Anniversary
Goethe-Institut Glasgow

white lettering '50 Goethe-Institut Glasgow' on a background of blue coloured circles © Goethe-Institut Glasgow

2023 sees us looking back on 50 years of collaboration with various cultural and educational institutions in Scotland and beyond. We would like to thank all our friends, clients, artists and partners for their trust and support. We very much enjoyed celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Goethe-Institut Glasgow with you.

Impressions of our celebrations and past work

  • Invited guests at the reception on 25.10.2023 Photo: Amy Sinead © Goethe-Institut Glasgow

    Reception on 25.10.23: Thomas Deleuze, Director Alliance Française in Glasgow; Stéphane Foin, Interim Director & Deputy Cultural Counsellor, French Embassy to the UK & Attaché for Co-operation in Education; Hanna Dede, Director Goethe-Institut Glasgow; Stéphane Pailler, Consul General of France in Edinburgh and Director of the Institut français d’Écosse; Hélène Duchêne, Ambassador of France to the UK; Miguel Berger, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the UK; Rainer Pollack, Executive director and member of the board of Goethe-Institut; Dr Katharina von Ruckteschell-Katte, Director of the Goethe-Institut London and the institutes in Northwestern Europe; Christiane Hullmann, Consul General of Germany in Edinburgh

  • Examples of our Poetry Trail Photo: Amy Sinead © Goethe-Institut Glasgow

    Reception on 25.10.23: Hanna Dede, Director Goethe-Institut Glasgow; Hélène Duchêne, Ambassador of France to the UK; Miguel Berger, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the UK and Thomas Deleuze, Director Alliance Française in Glasgow presenting two poems of our poetry trail

  • Reception on 25.10.23: Andreas G. Wolff, BBC Correspondent and Videojournalist; Angus Robertson MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture; Christiane Hullmann, Consul General of Germany in Edinburgh Photo: Amy Sinead © Goethe-Institut Glasgow

    Reception on 25.10.23: Andreas G. Wolff, BBC Correspondent and Videojournalist; Angus Robertson MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture; Christiane Hullmann, Consul General of Germany in Edinburgh

  • Bailie Paul McCabe, Glasgow City Council in conversation Photo: Amy Sinead © Goethe-Institut Glasgow

    Reception on 25.10.23: Bailie Paul McCabe, Glasgow City Council in conversation

  • Reception on 25.10.23: Syed Zahid Raza, Consul General of Pakistan in Glasgow; Miguel Berger, Ambassador of Germany to the UK in conversation; Raymond MacDonald, saxophonist and composer is visible in the background Photo: Amy Sinead © Goethe-Institut Glasgow

    Reception on 25.10.23: Syed Zahid Raza, Consul General of Pakistan in Glasgow; Miguel Berger, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the UK in conversation; Raymond MacDonald, saxophonist and composer is visible in the background

  • Reception on 25.10.23: Cutting of the cake Photo: Amy Sinead © Goethe-Institut Glasgow

    Reception on 25.10.23: Cutting of the cake are Hanna Dede, Director Goethe-Institut Glasgow; Miguel Berger, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the UK; Angus Robertson MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture; Hélène Duchêne, Ambassador of France to the UK; Thomas Deleuze, Director Alliance Française in Glasgow

  • Reception on 25.10.23: The evening ended with a Scottish ceilidh Photo: Amy Sinead © Goethe-Institut Glasgow

    Reception on 25.10.23: The evening ended with a Scottish ceilidh

  • As part of our poetry trail newly commissioned work from some of the most exciting poets in Scotland, France and Germany is exhibited in our building and gardens. Photo: Alexis Strömer © Goethe-Institut Glasgow

    As part of our poetry trail newly commissioned work from some of the most exciting poets in Scotland, France and Germany is exhibited in our building and gardens.

  • three dancers with arms open wide move in unison across the floor Photo: Amy Sinead © Goethe-Institut Glasgow

    Festival on 28.10.23: Participants in Elisabeth Schilling's Moved by Materials dance workshop

  • Festival on 28.10.23:  Jessica Paris spricht mit Geistern Photo: Amy Sinead © Goethe-Institut Glasgow

    Festival on 28.10.23: Jessica Paris's durational performance creates reflecting pools to see ourselves looking back at our selves

  • Festival on 28.10.23: Participants during the German Language Adventure - a motivational game  Photo: Liesel Sunkler © Goethe-Institut Glasgow

    Festival on 28.10.23: Participants during the German Language Adventure - a motivational game

  • Festival on 28.10.23: Crafting workshop for children with artist Elspeth Chapman Photo: Amy Sinead © Goethe-Institut Glasgow

    Festival on 28.10.23: Crafting workshop for children with artist Elspeth Chapman

  • Festival on 28.10.23: Live drawing with German comic artist Reinhard Kleist; musically accompanied by Scottish saxophonist and composer Raymond MacDonald Photo: Amy Sinead © Goethe-Institut Glasgow

    Festival on 28.10.23: Live drawing with German comic artist Reinhard Kleist; musically accompanied by Scottish saxophonist and composer Raymond MacDonald

  • Festival on 28.10.23: Dancer Kemono L. Riot creates a good atmosphere during his dance workshop Photo: Amy Sinead © Goethe-Institut Glasgow

    Festival on 28.10.23: Dancer Kemono L. Riot creating a good atmosphere during his dance workshop

  • Festival on 28.10.23: Journalist and author Mithu Sanyal (online) in discussion with British journalist Chitra Ramaswamy and Hanna Dede, Director of the Goethe-Institut Glasgow Photo: Amy Sinead © Goethe-Institut Glasgow

    Festival on 28.10.23: Author Mithu Sanyal (online) in discussion with British journalist and author Chitra Ramaswamy and Hanna Dede, Director of the Goethe-Institut Glasgow

  • Festival on 28.10.23: BWA-Performance with Esyllt Lewis, left, and Emma Lewis-Jones Photo: Amy Sinead © Goethe-Institut Glasgow

    Festival on 28.10.23: BWA: A choreography for two performers and a flexiply strip, by Esyllt Lewis, left, and Emma Lewis-Jones

  • Festival on 28.10.23: Ray Aggs' concert got the audience dancing Photo: Amy Sinead © Goethe-Institut Glasgow

    Festival on 28.10.23: Ray Aggs' concert got the audience dancing

  • 2-3 Park Circus, outside view and inside the reading room, early 70s © Gorgea Oliver

    2-3 Park Circus, outside view and inside the reading room, early 70s

  • 2-3 Park Circus, outside view and inside the new welcome room, 2023 © Goethe-Institut Glasgow

    2-3 Park Circus, outside view and inside the new welcome room, 2023

  • Brochure of Glasgow 1990 / Official Opening of Garnethill Park, a Scottish-German Project © Goethe-Institut Glasgow

    Glasgow 1990 / Official Opening of Garnethill Park, a Scottish-German Project

  • 2 students eagerly looking at a tablet © Goethe-Institut Glasgow

    German Language Adventure, 2013

  • A student standing inbetween exhibits of 'Umdenken' 2016 Photo: Jane Beran © GI Glasgow

    Exhibition 'Umdenken', 2016

  • Musician playing a cello in front of a sound system © Goethe-Institut Glasgow

    Opening ceremony of the installation 'Fungal Datascape', 2021

  • Fungal Datascapes: A Sporous Commons of Mushrooms and Climate © Rut Karin Zettergren, Finn Arschavir, Jens Evaldsson

    Immersive art installation ‘Fungal Datascapes: A Sporous Commons of Mushrooms and Climate’; part of the Goethe Institute’s supra-regional project 'Weather Glass or Crystal Ball? Mapping the Weather in Arts and Science'.

It was a great honour to celebrate these very special anniversaries – 50 years of the Goethe-Institut in Glasgow and 40 years of the Alliance Française – together with my French colleague Hélène Duchêne. This festive gathering was a celebration of friendship, language, culture and exchange.
German Ambassador Miguel Berger

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