Features, reports and interviews from around the world
The Latest at Goethe 2017

(27 December 2017) The Goethe-Institut wishes you a very happy and healthy New Year 2018!

(22 December 2017) The Goethe-Institut wishes you happy holidays and a wonderful start to the year 2018.

 (19 December 2017) The Mina Festival in Beirut addressed prejudices against Syrian artists in Lebanon and in Germany.  It showed that the freedom of art is as important as the recognition of artists.

(12 December 2017) Civil societies are under ever-increasing pressure from worldwide populist movements. Cultural institutions therefore bear a special responsibility. In an interview, CEO Johannes Ebert explains how the Goethe-Institut is presently meeting these global challenges. 

(8 December 2017) Every two years, the European Commission holds a cultural forum that brings together key figures in European cultural policy. Various panels discuss cultural initiatives of the EU. In this year's forum in Milan, the CEO of the Goethe-Institut, Johannes Ebert, spoke about the challenges of European cultural policy as well as cultural cooperation with European partners. 

(6 December 2017) Three stages, three radio stations, twelve hours of programming. The theory festival #LutherLenin by the Goethe-Institut in the Czech Republic transformed three rooms in the Prague theatre Studio Hrdinů into radio stations. The question that was the focus: Are we still living in the age of revolutions?

(30 November 2017) Integration is also decided on the employment market. The new offering Virtuelle Entdeckungsreise in die deutsche Arbeitswelt (Virtual Journey of Discovery in the German Working World) on the Goethe-Institut’s web portal Mein Weg nach Deutschland provides orientation for new immigrants on their start in the complex German vocational world.

(28 November 2017) Hubert Fichte was a poet, ethnologist and early pioneer of new disciplines such as Queer and Postcolonial Studies. As part of the project Hubert Fichte: Love and Ethnology by the Goethe-Institut, the exhibition Implosão: Trans(relacion)ando Hubert Fichte is showing artistic considerations of the author’s controversial topics in Rio de Janeiro.

(23 November 2017) Novosibirsk is the only city in Russia to show the Goethe-Institut’s interactive exhibition Games and Politics. Where cutting-edge Soviet scientific research once blossomed, is the seat of Russia’s leading game designers today.

(21 November 2017) How do young, qualified professionals from Iran experience working life in Germany? As part of the initiative Iran Horizons: Opportunities for the Future, eight young people made contacts with a foreign culture when they spent two months as interns in German companies. They met at the German Foreign Office for the ceremonial awarding of their certificates.

(16 November 2017) On 16 November, the fourth issue of the Goethe-Institut’s ZEIT supplement will appear. This time, das goethe travels to young people in Tokyo, Lagos and Jakarta and asks them, “What do you believe in?” As a result, in Japan’s capital city the journalist Kyoko Iwaki encounters a devoted generation, in which hardly anyone still believes in a permanent job and a secure future.

(14 November 2017) Oppression, exclusion, physical and psychological violence: The women’s and gender projects of the Goethe-Institut Cairo counter them with education and empowerment in workshops for women and men. It is about raising awareness and about renegotiating the distribution of roles within a society.

(7 November 2017) The multiple award-winning writer and theatre director Nino Haratischwili comes from Georgia, lives in Hamburg and presently holds a scholarship for a residency at the Kulturakademie Tarabya in Istanbul. There, the 34-year-old author of the novel The Eighth Life is living and working for three months.

(2 November 2017) A 15-metre-long inflatable caterpillar hovered through Gorky Park in Moscow this weekend. The bizarre monument is a work of art by the action artist Artúr van Balen. The performance as well as the current exhibition Metamorphoses, which documents the previous actions of van Balen’s group Tools for Action, were supported by the Goethe-Institut Moscow.

(26 October 2017) Sonja Köllinger and Lydia Zoubek both write blogs about fashion, lifestyle and their everyday lives. What they don’t have in common is that Sonja is sighted and Lydia is blind. For BEYOND SEEING they both took part in a Franco-German event for bloggers organised) by the Goethe-Institut Paris in cooperation with the German Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted (DBSV).

(25 October 2017) The Islamic scholar Irma Wahyuni visited Germany for two weeks for a visitors’ journey organised by the Goethe-Institut for Muslim intellectuals from Indonesia. Here, she speaks about refugees, radicalism and individualism. 

​(24 October 2017) It seems as if Berlin and Warsaw are worlds apart: A push to the right and judiciary reform and media censorship. The Warsaw arts scene is one of the most creative in Europe. Radioeins broadcasted live from the Goethe-Institut Warsaw. Now the shows can be heard again on the podcast.

(20 October 2017) How strongly is democracy influenced by emotions? And educated citizens by populism? More than we think, as we learn from the performance Emocracy, a coproduction of Goethe-Institut and Sophiensaele, which celebrated its premiere in Berlin.

(16. Oktober 2017) Startfreigabe in München: Im Rahmen eines Workshops über das „Radikale Europa“ eröffnete der Generalsekretär des Goethe Instituts, Johannes Ebert, den ersten „Open Situation Room“ (OSR) der Stiftung Mercator im Goethe-Institut. Er dient dazu, entschieden gegen Radikalisierungstendenzen in Europa Position zu beziehen.

(12 October 2017) In the centennial year of the October Revolution, Tonhalle Düsseldorf brought the local symphony musicians together with the Persimfans Orchestra of Russia. Its unique feature is that, true to the maxims of the original Persimfans Orchestra of 1922, the musicians play without a conductor.

(10 October 2017) If the Bible is the book of books, Frankfurt is the book fair of book fairs. It’s a fixture in the calendar – not just for publishers. The Goethe-Institut also makes its way to the vibrant literary scene of the Frankfurt Book Fair with an extensive programme of events.

(5 October 2017) The Goethe-Institut has had a presence in Beirut since 1955. It’s time it had more space, so a new building was opened in the Lebanese capital with a big party. The new space will also be made available to Lebanese artists.

(2 October 2017) This year’s Goethe-Institut Youth and Children’s Film Award went to Timm Thaler oder das verkaufte Lachen (The Legend of Timm Thaler or The Boy Who Sold His Laughter) by Andreas Dresen. The award ceremony took place on 30 September at the Schlingel Film Festival in Chemnitz.

(27 September 2017) Afrika kommt! or “Africa is Coming!” is the name of an exchange programme launched by German companies in 2008 that offers advanced training for junior executives from sub-Saharan Africa. It aims to make them familiar with workflows and management methods and create long-lasting economic alliances. The participants learn German at the Goethe-Institut in Bonn.

(25 September 2017) A philosophical tour group is travelling the Australian desert. Together with Philosophie Magazin, the Goethe-Institut Sydney invited four German philosophers and humanities scholars to Australia for ten days. They are dealing with the human identity in a world of increasing fragmentation and alienation, even from nature.

(22 September 2017) The decolonialisation of thought is the declared aim of Episodes of the South. The many-voiced project by the Goethe-Instituts in South America visualises perspectives of the Global South. At the Ruhrtriennale, artists, sociologists and art historians met at PACT Zollverein, conducted dialogues with objects and approached the subject matter artistically and musically.

(20 September 2017) The project Mit Deutsch zum Titel! gives language acquisition a sporting edge. Prior to the 2018 Football World Cup in Russia, the Goethe-Institut is inviting about 1,000 pupils across the country to special football-related German lessons. The best teams can look forward to the Goethe Cup. The patron is German team manager Joachim Löw.

(14 September 2017) For the third edition of the Gender Bender festival, the Goethe-Institut Bangalore asked artists from all genres to express their views of prevailing gender images and portrayals of the human body. The writer, director and actor Deepika Arwind gives us an insight into the festival.

(12 September 2017) Concerts, theatrical performances, summer camps etc, etc, etc ... The German-Ukrainian Year of Languages now opened in Kiev. The choice of this country is no coincidence.

(7 September 2017) During their Forest Utopias residency in the rainforest of Colombia’s Departamento del Chocó, participants deal artistically with the region and its inhabitants. Here, we present the work of some of the resident artists.

(5 September 2017) Woodways and Sandscapes: Theatre ensembles with children and adolescents from Kenya, Cameroon, Zimbabwe and Nigeria were guests of the FESTECA theatre festival in Luanda. Their plays addressed how people encounter the raw materials of wood and sand.

(31 August 2017) Publisher Urvashi Butalia of India, writer Emily Nasrallah of Lebanon and civil rights activist Irina Shcherbakova of Russia were awarded the Goethe Medal on 28 August. 

(23 August 2017) 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.

(16 August 2017) The Goethe-Institut and Pong Film presented the Kinshasa Collection at Haus der Kulturen der Welt.

(9 August 2017) It is another anniversary for the Goethe-Institut. It’s not a milestone year and repdigits are far too overestimated as it is. But there’s no way around acknowledging this anniversary, and not just for Lida’s sake.

(8 August 2017) At the 50th anniversary of the world’s largest conference for German as a foreign and second language in Fribourg, 1,700 teachers voted in favour of integrating immigrants’ native languages more extensively into the concept of worldwide teaching.

(7 August 2017) With the passing of Martin Roth, the Goethe-Institut has lost a lively catalyst and an esteemed member of the General Meeting, which he belonged to since December 2015. A personal tribute by Klaus-Dieter Lehmann.

(2 August 2017) In Berlin and China, two exhibitions by the Goethe-Institut Hong Kong bring together comic strip artists and readers from Hong Kong and Germany.

(28 July 2017) The artist Liz Rosenfeld deals with queer perspectives on history. As an artist-in-residence at the Goethe-Institut and the LUX archive for moving image newly established Goethe at LUX Residency in London, she is working on a short film. A video interview.

(25 July 2017) Needs the history of pop music to be rewritten? One of its yet undiscovered sources is the music of Mauritania. The Goethe-Institut Senegal supported jazz pianist Mike Herting’s project to capture the musical heritage of Mauritania. His study entitled “Blues from the Desert” declares Musique Maure as the origin of blues and jazz.
 

(20 July 2017) In Goodbye Berlin, Fatih Akin’s adaptation of Wolfgang Herrndorf’s coming of age novel Why We Took the Car, the two actors Anand Batbileg and Tristan Göbel experience the perfect summer. They were on the screen at the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) in South Africa at the invitation of the Goethe-Institut. An interview.

(18 July 2017) German pupils and teachers from India take a three-week journey to the place where their elective subject is part of everyday life. They delight in pedestrian traffic lights, waste separation and chocolate, but most of all in their visit to see Chancellor Angela Merkel.  

(13 July 2017) During their stay in the Bavarian state capital, six Indian artists from the Double Road exchange project ask about similarities and differences between Bangalore and Munich. Their works can now be viewed at three places in Munich.

(11 July 2017) “There is a time for everything.” Figures of speech used by 500 years ago have been passed down to our daily usage. The exhibition "Aufs Maul geschaut" (roughly: "Guided by the People’s Tongue") invites us to feel, hear, read and experience these words. We spoke with the curator, Friedrich Block.

(4 July 2017) An interdisciplinary festival in the Congo capital invited artists to explore the digital future of the city. Nadine Siegert was there as the curator of the exhibition Kinshasa 2050.

(30 June 2017) The Goethe-Institut and the German Embassy in Canada are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the confederation of the country with a series of cultural events underscoring German-Canadian friendship. The exhibition Canada and Germany: Partners from Immigration to Innovation / Le Canada et l’Allemagne: Partenaires de l’immigration à l’innovation shows the history of the close ties between the two countries.

(29 June 2017) In view of the political changes in the USA, the work of the six Goethe-Instituts there is becoming increasingly important. In a video interview, President Klaus-Dieter Lehmann explains how the Goethe-Institut aims to strengthen transatlantic communication and cooperation.

(26 June 2017) Producing intellectual and artistic sources of friction, working out similarities, revealing differences and illustrating the necessity of social change: At the literature festival in Georgia, the Goethe-Institut Tbilisi offers encounters between German and Georgian writers. German-Georgian author Nino Haratishvili spoke with institute director Stephan Wackwitz.

(23. June 2017) The Goethe-Institut Munich has moved to Haidhausen, one of the city’s most popular neighbourhoods. Time to look back at 66 years of shared city history in an interview with institute director Manuela Beck.

(22 June 2017) What are the consequences of globalisation for culture and cultural policy? Is there still a boundary between “domestic” and “foreign”? What challenges do cultural mediators face today? These questions were negotiated in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut at the Ninth Federal Cultural Policy Congress in Berlin.
 

(19 June 2017) The death of the former Chancellor Helmut Kohl is the loss of a friend and advocate of the Goethe-Institut. In many ways, the Kohl era also guided the work of the Goethe-Institut, particularly in the years following the fall of the wall.
 

(16 June 2017) In the cultural magazine das goethe that was issued as a supplement to the weekly Die Zeit in mid-May, readers were asked about their favourite place in Europe and given the chance to win a drawing for a journey to Brussels with an exclusive art gallery tour. The head office of the Goethe-Institut received more than 800 responses. They demonstrate Europe’s great diversity and beauty.

(12 June 2017) After twelve months with more than 1,400 events, the Year of Germany in Mexico has come to an end. Last weekend’s AleMANÍAfest drew more than 35,000 visitors including Chancellor Angela Merkel.

(9 June 2017) One subject – one stage – five interpretations. At this year’s PASCH theatre festival in Berlin, teens from all over Europe met with plays in German they’d written themselves in tow.

(6 June 2017) What can be done when a Russian village has only one natural source of drinking water left? How can paper be manufactured without chopping down forests? In the Goethe-Institut Moscow’s networking project Umwelt macht Schule, teenagers successfully developed solutions for the environmental problems in their neighbourhoods. Their dedication won over the German Council for Sustainable Development.

(2 June 2017) For the first time, The Ridiculous Darkness by Wolfram Lotz will be staged twice in Brazil. For the 2017 Palco Giratório theatre festival, the directors Camilo de Lelis and Alexandre Dill are each putting their interpretation of the play on stage in a first for Brazil.

(30 May 2017) The Goethe-Institut Denmark offers German authors the opportunity to spend two months in Reykjavik to write and to do research. They document their experiences and impressions in Iceland on a blog. Adriana Altaras wrote an exclusive blog entry for The Latest at Goethe.

(26 May 2017) In 2017, Russia is celebrating the centennial of the Russian Revolution. The Goethe-Institut St Petersburg has dedicated an exhibition and performance programme to the occasion in collaboration with two German curators. – An interview with Yasha Young und Florian Malzacher.

(23 May 2017) Love, familiy, friends – What would I sell my soul to keep? Not only Goethe’s Faust asked himself this question, but also the players of the game Being Faust – Enter Mephisto. After stops in South Korea and Hong Kong, the co-production by the Goethe-Institut and NOLGONG had its premiere in Berlin during the Long Night of Ideas.   
 

(18 May 2017) The third edition of the Goethe-Institut ZEIT supplement will be issued on 18 May. The focus of das goethe is on an outer-European look at Europe. The Colombian writer Juan Gabriel Vásquez advocates a tolerant, liberal, open Europe: a Europe of empathy.

(17 May 2017) Football seems so simple: kick the round thing into the rectangle. True, but it’s about so much more. People like Horst Kriete, Miroslav Klose and Bastian Schweinsteiger demonstrate this to us on a regular basis, which is why they have been named the Football Ambassadors of the year 2017.

(12 May 2017) The Goethe-Instituts in South America are taking part in documenta 14 with several projects including the Capacete residency programme in Rio de Janeiro, which offers artists a ten-month stay in Athens. Six of the residents now report on Athens and their initial experiences in the city.

(9 May 2017) The Goethe-Institut’s CINEMANYA film cases have been in use across Germany for media education work with refugee children and teens since 2015. In the year 2016 alone, they reached over 10,000 youngsters. A visit to a film screening at the initial reception facility of the German Red Cross in Hamburg offers insights into the work of the volunteers.

(5 May 2017) Citizens and members of the European Parliament get closer in and around a mobile sauna, discussing politics and cultures in a relaxed atmosphere. This is an event that Brussels has never experienced before and it is for Finland’s centennial.

(2 May 2017) Ema, Betty, Gudrun, Rudi ... People with these names are on the pictures by painter Gerhard Richter that can be seen at the National Gallery in Prague being held as part of the Czech-German Cultural Spring.
 

(28 April 2017) What possibilities are there for shaping and changing cities? Action strategies were tested in the search for urban alternatives. We asked curator Angelika Fitz about findings and strategies between art, urban planning and activism.

(25 April 2017) Germany and Estonia are closely connected by a mutual history and culture, as well as their long and amicable political and economic relations. In the German Spring, events centred on art, culture, business, science and the German language will present a diversified programme being realized together by the Goethe-Institut Tallinn, the German Embassy in Tallinn and many other partners.

(20 April 2017) Mobility, not as physical movement in the city, but as a question of social, economic and ecological movement, is the focus of Mexibility. The project was realized as part of the Year of Germany by the Goethe-Institut in Mexico and uses mapping, photography and narrative to make social and political circumstances palpable.

(18 April 2017) Can a society that has lost sight of the meaning of relationships over the course of time come together once again and reshape its coexistence? To this end, Virgilio Sieni, together with the Goethe-Institut Genoa, choreographically explored Genoa.

(13 April 2017) Within a period of less than four months, more than thirty Iranian and exiled Iranian artists, cultural professionals and many visitors gathered in Berlin. Iranian Modernity, the Goethe-Institut’s cultural programme, produced encounters, inspired people to think and enhanced our image of what modernity means in Iran and for Iranian cultural professionals.

(10 April 2017) Traditional handcraft, fair production, contemporary design: The IKAT/eCUT project’s textile residencies bring six designers from Germany together with producers of traditional textiles in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. Fast Fashion – The Dark Side of Fashion is an exhibition in the context of the project.
 

(6 April 2017) How do raves and colonialism fit together? The artist Henrike Naumann playfully reversed colonial practices using the example of Belgian “New Beat,” an early version of European Techno.

(4 April 2017) German-Turkish relations are currently under stress. In his speech for the 60th anniversary of the Goethe-Institut in Ankara, Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, the president of the Goethe-Institut, stressed that it is all the more important to maintain the dialogue and stand up as a guarantor of freedom of expression. “There could be better times for a jubilee celebration, but certainly no more necessary time than now,” he said.

(31 March 2017) If they can’t come to us... “Fabrik” is sending the artistic positions of the German Pavilion at the 2015 Vienna Biennial on a world tour. Together with Goethe-Institut the wandering exhibition will show works by five international artists on the themes of work, migration and revolt. The first stop will be made at the Sursock Museum in Beirut.

(28 March 2017) In Berlin, literary and political theorists, philosophers, journalists and scientists discussed on “Competing Narratives”. Ebert hopes for new insights in the work between Goethe-Institut, cultural and social partners.

(23 March 2017) “From Book to Bot” addresses self-determination in the digital age in one of many events organized by the Goethe-Institut at the Leipzig Book Fair. Panellist Andreas Bernard reveals in advance why our criticism of the media would have gone over well rhetorically in the Middle Ages.

(20 March 2017) The TV song contest Ohrwurm (earworm) put German pop music on televisions across Thailand. The finale was broadcast live nationally. More than three million viewers rooted for their favourites.

(16 March 2017) Why is the sky blue? Why do seashells hum? How does a television work? For years, the Sendung mit der Maus, called Mouse TV in English, has been answering these questions and more recently so has the Children’s Online University developed by the Goethe-Institut Moscow. We spoke with Christoph Biemann.

(14 March 2017) The renowned magazine arch+ is exploring modern architecture in Vietnam. The edition focused on the country’s star architect Võ Trọng Nghĩa with whom there was a discussion in Berlin.

(10 March 2017) Female superheroes, Facebook chats and identity crises – for the last time, the Adelbert von Chamisso Prize was awarded to three authors whose work is shaped by more than one culture and language. They cannot be reduced to a simple message.<br />

(6 March 2017) Cairo, Ankara, Beirut, New York: Johannes Ebert, secretary-general of the Goethe-Institut, talks about new risks and strategies for foreign cultural work and the boundaries of dialogue.
 

(2 March 2017) London was always open to the world, but today, more and more of the British are closing themselves off. It’s as if dreams of a borderless Europe and diversity are only possible in museums.

(27 February 2017) Where do you come from and why are you here? What do you miss and what are you looking for? Young Syrian refugees tell their stories in videos and photographs. The Goethe-Institut is presenting them online.

(23 February 2017) The Kurdish culture and language have long been at the centre of political conflicts. The Goethe-Institut is presenting the works of two Kurdish playwrights to continue its Welt/Bühne series.

(20 February 2017) Bloggers from twelve countries accompanied the Berlinale, reporting daily for the Goethe-Institut. In the photo interview, one of them looks back at ten days in a bear costume and the hidden power of women.

(16 February 2017) The didacta is Europe’s largest educational fair and shows what direction the future of learning is going – from early childhood to adult education. Have an espresso at the Goethe-Institut’s stand.

(13 February 2017) Well-established in Latin America, her images deserve broad attention in Europe: In her photography, the Swiss artist Claudia Andujar bears witness to her adopted Brazilian homeland. The Goethe-Institut is dedicating an exhibition to her at Frankfurt’s MMK.

(9 February 2017) With Berlin & Beyond, the Goethe-Institut is bringing the best films from German-speaking countries to the screen in San Francisco for the 21st time. Julia Jentsch, who received the Spotlight Award in Acting from the festival, travelled to the hilly city for the first time. In our interview, she talks about her new film that looks at the taboo topic of abortion.

(6 February 2017) Borders are part of everyone’s lives – what do they signify? Who defines borders? When do they confine us and when are they important? With its travelling exhibition The Border, the Goethe-Institut is seeking answers to these questions by means of artistic considerations. Here, participating artists offer insights into their reflections and works.

(3 February 2017) Awakening a love of reading: in January and February, the project My Book – My Teacher by the Goethe-Institut Lebanon in cooperation with Orienthelfer e.V. will distribute 33,000 free books to children in Lebanon affected by displacement.

(30 January 2017) Punks sitting in the children’s room, bridal couples posing on Cosmonaut Square, the long drawn-out cry of the milkmen, slugs in the shower and Nick Cave in the Karelian underground. Goethe’s new web portal Converter is about small stuff like this. Small stuff like life.

(26 January 2017) With Plurality of Privacy, the Goethe-Institut is launching a transnational discourse about privacy. American and European playwrights address trump and vexation in the virtual world in five-minute videos.

(23 January 2017) Throughout the festival “Collecting Europe” the Goethe-Institut London asks what defines Europe today? 12 artists from around the world will therefor imagine what Europe might look like 2,000 years from now. Here you can read what the artists expect from Europe in 4017.

(20 January 2017) What does it mean to be human? And how do we protect the dignity of individuals? In the Goethe-Institut project HUMRA – Human Rights Animation, young people grappled artistically with human rights issues. In cooperation with Russian comic artists, they created short, thought-provoking animated films.

(16 January 2017) The Goethe-Institut is immersing itself in the contemporary arts scene of Iran with the three-month cultural programme Iranian Modernity. In an interview, Iranian music producer Ramin Sadighi expresses his pleasure over the growing cultural diversity of Tehran’s music scene and hopes for more space and fewer restrictions.

(13 January 2017) With its House Call project, the Goethe-Institut plants ten authors in the everyday lives of European city dwellers. The hosts reveal a bit of their lives’ realities and their guests write about them. The result is a literary, connective, miniature Europe that will now be issued as a six-language e-book.

(5. Januar 2017) Kursbuch is celebrating! For more than 50 years, the cultural magazine has been offering up-to-date discussions on politics, business and society. Together with the Goethe-Institut, the editorial team is organizing a transnational event series called Kritikmaschine. Watch videos here with excerpts from the socio-political talks in Moscow, Lisbon and Paris.

(2 January 2017) Is there a LGBTI scene in Jordan? And is the Czech Republic really as liberal about same-sex love as it seems? These questions were discussed at an event called Amman Same Sex Love at the Goethe-Institut Prague. The results are surprising.