„Night Fall“ Amsterdams Het Nationale Ballet (2016)© Altin Kaftira

Dance and Immersion
Pointe Shoes and 3D Glasses

How can an audience be seduced? How does it come about that people immerse themselves in foreign worlds with all their senses and succumb body and soul to what happens there? [more …]
Is it possible to ensure privacy in the networked world? Photo (detail): © 3d © Bounlow-pic - Fotolia,com

Privacy and Digitalisation
“Facebook is not the same as your living room”

Social media, smartphones, the Internet of Things – whatever happened to privacy? Or has privacy become an outdated idea? This is a conversation with Jan Philipp Albrecht, a staunch advocate of data protection. [more …]
The revolutionist Wladimir Majakowski in “1917 – Der wahre Oktober” by Katrin Rothe Photo (detail): © Katrin Rothe Filmproduktion

The German Animated Film Scene
Rare Birds, Big Dreams

The animated film has a hard time of it in Germany – despite all the outstanding training programs that are available. For a long time the genre was regarded as a playground for the more exotically inclined. Now there are encouraging signs that that may be changing. [more …]
White Ravens Festival in the International Youth Library Photo (detail): © IJB

International Youth Library
Children’s Literature, a Cultural Heritage

In the picturesque Blutenburg Castle in Munich resides the world’s largest library for international children’s and youth literature. But it is anything but a dreamy castle of books. [more …]
Books open up new worlds photo: © Schuster – plainpicture

aesthetics and culture
Learning from literature

If one focuses initially on the way literature plays with language, and with its forms and meanings, rather than interpreting it as a reflection of reality, one can discover its incredible potential for reflecting on language and culture. An appeal for a different approach to literature in GFL lessons.
  [more …]
OSA | Installation Photo (detail): © Volker Hartmann | Urbane Künste Ruhr 2016

Social Architecture
Crossing the boundaries between art and architecture

For 21 years now, the actors of OSA - office for subversive architecture – have been upending perception in the field of tension between architecture, design, performance, video and sound art. [more …]
during the 11th Manifesta biennial in Zürich, 2016 | Alicja Pahl and Katerina Valdivia Bruch © Alicja Pahl

Art Biennals
When Artists Become Curators

What do exhibitions look like when they are curated by artists, and what makes them so special? What distinguishes an artistic approach from a curatorial one? Experts from the art scene and artists report on their experiences. [more …]
Eva Illouz. Photo: Cordula Flegel

Where to?
„Even rootless cosmopolitans like me need a home“

In the project "Where to?" authors and intellectuals from almost 40 countries were given a questionnaire on refuge and migration. One of them is the sociologist Eva Illouz. [more …]
Openly available administrative data Photo (detail): © leowolfert

Open Data in Germany
Open Data in Germany – More Transparency and Democracy

Authorities publish their data without any restrictions, your average man or woman in the street, as well as programmers, can make use of them – that is the core idea behind Open Data. For quite a few years now in Germany the topic has been gaining momentum. [more …]
Deutschland 83 Foto: RTL


Deutschland 83: Interview with producer Jörg Winger

In the lead-up to the UK season finale of Deutschland 83, we had the chance to speak to Jörg Winger, creator and producer of the hit TV series. [more …]
Deutscher Beitrag im Wettbewerb: „24 Wochen“ von Anne Zohra Berrached Photo (detail): © Friede Clausz

Competition and Honorary Bear
German films at Berlinale

Last year: Three Germans in Competition! New Wenders! New Dresen! New Herzog! What can the Berlinale 2016 possibly bring in terms of German A-listers? [more …]
Hip-hop artists like the trio Ok Kid! from Cologne often become a new generation of protest singers. Photo (detail): Stefan Braunbarth / Sony

Protest Song in Germany
“Destroy What Destroys You!”

Underground has become complicated. Because it assumes that there are norms that must be protested against. [more …]
Zero Hour in German Film 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 …]
Thomas Kilpper, from the series “State of Control”, 2009, linocut, Bundeskunstsammlung Photo (detail): © Thomas Kilpper, Federal Art Collection, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

German State Collection of Contemporary Art
Acquisition Post-1945

Since 1971, works by contemporary artists have been added to the “Sammlung zeitgenössischer Kunst der Bundesrepublik Deutschland”. [more …]
Their books deal with social topics: Juli Zeh and Ilija Trojanow; Photo (detail): © Isolde Ohlbaum

Contemporary German literature
A return to politics?

The crisis in Europe, the confrontation with refugees: not only German society but also German literature is undergoing politicization. Yet the debates take place mainly in the features section. [more …]
Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Real Fiction 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 …]
“Forbidden Films” by Felix Moeller Photo (detail): © Edition Salzgeber

Nazi propaganda
“Forbidden Films”

Over 1,000 feature and documentary films were made under National Socialism, many with propagandistic content. Over 40 outright propaganda films are still banned today. A documentary pursues the question whether or not this still makes sense. [more …]
Bergmannstraße in Berlin-Kreuzberg Photo (detail): Wolfgang Scholvien © visitBerlin

Berlin and its Visitors
Who Does The City Belong To?

Berlin enjoys a splendid international image. Its residents, however, feel they are being blindsided by this onslaught of tourists. What is urgently needed are a few intelligent urban planning strategies. [more …]
The team crossing the River Spree, where a great many spectators await them on the water as well. Now they have only a few hundred more yards to go to Brandenburg Gate. Photo (detail): © Malte Oberschelp

Football World Cup
And the World Cup trophy goes to...

Berlin! At least symbolically, since the German national team cannot take the original trophy back home with them. But the title instead: Football World Champions 2014. [more …]
Augustin/Teboul, Showinstallation Autumn/Winter 2014/2015 Photo (detail): © Augustin/Teboul

German couture
Is there such a thing as German fashion – and if so, where is it heading?

German fashion is synonymous with Jil Sander – this is what the international fashion world long believed about German couture. [more …]
Lutz Huelle, collection autumn/winter 2014/15 Photo (detail): © Lutz Huelle

Top Ten
The best German fashion designers

Markus Ebner, editor-in-chief of the fashion magazine Achtung, has selected ten favorite German fashion designers and presents them in short portraits. [more …]
Jil Sander Collection Spring/Summer 2014 Photo (montage): © Jil Sander

Jil Sander
Northern German icon of purism and “Queen of Less”

Sleek and sculptural: no other female fashion designer represents German design tradition and casual elegance better than Jil Sander. [more …]
Fara Phoebe Zetzsche, „Stray Kids“, Lumix-Festival 2014 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 …]
August Sander, Family Generation, 1912, Collection Lothar Schirmer, Munich 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 …]
Doaa Hamed Photo (detail): © Doaa Hamed

Studying German
“I Find the German Grammar Particularly Interesting”

Taking courses in German as a Foreign Language (GFL) or as a Second Language (GSL) is popular - not just in Germany. Eleven students from four continents about their personal motivation and goals. [more …]
Studying in Germany Photo (detail): TU Ilmenau/ari

Studying in Germany
Multilingualism: yes! Everything in English: no!

Never before have there been so many foreign students enrolled in German universities. After the UK, Germany is the most popular country in Europe for college students. [more …]
The German style of communication is renowned for being explicit and direct. © K.- P. Adler - Fotolia.com

Intercultural Communication
Expressing Criticism in German

Saying what you do not like is not a matter of course in every culture. In Germany, however, it is. Many Germans often criticise openly and directly, nevertheless a few rules still have to be observed. [more …]
Multilingualism offers great opportunities. Photo (detail): © shironosov/Thinkstock

Multilingualism
Tacitly valued but rarely promoted

Children from migrant families in particular quite often grow up speaking two mother tongues. Concepts for promoting this valuable asset are lacking, however. [more …]
Public authorities too are working on their own “welcoming culture”. 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 …]
More and more cities are investing in new residential quarters – such as the Europaviertel in Frankfurt. Photo (detail): © Epizentrum

Life in metropolises
The new urban allure

The image of the city has seldom been so good as it is today: more and more young families and also senior citizens want to enjoy the advantages of a metropolis. Many cities have responded to this demand with ambitious housing programmes. [more …]
The “Programmed Human Being”

Genetic engineering
The “Programmed Human Being”

Scientific progress offers the possibility of escaping to some extent the accidental character of nature. This raises questions of enormous importance. [more …]
Comics Photo (detail): © macrovector - Fotolia.com

E-Comics
Off to the Third Dimension!

E-comics are a challenge because the text and pictures have to be put online interactively. Most publishers in Germany, however, are sceptical about this digital development. [more …]
Children and youth between the ages of three and 13 watch an average of 1.5 hours of TV per day. Photo (detail): pressmaster © 123RF

Quality in German children's television
A mouse on two legs

For over 40 years now, that little orange rodent has been scurrying across German TV screens. “The Program with the Mouse” is still the inimitable icon of children's television in Germany. [more …]
Schulbuch-o-mat Foto (Ausschnitt): © H. Wedenig (CC BY-SBOM-SA)

Digital Textbooks for Schools
Wikipedia For Teachers

In the digital classroom of the future there is also going to be a need for digital teaching and learning materials. Open Educational Resources (OER) are going to provide the key for this. [more …]
Together instead of Alone

Inclusion at German Schools
Together instead of Alone

Germany is on the way to inclusive schools in which children with and without disabilities sit in the same classroom. [more …]
Auditoritum Maximum of the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich

Principles of education
What Is Education And What Purpose Should It Serve?

Education: For some it is first and foremost a cultural and character-forming end in itself, for others it is above all an economic resource. [more …]
Benefiting from diversity Photo (detail): © Nejron Photo

Learning Cultures
Preparing for Study in Germany

Only six of ten foreign students leave Germany universities with a degree. For many, dealing with different learning cultures  is difficult. How can they prepare themselves for studying in Germany? [more …]
DEFA-Festival © DEFA-Stiftung, Dietram Kleist

Summer cinema at home

This summer, in the Goethe-Institut New York's online cinema, everything revolves around the longings of several generations in the former GDR. Six films can be streamed here free of charge until the end of August –  “Roll it!”