Knowledge and Change

Societies around the world are undergoing profound changes that call for new ways of thinking, learning and acting. Under the focus theme Knowledge and Change, the Goethe-Institut explores the challenges and opportunities of societal transformation. It focuses on how we can understand, shape and navigate change. Together with partner organisations and people from the cultural sector and civil society, the Goethe-Institut creates spaces for dialogue, new perspectives and collaboration.

Focus 2026/2027

Contemporary Perspectives on Structural Change

The Machines Are No Longer Singing

How do we want to live and work in the future? How can we respond to technological change, globalisation and the climate crisis in ways that make new visions for society possible? In 2026 and 2027, the Goethe-Institut Brussels invites dialogue on the conditions that shape how we live and work together, looking to both the past and the future. The focus is on work and emancipation, prosperity and labour migration. Artists and voices from theory and research offer perspectives on current processes of transformation and develop new ideas for the future of work and our life together as a society.

Graphic Design: Our Polite Society Graphic Design: Our Polite Society Graphic Design: Our Polite Society