhibition Kosmos with photographs by Antanas Sutkus.

The author tandem of Marc-Uwe Kling and Yu Li Lin at the Taiwan book fair

“German Stories” at the 2019 Taipei International Book Exhibition
“Data must be protected so that we can be free”

Germany is presenting itself at the 2019 Taipei International Book Exhibition under the motto “German Stories.” At the invitation of the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Goethe-Institut Taipei and the German Institute Taipei, 13 German authors are presenting their works in tandem with Taiwanese authors. Bestselling author Marc-Uwe Kling spoke with journalist and author Yu Li Lin about his dystopian satire Qualityland.

Chancellor Angela Merkel meets German students of the Goethe-Institut in Tokyo

Angela Merkel Visits Japan
Chancellor meets German learners at the Goethe-Institut in Tokyo

Angela Merkel’s visit to Japan only lasted 25 hours. Still, the Chancellor took time to meet with German learners at the Goethe-Institut Tokyo. Their conversation mainly focused on the methods of language acquisition.

Night of Ideas at the Mudam Luxembourg

Long night of ideas in Luxembourg
Get Involved!

The Long Night of Ideas in Luxembourg was marked by engagement. Institut Pierre Werner, Mudam, Institut français and the Goethe-Institut with support from the Franco-German Cultural Fund invited the public to 30 open discussion panels.

“How robust is our fundamental liberal order?”, symposium on the future of democratic constitutions in Weimar

Symposium in Weimar: “How robust is our fundamental liberal order?”
“Democracies are not self-sustaining systems”

Asking the question “How robust is our fundamental liberal order?” the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, the Goethe-Institut and the Dramaturgische Gesellschaft invited international experts to a discussion about the Weimar Constitution and the fragility of our democracy.

Residential area in Albania

"Unseen. Looking at Europe"
Out of Sight, Out of Mind

While European cities like Berlin or Paris grow ever larger, there are regions in Europe that are characterised by a complete lack of prospects. But how do people in these out-of-sight areas live? At the invitation of the Goethe-Institut, four photographers embarked on a journey to Albania, Germany, Italy and Belarus in order to shed light on various life worlds and family stories.

Thomas Ostermeier and Didier Eribon discussing the stage adaptation of the bestseller Retour à Reims

Thomas Ostermeier and Didier Eribon
Who is We?

For the production of the play Retour à Reims performed at the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, Thomas Ostermeier and Didier Eribon meet at the Goethe-Institut for a panel discussion. The director and the sociologist agree: Although the existence of social classes has disappeared from the public consciousness, the topic is more relevant than ever.

Invited guests from the arts, media, industry and politics came to the premiere of the Wallpeckers game at the Berlin Wall Memorial

Wallpeckers Game
The Dream of Borderlessness

On the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Goethe-Institut makes to division of Korea interactively come alive with the digital game Wallpeckers – From the DMZ to the Berlin Wall. Bumgoo Jong, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea, sees cautious signs of rapprochement between the two Koreas.

© French-German Cultural Center Ramallah

Treaty of Aachen: Establishing Franco-German Cultural Institutes
“Europe is also a cultural project”

On 22 January, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron signed a new friendship treaty between Germany and France. The treaty provides for the establishment of German-French cultural institutes in Erbil, Bishkek, Rio de Janeiro and Palermo. Going forward, the Goethe-Institut and the Institut français will move closer together.

Goethe-Institut Rio

Writers-in-Residence in Brazil
And the Bin-Man Drank

With the Writers-in-Residence project, the Goethe-Institut, the Deutsche Literaturfonds and the Universidade Federal Fluminense enable German writers to have a four-week stay in Rio de Janeiro to network with the local literary scene. Resident Anne Weber captures her impressions exclusively for The Latest at Goethe.

The new Goethe-Institut in Oslo is inaugurated

Reopening of the Goethe-Institut Oslo
A Beacon for Culture

On 10 January, the Goethe-Institut Norway celebrated its reopening with about 170 invited guests. The dedication ceremony in Oslo also focused on international cultural and educational policy.

Cora Knoblauch and Ali Johan at Radio BFM in Kuala Lumpur

Close-Up #GoetheCloseUp
On the Same Wavelength

For the Goethe-Institut’s Close-Up journalists’ exchange programme, Cora Knoblauch from Radioeins rbb and Ali Johan from Radio BFM swapped their workplaces in Potsdam and Kuala Lumpur. They talked for The Latest at Goethe about what experiences they are taking home with them for themselves and their stations.

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