Culture

Bicultural Urbanite © Goethe-Institut Australien; Photo: Isabelle Beyer


Berlin Blog

Luke Troynar is a part-time wordsmith, part-time musician and semi-aspiring member of the workforce.

Brianna Summers has a fondness for inventing words and excels at Denglish. The two former Melbournians now live in Berlin.

Here they take turns blogging about the cultural idiosyncrasies between Germany and Australia. 

Bicultural Urbanite Brianna
 Netball has arrived in Berlin

Bicultural Urbanite Luke
 Berlin Art Week through the eyes of an (ex)Berlin painter

Bicultural Urbanite Brianna
 Paddling and pickles in Spreewald

Magazine

Many people forced to flee to Germany are politically, socially or artistically active there. One of them is Thabet Azzawi, a musician from Syria. Photo (detail): © Robert Michael

Living in Exile in Germany
 “You have to get out there and actively support democratic values”

In Germany, antagonism towards refugees seems to be on the rise and the far-right is exploiting the issue of migration to further their agenda. But what is it like for those directly affected? What is it is really like to live in exile in Germany?

Reforestation for air travel: What do carbon offset projects achieve? Photo (detail): © Adobe

Climate change
 Carbon compensation – a feel-good solution?

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?  

Critical voices are chipping away at the monument to scientist Alexander von Humboldt. Photo (detail): © picture-alliance/dpa-Zentralbild/Heinz Krimmer

250 years of Alexander von Humboldt
 Cracks in the memorial

Alexander von Humboldt has many enthusiastic supporters, but also some critics. On the science superstar’s 250th birthday, experts warn that his greatness as a person has been exaggerated, though no one disputes his accomplishments as a researcher.

Magazine

Service

Frequently asked questions Photo: Goethe-Institut/Sonja Tobias


Frequently asked questions

E-Reading Photo: Goethe-Institut/ Loredana La Rocca


eLibrary

Goethe-Institut translation funding Photo: Goethe-Institut/Loredana La Rocca


Translation program

Events

26.07.
- 20.10.2019
 Bauhaus Now! Exhibition
 Buxton Contemporary, Melbourne | Exhibition

02.10.
- 28.02.2020
 From the peaceful revolution to the German Unification
 Goethe-Institut Melbourne, Melbourne | Poster exhibition

17.10.2019
 Antenna Festival: Opening
 7:00 PM - 11:00 PM - Chauvel Cinema, Sydney | Film Festival Opening

Popular Articles

'Never Look Away'. © Sony Pictures

Berlinale Bloggers 2019
 Turning complex history into a neat picture

Filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck crafts a pseudo-biography about celebrated artist Gerhard Richter and is nominated for the 2019’s best foreign-language Oscar. But while applauded overseas, ‘Never Look Away’ is marked by controversy in Germany.

Market-stalls in Glebe. © Laura Wrobel

Sydney
 Paradise for Vintage Shoppers

Laura Wrobel loves vintage clothes. As soon as our editorial intern has landed in Sydney, she is already hot on the heels of trends and flea markets.

A rave among safety deposit boxes and safes: Tresor in Berlin. Photo (detail): © picture alliance/dpaweb/Soeren Stache

The 90s techno scene
 Dancing in a vault

For many people techno is the sound that defined the 1990s. In Germany, Berlin was the epicentre of the new music genre, and before mass events like the Love Parade began, raves took place inside a fairly small circle of party-goers – and in some very unusual places.

Top