Opening
Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Kolkata opens at Park Mansions!
Mr. Friso Maecker, the Director of Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan inaugurated the institute's new premises at Park Mansions on 13th January 2018. He was joined by Mr. Rainer Pollack, Business Director (global) of Goethe-Institut, Mr. Heiko Sievers, Director of Goethe-Institut South Asia and Mr. Jürgen Thomas Schrod, Deputy Consul General of Germany.
The Chief Guest at the opening was Mr. Bratya Basu, Hon’ble Minister, Department of Information Technology
Other dignitaries who graced the occasion:
Ms. Claudia Maul, Deputy Regional Director South Asia and Director Language Programmes
Dr. Leonhard Emmerling, Regional Director Cultural Programmes South Asia
Ms. Ute Reimer-Böhner, Regional Director Information and Library Services South Asia
Ms. Kerstin Schwabe, Regional Business Director South Asia
Dr. Martin Wälde, Director Goethe-Institut Mumbai – former director Goethe-Institut Kolkata
The “Unveiling” of the institute by Mr. Friso Maecker and the Dignitaries was followed by music performances by ÄL JAWALA from Germany and Strings&Circuits from Kolkata. Thereafter, the approx. 200 friends from the cultural scene were treated to a gala dinner comprising of Indian and German delicacies.
Mr. Friso Maecker on the new Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Kolkata:
"Our new premises are located in Park Mansions which is a historic landmark built in 1908 on Kolkata’s most famous street, Park Street. The building was endowed with the “Heritage Award” in 2014. We have a much larger area available in our three-storey building in Park Mansions with exclusive entrance via Gate 4.
In addition to the historic walls and a traditional floor elaborately restored to its original model, symbolizing the 60-year-old roots of the Goethe-Institut in West Bengal, the interior is divided into well-lit, spacious, modern-style zones.
The large foyer functions as a connecting block as well as a hall for events. Over 200 miniature busts of J.W.v.Goethe, made by one of the legendary Bengali "Idol Makers" from Kumartoli greet our guests. More graphics in different places in the auditorium were made by one of the best cinema poster painters in Kolkata. On the one side is the multifunctional auditorium. A very good acoustics allows us events of all kinds, from Western classical music to electronic music; we can present exhibitions and our new lighting and sound system also offers all the prerequisites for conferences, theatre and performances. The language course office can also be reached directly from the foyer.
On the other side is the communicative part of the new library with a DVD lounge and media about art and general information about Germany. The cafeteria moves into the library during normal operation. Stop by for a cup of Darjeeling tea and German-Indian food and browse through our more than 6,000 German and English-language media, books, children's books, games, magazines, CDs and DVDs. If you want to take a medium home with you, thanks to our new RFID library system, it's easy - Monday through Sunday from 9am to 7pm. The library is now also not only an additional venue for readings, but also smaller film screenings and concerts due to its "sitting-staircase".
In the second part of the library is the quieter work area with all teaching and learning materials, literature, history, philosophy, etc. as well as numerous workstations and a listening lounge. This is followed directly by the classrooms, so that course and seminar participants will find direct access from the course to the books. The move allowed us to double the number of our classrooms."
The event on the 13th of January officially opened the institute’s doors to the people. The opening-evening was followed by a weeklong opening programme, which included the inauguration of all rooms for concerts, readings, storytelling for children, theatre performances, an exhibition, small trial sessions of German language, film screenings, workshops and a youth congress totaling over 1300 guests.
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More about ÄL JAWALA and Strings&Circuits:
ÄL JAWALA
Balkan Big Beats
Oriental Brass / Bigbeats / Gypsy Soul
Äl Jawala sets the dance floors on fire, shaking up wild oriental gypsy brass with funky, percussive clubbeats and a kaleidoscope of styles. “The concentrated energy of the saxophones blows down all cultural borders.” (Balkan Fever Vienna).
Since their formation, in the year 2000 the band from South-Germany has gone down some quite astonishing paths with their kind of "do-it-yourself" attitude. They have been busking around Europe as street musicians, igniting the fire of a whole gypsy brass band on countless drums and two saxophones! They have also toured China, Jordan and Canada and recently contributed songs to MTV ́s series "Rebel Music".
They call their style Balkan Big Beats, Fat Boy Slim meets folklore! The virtuoso saxophone lines coupled with dance beats and fat electronic basses produces musical exuberance. Äl Jawala delivers a unique mixture of party and a concert experience, sometimes urban and club orientated, sometimes mysterious and dark with a big load of Rock ́n ́Roll attitude, absolutely danceable, loud and passionate, yet still profound and full of musical richness.
Äl Jawala cleverly plays with clichés, contrasts and tension of different genres, creating an original, universal sound that transports something fundamental, global, with the power to unite the most diverse people and send them into collective dancing ecstasy.
Strings&Circuits
Orchestral instruments meet computers and modular synthesizers in eclectic musical vignettes that explore the intertextuality of analog and digital technology.
Varun Desai - Synthesizers / Electronics
Debjit Mahalanobis - Contra Bass
Dibyokamal Mitra - Violin