Past Projects

Photos from Manchester and Liverpool
Boarded-up Houses

Katharina Fitz has been searching for empty houses in Liverpool and Manchester. Her photos highlight a problem that goes far beyond the former industrial cities.

An interview with Van Bo Le-Mentzel
The Trojan horses of systemic change

Van Bo Le-Mentzel is an unconventional thinker. The architect became known for his simple and inexpensive self-assembly instructions for Hartz4 wooden furniture. Then he extended the idea of democratic design to dwellings, developing living accommodations on bicycle trailers and tiny houses on wheels.

Using the heat of the sun to heat the house and the water

Ecological Housing
Green Building to Save the Planet

The building sector accounts for roughly one quarter of greenhouse gas emissions. New energy-efficient and environmentally sound construction and renovation methods are finally catching on in France.

The book is dead; long live the book, which has survived every swan song so far.

The book market
Caught between euphoria and despair

Ebooks, smartphone apps and online reading platforms: The digital publishing world is vibrant and colourful, but remains a niche.

Libraries
Future Libraries

With our series “Future Libraries” we shed light on challenges, trends and examples of success around the future of the library.

German National Library in Frankfurt am Main – also a part of the share economy

Libraries as Sharing Partners
Anything but Old-Fashioned

In libraries knowledge and things have been exchanged from time immemorial. They are part of the share economy, even if many are unaware of this. But the “sharing” trend places libraries before a new challenge.

Art Project: Future of Europa
Collecting Europe

In 2017, the Goethe-Institut London and the V&A have commissioned twelve international artists and designers to imagine what Europe might look like 2,000 years from now. How might our present be viewed from the future?

Picture Politics - Illustration by Lars Jakobsen

Comics
Picture Politics

A joint project of several Goethe-Institutes bringing together comic artists and illustrators dealing with topics like immigration, stereotypes and prejudices about foreignness.

8 photographers - 8 positions
Brexit - A Photo Project

Eight students from the Ostkreuz School for Photography express their position on Brexit and give an insight into everyday life in Manchester.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's Bicentenary
A Victorian Love Story

German is the language of love – no-one would have agreed more than Queen Victoria when she fell head over heels with the Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Learn more about the relationship between the two, and why they communicated in German.

Europäische Geschichten
Heirlooms. European Stories

On the occasion of the European Cultural Heritage Year 2018, we are collecting European “heirlooms” – inventions and accomplishments created in European exchange – an tell their stories

Karl Marx

Marxist ideas have played a role in film for more than 100 years, since Marx and his ideas are not just to be found in Germany and the world during the bicentennial year 2018. The self-test "How much Marx is in me?" provides facts for your opinion in this anniversary year.

Design
Bauhaus

Walter Gropius founded the Bauhaus in 1919 – and in doing so revolutionised architecture, design and the way we think about it. What influence does this art school have today?

Frederik Breiner | Wallice 2016 | Light to breathe

Design Training in Germany
Mastering Tomorrow’s Sustainability

From ecological pioneers to new business strategies in the area of sustainability: German universities are increasingly spotlighting responsible action.

Sadak | Berlin Fashion Week | spring/summer 2016

Transgender
The power of fashion

Fashion exercises an avant-garde function for socially relevant discourse. It reflects the issue of transgender and ensures that the boundary between male and female becomes more permeable.

Opera Village Africa - School, December 2015

The European Project

The debate on how Europe will move forward in these uncertain times.

Collage of various people and landmarks of Europe

Tell Me About Europe
Stories Beyond Generations

Europe is more than a continent or an idea. Europe consists of many different stories – personal stories of people from different generations. The project “Tell me about Europe” brings the memories of well-known Europeans alive and invites you to listen and join in the discussion.

Music Project for Europe
Voices.Europe

The generation of people born around 1945, from England, France and Italy, are the ones being given a voice in our music and exchange project about the past, present, and future of Europe. The Russian-German composer Michael Langemann has created this Europe-wide musical dialogue for amateur singers and choirs, and other interested people. Voices.Europe can be experienced in both digital and analogue form, on social media and in person.

In cooperation with My Country Talks & The Mirror
Europe Talks 2021 - Was Brexit worth it?

Europe Talks invites people from all over Europe to engage in cross-border debates to tackle controversial topics such as immigration, the universal basic income and climate change. The project aims to use the power of conversation to create a space for dialogue and fight polarisation. For the 2021 edition we were hosting a discussion on Post-Brexit on our Seat #12 in our library.

A hand pulls a small wooden block out of a wall that is built out of nothing but small wooden blocks. On the block, the following writing is engraved: "It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting. - Paulo Coelho"

Germany’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2020
The Disappearing Wall – Belfast

The interactive art installation Disappearing Wall was set up across Europe between autumn 2020 and spring 2021. Built from 6,000 wooden blocks inscribed with quotes from European high and pop culture, the walls represented the diversity of the continent. Set up in Belfast and 15 other European cities, the pan-European project travelled through overall 10 countries, celebrating the European identity with all its facets of languages and ideas.

Online Film Festival
Fokus – Films from Germany 2020

The 2020 winter season of new films from Germany. Online for the first time, the Glasgow based festival offered a wider distribution of stories between the real and the fictional.

Berlinale Bloggers 2020

17 film journalists from 14 countries and regions met in Berlin and presented their views on the Berlinale. As Berlinale bloggers they were looking for stories - on the screen and behind the scenes of the film festival, which celebrated its 70th birthday in 2020.

Berlinale-Blogger 2019

Each year in February the film world gathers in Berlin. Twelve bloggers and film journalists will present their takes on the 69th Berlinale for the Goethe-Institut.

Conversation & Film screening
Dramas from a Divided Europe

The evening was part of an ongoing series of events commissioned by Goethe-Institut London, called Europe Actually, which explores “a European common identity”

Freiraum

A Europe-wide project of the Goethe-Institut asks what is our freedom based on and what endangers it.

Freepost

Anti-liberal, nationalistic and populist movements are gathering momentum around the world. Can democratic values be protected?

Zeitgeister
This Side of Populism

In global conversations between Budapest, Cairo, Brasilia, Nairobi, Moscow, Salzburg and Zurich we debate common narratives of populists in different countries: Has the “elite” really lost contact with the “people”? What does it really mean to take people’s fears seriously? What is hidden behind the phrase “You still have to be allowed to say that”?

معرض لايبتسيج للكتاب يرحِّب بمئات الآلاف من الزوار سنويًا

Leipzig Book Fair
The book fair – a piece of German history

Every year, the Leipzig Book Fair is the first major get together of the book and media sector in Germany. Backed by centuries of tradition, publishers trot out their new crop of spring books to enthusiastic readers every March.

A reliable Sunday primetime viewer magnet since 1970: Tatort.

Drawn to the scene of the crime
Hunting serial offenders

Every Sunday evening, around ten million people settle down in front of the telly to watch the German police procedural, Tatort, or “crime scene” in English. Regional mysteries and thrillers are also flying off the shelves in bookstores. So what is it that makes a good murder mystery so riveting?

Women Writers and War
Close to the horror

War is no longer the exclusive domain of male authors – three books by German-speaking women writers about guilt, repression and omnipresent fear.

Coding da Vinci
The digitalisation of culture

Visitors to museums and archives usually interact with exhibits locked in display cases in darkened rooms. Yet modern technology has given us ways to more directly experience art and cultural artefacts. Coding da Vinci is an open, cultural data hackathon that digitally brings museum pieces to life.

Vanda Černohorská: “Feminism isn’t a popularity contest.”

Feminism in the Czech Republic
New battle arenas for feminists

Is the internet accelerating the end of patriarchy? Vanda Černohorská researches how online activists are changing society.

Artificial Intelligence
Master or Minion?

Will Artificial Intelligence rule humanity at some point? – On the insurmountable distinctions between humans and machines. An essay by Peter Glaser.

Beyond the grey: a different way to live.

Worth Living
Living Between Town and Country

How do we want to live? In view of skyrocketing rents and property prices in cities worldwide, this is not so easy to answer.

Fading Memories

Privacy and data ownership in the digital age.

Fabian Saul on Resistance
Traces of Resistance-A European story

With populism and nationalism on the rise, Fabian Saul takes to the streets of Europe in search of traces of resistance. His method of choice: Ambling

A woman plays badminton with her daughter

Summer in Germany

Summer in Germany means barbecuing by the river, relaxing in the garden and eating ice cream. But who works while we relax?

German Pop - Our Spotify Playlist!

Oldies, goldies, chart hits and rare gems - we are updating our Spotify playlist every month to satisfy your curiosity and awaken some more! Singing along misheard lyrics is highly recommended!

European Songbook

The European Songbook is a collection of songs that people associate with Europe. As diverse and melodic as Europe itself are the songs and the inhabitants' views about their continent.

Hip-hop artists like the trio Ok Kid! from Cologne often become a new generation of protest singers.

Protest Song in Germany
“Destroy What Destroys You!”

Underground has become complicated. Because it assumes that there are norms that must be protested against.

Towel Art Performance
Folding Europe

Reading the newspaper and watching TV is making you feel dull and sad? Towel Art is the answer. Read about the performance of the Berlin-Based towel artists Hen & Mai.

Artificial Intelligence Art
EURO(RE)VISION

Imagining Merkel and May taking part in the Eurovision song contest! Inspired by Dada poetry, Euro(re)vision explores the relationships between artificial intelligence, politics and pop culture.

International theatre and festival directors listen to their guide during an exhibition.

Theatre in Civil Society
Dramatic Episodes

A workshop series taking place over three years invites twelve theatre and festival directors from across four continents to reflect on the role of theatre in a rapidly changing world. Together they will work on practices that will enable change.

Hans-Werner Kroesinger and Regine Dura: “Stolpersteine Staatstheater“ (i.e. City Theatre Stumbling Stones) at the Karlsruhe Staatstheater

Plays on the swing to the right
“I’m not a Nazi, but ...”

The German theatre has responded to the swing to the right in society. It has thereby proceeded to treat the subject in different ways aesthetically and thematically.

Installations
#SouthKenGreenTrail: Green Interventions

Many people would like to emerge from the pandemic with a different attitude to nature - one that values repair and protection, and addresses global exploitation and destruction. We have launched a series of artworks and collaborations on this topic.

Generations
Kultursymposium Weimar

The Kultursymposium Weimar is a festival for new networks and ideas. Every two years, the Goethe-Institut invites over five hundred people from all over the world to come together in Weimar to attend the event.

November 2021| E-Mail Exchange
E-MAIL CHAT - YOUTH CLIMATE ACTIVISM

Two young climate activists exchange their views on different aspects of their engagement and give us an insight into their motivations and thoughts but also let us see their anger and frustration.

Podcast
Talking Culture

Talking Culture is a platform for thought-provoking discussions about the future of Europe, the UK, and the world. For episode 7, Natalie Taylor, Urban Radicals and Adam Harris talk together about their "SouthKenGreenTrail" installations, which aimed to bring greener infrastructure and more sustainability to London.

Mapping the Weather in Arts & Science

The project is an interdisciplinary research in the region of North-West Europe. Through hackathons, artistic research and a concluding symposium it explores the questions of how weather and climate change are experienced and how we communicate about them.

Past Projects

Architecture

Photos from Manchester and Liverpool Boarded-up Houses

An interview with Van Bo Le-Mentzel The Trojan horses of systemic change

Ecological Housing Green Building to Save the Planet

Libraries

The book market Caught between euphoria and despair

Libraries Future Libraries

Libraries as Sharing Partners Anything but Old-Fashioned

Visual Arts

Art Project: Future of Europa Collecting Europe

Comics Picture Politics

8 photographers - 8 positions Brexit - A Photo Project

Education and Knowledge

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's Bicentenary A Victorian Love Story

Europäische Geschichten Heirlooms. European Stories

Karl Marx

Design and Fashion

Design Bauhaus

Design Training in Germany Mastering Tomorrow’s Sustainability

Transgender The power of fashion

Europe

The European Project

Tell Me About Europe Stories Beyond Generations

Music Project for Europe Voices.Europe

In cooperation with My Country Talks & The Mirror Europe Talks 2021 - Was Brexit worth it?

Germany’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2020 The Disappearing Wall – Belfast

Film

Online Film Festival Fokus – Films from Germany 2020

Berlinale Bloggers 2020

Berlinale-Blogger 2019

Conversation & Film screening Dramas from a Divided Europe

Society and Current Affairs

Freiraum

Freepost

Zeitgeister This Side of Populism

Literature

Leipzig Book Fair The book fair – a piece of German history

Drawn to the scene of the crime Hunting serial offenders

Women Writers and War Close to the horror

Media

Coding da Vinci The digitalisation of culture

Feminism in the Czech Republic New battle arenas for feminists

Artificial Intelligence Master or Minion?

Modern Life

Worth Living Living Between Town and Country