Quick access:
Go directly to content (Alt 1)Go directly to second-level navigation (Alt 3)Go directly to first-level navigation (Alt 2)

Freiraum

"Freiraum" is a project of the Goethe-Instituts in Europe in cooperation with 53 actors from culture, science and civil society. Until March 2019, around 40 European cities will explore the issue: What is freedom in Europe today? Where is it endangered? How do we strengthen it? More about the Project

In Defense of Diversity Photo: Caroline Lessire © Goethe-Institut

Topic of the month
 In Defense of Diversity

Open and diverse societies depend in large measure on the acceptance of diversity as an enrichment, and not as a threat. Education is a fundamental prerequisite for generating a climate of mutual respect and taking a pragmatic approach to any social conflicts that arise.

Other Topics

Teaser for the event: Freiraum in Berlin Lucas Gallone © unsplash

12.03. to 13.03. 2019 Berlin
FREIRAUM in Berlin

In association with the ZK/U Center for Art and Urbanistics and the Mercator Foundation, selected Freiraum tandems will present the results of their exchange.

A Good European Cover English © Goethe-Institut

Short Stories

Photo collage © Goethe-Institut

EGOMETER
YOUR POSITION ON EUROPE

Where in Europe do people think like you do? Test yourself with our egometer and find out where you stand!

Freiraum-Video from Riga Photo (Detail): © Goethe-Institut Riga

How can we build a society that perceives diversity not as a threat, but as an enrichment?

A Video from Riga

Radio features

They hail from Amsterdam and Bucharest, Dresden and Oslo, Belgrade and Paris. The Goethe-Institut has won over about fifty European cultural partners for its large-scale pan-European Freiraum project. The object, amid the aftershocks of the Brexit quake, is to start up an enduring conversation between distant and often very different European cities.

Radio features by Simone Reber more

FREIRAUM in Berlin

12.03.
to
13.03.
2019
Berlin

Freiraum is coming to Berlin from 12 to 13 March 2019. In association with the ZK/U Center for Art and Urbanistics and the Mercator Foundation, selected Freiraum tandems will present the results of their exchange.

You can find more information on the event calender

Chain Reaction: Thinking across Europe

Intellectuals in a thought experiment: every essay ends with a question, which another participant of the project "Freiraum" should discuss in an essay. On August 21, Ainhoa Achutegui answered Nora Gomringer's question and put her question to the next author.

  • The writer Cecilia Hansson Photo: Marin Vallin © Goethe-Institut

    Cecilia Hansson
    Stockholm
    May 16th 2018

    Are we living in a really post-fascist Europe, a Europe as we want it to be?

  • The writer Nikita Dhawan Photo: Daniel Vegel © Goethe-Institut

    Nikita Dhawan
    Innsbruck
    June 16th 2018

    The democratizing forces at work in Europe are offset by nationalisms, racisms, and exclusions, so that the promise of a post-fascist Europe reveals itself to be a missed appointment with history.more

  • The writer Nikita Dhawan Photo: Daniel Vegel © Goethe-Institut

    Nikita Dhawan
    Innsbruck
    June 16th 2018

    How can one fight gender and economic injustice worldwide without reinforcing European hegemony...
  • The writer Iskra Geshoska Photo: Vancho Dzambaski © Goethe-Institut

    Iskra Geshoska
    Skopje
    July 5th 2018

    The struggle for economic, political, cultural and gender equality and liberty must be consistent, constant, adequate to each context individually, and needs to create a sense of belonging, unity and emancipation.more

  • The writer Iskra Geshoska Photo: Vancho Dzambaski © Goethe-Institut

    Iskra Geshoska
    Skopje
    July 5th 2018

    Has freedom become only discursive, empty of semantic value in a world which is imprisoned by economical, ideological and political injustice?

  • The writer Nora Gomringer Photo: Judith Kinitz © Goethe-Institut

    Nora Gomringer
    Bamberg
    July 26th 2018

    The concept of peace has not been lost so long as people who carry it in their minds, on their lips and on their flags and helmets...more

  • The writer Nora Gomringer Photo: Judith Kinitz © Goethe-Institut

    Nora Gomringer
    Bamberg
    July 26th 2018

    Who is responsible for the future of freedom in Europe?

  • The writer Ainhoa Achutegui Photo: Neimënster © Goethe-Institut

    Ainhoa Achutegui
    Luxembourg
    August 21th 2018

    It is above all civil society that is qualified to ensure, and indeed responsible for, the future of freedom in Europe. This responsibility cannot and must not be delegated blindly.more

  • The writer Ainhoa Achutegui Photo: Neimënster © Goethe-Institut

    Ainhoa Achutegui
    Luxembourg
    August 21th 2018

    Is the liberal principle of “my body, my choice” still guaranteed in today’s Europe?

  • The writer Samuel Hamen Photo: Maria Mast © Goethe-Institut

    Samuel Hamen
    Heidelberg
    September 14th 2018

    A guarantee of sovereign power over your own body, according to the Luxembourg journalist and writer Samuel Hamen, has so far been more utopia than reality. more

  • The writer Samuel Hamen Photo: Maria Mast © Goethe-Institut

    Samuel Hamen
    Heidelberg
    September 14th 2018

    Have we perhaps never had any idea what freedom is?

  • The writer Andreas Degkwitz Photo: © Die Hoffotografen GmbH

    Andreas Degkwitz
    Berlin
    October 11th 2018

    Freedom and responsibility are directly related – but we often do not care to admit it. Those who desire freedom without assuming responsibility run the risk of restricting the freedom of others as much as they do their own. Freedom is therefore charged with preconditions. more

  • The writer Andreas Degkwitz Photo: © Die Hoffotografen GmbH

    Andreas Degkwitz
    Berlin
    October 11th 2018

    Can the decisions of "artificial intelligence" based on algorithms better guarantee freedom in the long run than human beings?

  • The writer Rasmus Ohlenschlaeger © Photo: Sigrid Nygaard

    Rasmus Ohlenschlaeger
    Copenhagen
    November 5th 2018

    Nothing can guarantee freedom – not algorithms, artificial intelligence, or human beings. Freedom is something we negotiate with ourselves and our social and political surroundings on an everyday basis against a horizon of unlimited, but unattainable ideals. more

  • The writer Rasmus Ohlenschlaeger Photo: © Sigrid Nygaard

    Rasmus Ohlenschlaeger
    Copenhagen
    November 5th 2018

    If we assume that freedom of information and freedom of speech is a collective challenge, who or where is the collective?

  • The writer Despina Zefkili Photo: © Dimitris Tsitsos

    Despina Zefkili
    Athens
    January 10th 2019

    When we think of coalitions that combine social justice and equality we reassert the possibilities of organizing more open and democratic digital societies.more

The writer Nikita Dhawan Photo: Daniel Vegel © Goethe-Institut

Nikita Dhawan
Austria
 Do we really live in a Europe as we want it to be? By Nikita Dhawan

more

These Goethe-Institutes and their partners make up the Freiraum tandems, and aim to find answers to the questions of their respective counterparts.

Our partners

 42 Goethe Institutes from various European countries are participating in the "Freiraum" project. In order to obtain better information about the situation on the ground, they work intensively with local partners. These are theatres, art centres, NGOs, universities, associations and local initiatives.

An overview of our partners can be found here.

Top