Culture
Magazine

© Kai Uwe Oesterhellweg

PASCH Alumni Conference in Jakarta

In October 2017 the region Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand will hold its first conference for PASCH alumni in Jakarta. Two alumnae from New Zealand will be there. [more …]

Photo: Noah Shahar

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. [more …]

© Chris Durrant

Asia Pacific German Language Olympics

 Ten countries, one language. International encounters in German. Read about Chris Durrant's experience here. [more …]

© Goethe-Institut

#mywishforeurope
Wishes for Europe

2017 is Europe’s super election year. We have asked people in and outside of Europe: what do you wish for Europe in 2017? We sent their wishes out into the world under #mywishforeurope – on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and goethe.de. [more …]

© New Zealand International Film Festival

NZIFF
GERMAN FILMS AT THE NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2017

The New Zealand International Film Festival is screening the following selection of German language films. [more …]

Photo (detail): © Gèrard Staron – plainpicture

Language and politics at the IDT
Not all German is German

The 16th International Conference of German Teachers (IDT) will be taking place in the summer of 2017. Ahead of the event, Marianne Hepp, president of the International Association of German Teachers, talks about multilingualism, different variants of German and the advantages of a controversial discussion. [more …]

© Brian McCorkle

Artist Residency 2017
Janine Eisenächer

Performance artist Janine Eisenächer is the Goethe-Institut Artist in Residence this year. [more …]

© WIFT NZ

CONGRESS
New Zealand’s Co-Production Summit with a focus on German feature films

The third annual co-production summit takes place in Auckland. This year the three day summit focuses on German/New Zealand co-productions. For this reason several German film-makers have been invited to speak. [more …]

Photo (detail): Tentative Collective

Migration
The city as an engine of tolerance

Major cities are cultural contact zones and transit spaces, places of uncertainty and the foreign. The dynamism of change arising from this constitutes the essence of urbanity and is what lends metropolises their stability and attractiveness in the first place. [more …]

© New Zealand International Film Festival

Composition
Live Cinema: VARIETY

The New Zealand International Film Festival and the Goethe-Institut have commissioned Johannes Contag to compose an accompanying film score for the screening of the 1920s film classic "Variety". [more …]

© New Zealand International Film Festival

German Films at the New Zealand International Film Festival 2016

The New Zealand International Film Festival is screening a selection of German language films. [more …]

Copyright: DEFA-Stiftung/Waltraut Pathenheimer

DEFA: 70 Year Anniversary
DEFA-Film Series at Auckland Art Gallery

To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the DEFA Studio in East Germany, the Goethe-Institut New Zealand presents in its Winter Film Series at the Auckland Art Gallery a film programme highlighting different themes and genres that were important to the DEFA. [more …]

Internationales Kurzfilm-Festival in Neuseeland
Show Me Shorts feiert talentierte Filmemacher

Aus über 1,500 Einsendungen aus der ganzen Welt werden jedes Jahr die besten 40 Kurzfilme und sechs Musikvideos ausgewählt. Zu sehen sind die ausgesuchten Filme anschließend in mehr als 25 Kinos in ganz Neuseeland. [more …]

©Book Crossing

Book Exchange
Book Crossing

‚If you love your books – let them go’. This is how the New York Times described the project ‘BookCrossing’, which dates from April 2001. The Goethe-Institut New Zealand is now part of this exciting project.
 
  [more …]

© DOCedge

Life Stories
German Films at the DOCedge Festival

At the Documentary Edge Film Festival, extraordinarily German movies with the support of the Goethe-Institut New Zealand will screen. The German filmmaker Ullabritt Horn will present her film 'A Man Can Make a Difference'. [more …]

Photo (detail): Laurent Philippe

Physical Dramaturgy
A (New) Trend?

Dramaturgy in contemporary dance is a hot topic, in a positive sense. Ideally, when preparing a piece, dramaturges are the choreographers’ best friends. [more …]

Photo (detail): © mitrija - Fotolia.com

Media Credibility Crisis
“Re-thinking Our Role”

Cronyism with elites, one-sided reporting, abuse of power – many Germans are dissatisfied with the media. How warranted are their charges? [more …]

Photo (detail): Franz Brück

Bikinihaus Berlin
Freedom in architectural form

Revitalising West Berlin’s name in the field of architecture. [more …]

Photo (detail): Sony / Jimmy Katz

David Bowie and German Pop Music
Hero for a Day

For just under two years, Berlin was for David Bowie a retreat and an inspiration. This was enough to give a formative impulse to German Pop music. [more …]

Photo (detail): A. Schulz

Building Groups
Models for Joint Planning, Building and Living

Today, joint residential models are experiencing a renaissance, whether as building groups, owners’ associations or joint building ventures. [more …]

Picture (detail): © ARCHlab/Weblab

Film portraits
Series: Arch-Lab (1–5)

We will be presenting one building in each of our 30 film portraits and hearing from its architects. The first five films in the series can be seen here. [more …]

Photo (detail): Caveng © karin.hossfeld

Participatory Art
A Village Gets Going

Interesting participatory projects are emerging far away from metropolitan areas. Two cases. [more …]

Photo (detail): © Fara Phoebe Zetzsche

young talent promotion in Germany
Young Documentary Photography and Photojournalism

Due to the picture overkill on the internet young generation photography is finding it hard to stand out and impress. A look at young talent promotion activities gives an insight on development trends. [more …]

Photo (detail): © Die Photographische Sammlung /SK Stiftung Kultur – August Sander Archiv, Köln, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2014

August Sander
Staging of the German past

On the 50th anniversary of the death of the photographer August Sander (1876-1964) in 2014, three exhibitions, in Cologne, Bonn and Munich, commemorated his portrait cycle “People of the Twentieth Century”. [more …]

Photo (detail): © Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation

Rainer Werner Fassbinder
“I Would Like to Build a House with my Films”

Some considered him to be a “problem child”, others recognized that he was a genius. Regardless of what one might think about him, he will forever have a place in German cinema. [more …]

Photo (montage): “The Murderers Are Among Us” by Wolfgang Staudte (left) | © Deutsches Filminstitut, Frankfurt – “Phoenix” by Christian Petzold (right) | © Piffl Medien

Zero Hour in Film
Rubble, Utopia, New Beginnings

From The Murderers Are Among Us to Phoenix – the period immediately after the war has been dealt with time and again in cinema, such films always reflecting the way in which Germans view themselves. [more …]

Photo (detail): © Uta Plate

Artist in Residence 2015
Uta Plate

The Goethe-Institut artist in residence this year is internationally renowned theatre practitioner Uta Plate. She will be based in Wellington from February until April 2015. [more …]

Photo (detail): © Daredo Media

German Mumblecore
Making Films, Just Like That

German Mumblecore focuses the spotlight on a variety of German cinema which relies on a great deal of improvisation. But what are the inherent characteristics of German a mumblecore film? [more …]

Screenshot (detail) © leerstandsmelder.de

Second Hand Spaces
Temporary Use of Property

More and more people want to use urban space for their own projects. At the same time, many buildings stand vacant. Interim use agencies seek to broker between owners and interested parties. It is not always easy. [more …]

Photo (detail): © fotolia

Throwaway Society
No Heart for Things

What doesn’t work is quickly replaced instead of repaired. But resistance is stirring. [more …]

Photo (detail): © Jean-Paul Pastor Guzman/Flüchtlinge Willkommen

Private refugee initiatives
Living together under one roof

More and more refugees from all over the world are seeking refuge in Germany. Numerous private initiatives are actively supporting asylum seekers and providing them with a new home. [more …]

Photo (detail): © Thinkstock

Welcoming Culture
The Benefits of Diversity

Universities, businesses and local governments want to step up their efforts to make immigrants feel at home in Germany. [more …]

Photo (detail): © normanposselt.com

Literature on the First World War
Sigmund’s Worries

2014 marks the one hundredth anniversary of the First World War. Among the many new books in this anniversary year, newly re-issued standard works consort with publications of the last two years. [more …]

Photo (detail): © normanposselt.com

Intercultural project
Hello Opera! – Cultural Mediation Means Participation

The example of the German-Turkish children’s choir of the Berlin Comic Opera shows how cultural education can work. An interview with Mustafa Akça, the project manager of “Selam Opera!”. [more …]

Photo (detail): Peter Bottcher

Kraftwerk
Music for the future

That a pop band should turn 40 is an event. All the more so when this band is called Kraftwerk and is the most influential German musical group. [more …]

Photo (detail): © A Wall is a Screen

Mobile Cinema
Mobile Cinema in Germany

Cinema does not necessarily need a movie theatre. In cities like Hamburg films are projected onto the facades of buildings. These mobile film performances have opened up new perspectives in the way public space can be used. [more …]