Cultural Partnerships
Goethe-Institut Toronto
Many thanks to our outstanding Canadian partners!
Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival, the world’s largest photography event with 1,500 artists and more than 200 exhibitions every year. It presented the exhibitions Unseen, To Be Seen by Tong Lam at the Goethe-Institut and Refugees in a State Apartment by Jens Ullrich in the public space in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut. Both artists attended discussions and guided tours.
Hot Docs Film Festival, the largest North American documentary film festival with more than 200,000 visitors and 200 films from around the world. Together with the Goethe-Institut, it presented the North American premiere of the film WHEN THE EARTH SEEMS TO BE LIGHT. Berlin director Salome Machaidze was the guest of the Goethe-Institut for this event. Hot Docs and the Goethe-Institut also jointly presented the film TRANSIT CAMP FRIEDLAND as part of the GOETHE FILMS series in March 2016.
Luminato Festival, a comprehensive art festival that brings together visual art, music, theatre, dance and more. With nearly one million visitors, 11,000 artists and 3,000 events, it is one of the most important cultural events in North America. Together with the Goethe-Institut, the festival presented the North American premiere of the multiple award-winning, interactive performance art Situation Rooms by the Berlin collective Rimini Protokoll as well as a workshop for professional performers.
Harbourfront Centre, a diversified cultural organization that gives a home to a wide variety of events and activities in the cultural sector. Together with the Goethe-Institut it organized the lecture series Open Minds with guests like Gesche Joost. It also presented the photography performance Portraits in Motion by the German artist Volker Gerling as part of its World Stage Festival, which showcases new and innovative performances. Volker Gerling was the guest of the Goethe-Institut.
Images Festival, founded in 1987, is the largest North American festival for experimental video and film art that offers space for installations and live performances by hundreds of artists every year. Together with the Goethe-Institut it showed the video work Kingdom Come: Rituals by the German artists Vika Kirchbauer and Martin Sulzer. Martin Sulzer was the guest of the Goethe-Institut.
Canadian Stage, one of the country’s leading theatres, specializes in contemporary drama that incorporates other media such as dance and film. In cooperation with the Goethe-Institut, it presented the North American premiere of the play Das Ding (The Thing), for which the Goethe-Institut also funded the translation. Along with the theatre manager and the director, playwright Phillip Löhle attended the production and answered the audience’s questions at Culture talks @ Goethe at the Goethe-Institut.
Theatre Smash is a young theatre ensemble that brings contemporary plays from around the world to Canada. In cooperation with the Goethe-Institut it produced the North American premiere of the play Das Ding (The Thing). Theatre manager Ashley Corcoran was a former Goethe intern at the Gorki Theater in Berlin.
Thousand Islands Playhouse, a theatre in Gananoque, Ontario that addresses a primarily younger audience with the aim of bringing high-quality plays to eastern Ontario. It staged the North American premiere of the play Das Ding (The Thing) in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut.
Istituto Italiano di Cultura & Consolato Generale d’Italia Toronto. Together with our European partners, the exhibition Refugees in a State Apartment by Jens Ullrich was shown on the fence of the Italian Consulate General.
Contemporary Art Gallery Vancouver, Vancouver’s oldest independent art gallery that presents ten to twenty exhibitions each year. Together with the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, the Goethe-Institut presented the first Canadian solo exhibition by the German photographer Jochen Lempert entitled Field Guide. In the previous year, Lempert was the guest of the Goethe-Institut at the Villa Toronto art fair.
Le Labo, a Toronto-based francophone media art group. It presented the sculpture and video installation Monologues: De l'essence d'un langage esthétique by Quebec artist Francis Montillaud about intercultural communications and corresponding the Culture talks @ Goethe in the Goethe Media Space.
Gallery TPW, an art centre for time-based media that emphasizes the moving picture. Together with the Goethe-Institut, it conducted the residency of the two Berlin artists Jared Gradinger and Angela Schubot and presented their performance All my holes are theirs with Canadians Aleesa Cohene and Eric Cazdyn.
School of Creative and Performing Arts (University of Calgary). Together with the Goethe-Institut, the school held the world premiere of Imaginary Garden II by Canadian composer Hope Lee performed by the German musicians Kristina Schoch and Simon Höfele on recorder and trumpet. The two musicians also held a master class.
Progress Festival, an international performance and ideas festival presented jointly by the SummerWorks performance festival and the Theatre Centre. The Theatre Centre is a nationally well-known promoter of the arts dedicated, among other things, to research and development in the cultural sector. The festival is organized by ensembles dealing with contemporary themes and performances based in Toronto. Together with the Goethe-Institut it presented the audio-nonvisual cinematic experiment Blind Cinema by Britt Hatzius.
Canadian Art Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports artists from Canada and is dedicated to spreading and advancing the fine arts. In conjunction with the Goethe-Institut it presented two artist discussions with the photographer Wolfgang Tillmans and the writer and critic Tom McDonough in Toronto and Vancouver.
Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), one of the most significant and influential film festivals worldwide. It is known as a springboard for filmmakers’ careers and is an ideal platform for movie premieres. In conjunction with the Goethe-Institut, it presented the GOETHE FILMS series A LONG WAY, CAN YOU HACK IT, and fHEISTy WOMEN ROBBING BANKS.
WNDX, the Festival of Moving Images draws special attention to the most innovative and ground-breaking works by film and video artists from all over the world with a focus on works from Manitoba and by artists from the prairie provinces and all of Canada. Another focus is the celebration of the drive to create moving pictures for the sake of the art and to put works in the spotlight that are not taken into account by general trends. Together with the Goethe-Institut it presented an installation by filmmaker Isabell Spengler.
Western Front Vancouver, an artist-founded and operated centre in Vancouver that organizes exhibitions by national and international artists and promotes dialogue between local and international art communities. It presented the exhibition Asymmetrical Response by the artists Olia Lialina and Cory Arcangel together with the Goethe-Institut. Olia Lialina was the guest of the Goethe-Institut.
The Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT) is a non-profit artist organization and important platform that supports independent filmmakers and artists. It conducted Elke Marhöfer's artist residency and showed her films in conjunction with the Goethe-Institut.
The Koffler Centre of the Arts is a Jewish cultural organization that presents contemporary interdisciplinary art programs. In conjunction with the Goethe-Institut it held a talk with the Yazidi Nobel Peace Prize candidate Nadia Murad. Nadia Murad was the guest of the Goethe-Institut.
The Power Plant, a gallery for contemporary art that envisions itself as a forum for the culture of our times. In conjunction with the Goethe-Institut, it showed the exhibitions Call to Action by Franz Erhard Walther and It Has a Golden Red Sun and an Elderly Green Moon by Ulla von Brandenburg.
Presentation at the European Union Film Festival Toronto: HEAD FULL OF HONEY as well as the encore performance of ELTERN. The European Union Film Festival is a unique collaboration by consulates and cultural institutions of the EU that celebrates European cinema. Every year is shows 28 selected current films that represent the different countries of the EU. The Goethe-Institut founded the festival in 2005, is part of the supervisory board and programs Germany’s contribution every year.
Co-presentation with the Toronto Jewish Film Festival: SARA STEIN – SHALOM BERLIN. North American premiere of the Berlin-Tel Aviv crime drama. The Toronto Jewish Film Festival is the world’s largest Jewish film festival.
Co-presentation with the Italian Contemporary Film Festival: LABYRINTH OF LIES. The Italian Contemporary Film Festival is Canada’s only and one of the world’s leading Italian film festivals.
Co-presentation with the Christie Pits Film Festival: NOSFERATU with a live-score performance by Del Bel. The Christie Pits Film Festival shows films free of charge every summer outdoors in Toronto parks. The very large audience is shown a mixture of classics and popular films.
Co-presentation with the Canadian Sports Film Festival: BAMBOULE. The Canadian Sports Film Festival combines sports and film to tell unique, provocative and passionate human stories from all over the world.
Co-presentation with the Toronto Korean Film Festival: GET UP. The Toronto Korean Film Festival’s objective is to promote cultural diversity in Toronto and present authentic Korean films and co-productions to the Canadian audience.
Co-presentation with the Rendezvous with Madness Film Festival: 4 KINGS. The Rendezvous with Madness Festival is a festival with a unique thematic focus. Dedicated to films about mental illness, it motivates the audience to grapple with the facts and myths surrounding it.
Co-presentation with the Holocaust Education Week: THE LAST MENTSCH. The aim of the Holocaust Education Week is to sensitize people to the Holocaust by means of films, literature, art and new historic analyses. The 2016 theme, “The Future of Memory,” was dedicated to the question of how future generations will carry on and re-shape the field of teaching about and remembering the Holocaust.
Co-presentation with Planet in Focus: 10 BILLION: WHAT'S ON YOUR PLATE?, COAL INDIA, and MAGICAL MOORS. Planet in Focus is Canada’s largest environmental film festival that is held every autumn in Toronto and shows feature and short films from all over the world, including many German productions.
Co-presentation with the Toronto Black Film Festival (TBFF): THE BODA BODA THIEVES. The Toronto Black Film Festival was founded in 2013 by the Fabienne Colas Foundation, a non-profit, professional organization of artists that has set the goal of promoting cinema, art and culture in Canada and the world. The Fabienne Colas Foundation also founded the very successful Montreal International Black Film Festival (MIBFF). The Toronto Black Film Festival offers unique voices in cinema the opportunity to present new worldviews to the audience. It promotes the development of the independent film industry as well as films about the realities of black people around the globe.
Co-presentation with the Syria Film Festival (SYFF) at GOETHE FILMS: AFTER SPRING COMES FALL. The Syria Film Festival focuses on presenting the aspirations of Syrians and the difficulties they encounter. It also wants to build bridges, encourage dialogue and involve the audience in questions about social justice, human rights and global community and to enrich Toronto’s multicultural identity by supporting young film talent and artists.
Co-presentation with Jayu (Human Rights Film Festival) at GOETHE FILMS: WE ARE YOUNG. WE ARE STRONG. The Jayu Film Festival uses art to draw attention to human rights stories and thus offers people a platform where they can share their narratives.
Co-presentation with the Monthly Underground Female Film (MUFF) Society at GOETHE FILMS: Goethe Films series fHEISTy WOMEN ROBBING BANKS. The Muff Society is a feminist film society that supports and promotes women in film and television.
Co-presentation with Point of View Magazine (POV) at GOETHE FILMS: TRANSIT CAMP FRIEDLAND. POV Magazine is a magazine about documentary films.
Networking and presentations with the Input Festival, a non-profit organization of television makers and broadcasting companies that holds an annual conference about the limits of television under the motto “storytelling in the public interest.” In 2016, the conference took place in Calgary, Alberta. The Goethe-Institut is an official partner of the Input Festival.