We are a small team of three staff members and we work closely with our colleagues from the other departments and our partner institutions. In addition to our own in-house projects, we collaborate with partner institutions throughout Scotland and Germany, and sometimes on regional or global projects.
In 2023 we are particularly focused on our anniversary programme, but also have many other smaller events each month. We also focus on residency programms for deeper exchange, such as Nordic Leipzig, Meeting Points, Creative Residency, and CROWD. In the autumn, among other events, we are especially looking forward to collaborating with Sonica Surge, who themselves are celebrating their 30th anniversary and have a special focus next year on working with German artists.
In January 2024, the Fokus Film Festival will take place for the first time since the pandemic at various partner cinemas across Scotland. We are currently working on our programme for 2024, and in addition to the collaboration with our French partners from Alliance Française Glasgow, with whom we share a building, there will be other focus series that we are already looking forward to. We cannot reveal too much at this point, but you will be excited when you see our plans.
Nicole Fryns, programme co-ordinator
"I have been working at the Goethe-Institut in Glasgow for almost a decade in the areas of film, music and discursive formats.
I personally value the colleagues, the work and the interaction with our Scottish as well as German and French partners very much and find it extremely enriching.
The feeling of conceiving a project together, seeing how the different parts interlock and click into place - despite or precisely because of the linguistic and cultural differences; the adrenaline rush during the implementation and the pride and sense of achievement upon the joint realisation. It reminds me of a circle closing or, if you still remember them, the satisfying click of a cassette tape ending after the story or music has successfully been played.
Over the coming months, we also have outstanding projects and fantastic collaborations. End of August, the broadcast of a joint project took place with the art radio station Radiophrenia. At the end of September, three German artists will present their audiovisual art as part of Sonica Surge and our two anniversaries.
Not to be missed, of course, will be our anniversary celebrations on 28 October with music by Raymond MacDonald, R.AGGS, a sound portrait by and with Antje Vowinckel, Barry Burns and Mark Vernon in our Outhouse - as well as a film programme featuring German cinema from the different decades.
But my personal highlight remains Fokus, films from Germany - an annual film festival with many partners throughout Scotland, in which we present in January 2024 exciting contemporary German films.
Come along!"
