Art

SoundBites
Coal, Kebabs and Cold Water

Celebrated in English-speaking countries as a “Teutonic band”, the new wave group Malaria! never saw themselves as German – if anything, they were Berliner. Their underground hit Kaltes Klares Wasser, which enjoys cult, Kraftwerk-like status all over the world today, came about purely by chance. And thanks to feminist skills, has been given a second life.

Inequality
Women on Bass Guitar!

Gender imbalances and pay gaps, structural oppression and sexual abuse are enduring evils in the jazz scene that need to be addressed now, insists Sophie Emilie Beha. 

Webradio | DJ-Livestream
Live from the storage room

During the pandemic, dance enthusiasts took to the Internet. Resourceful club owners, DJs and radio producers established a new, multimedia radio format without further ado. 

Fokus Erinnerungskultur

Die intensive Auseinandersetzung mit historischen Ereignissen ist der Gegenstand des Fokus Erinnerungskultur. Mittels innovativer Projekte, Ausstellungen, Symposien und Bildungsmaterialien fördern die Goethe-Institute in Nordamerika neue Perspektiven und zukunftsweisende Ansätze. Der Fokus Erinnerungskultur schafft so eine Plattform für einen lebendigen transatlantischen Dialog.

Ale Cohen on Dublab
The Sound of Los Angeles

Our colleague Stefan Kloo from Los Angeles has been saying for years that we should definitely do a portrait of the wonderfully extraordinary radio broadcaster, Dublab. Here it is! Sascha Ehlert visited Ale Cohen at the Dublab Studio in Los Angeles. Ale has been involved with Dublab for decades. And Stefan Kloo took photos.
 

Foley Artist
The Art of Sounds

Creaking doors, singing swords and and the crunch of snow underfoot – sounds bring stories to life. Foley artist Max Bauer speaks in an interview about his profession. 

Cultural heritage
German Museums Go Virtual

In the past, whenever cultural heritage was destroyed by natural disasters or wars, that destruction was irremediable. But it doesn’t have to be that way anymore: here’s how digital technologies can preserve cultural heritage for posterity.

Brazilian Art
A History of Resisting Adversity

From experimental movements of the 1960s, moving through the gambiarra aesthetics in the 2000s, to the need for exile that is determined by the current political situation, Brazilian artistic production is guided by a kind of motto: to create from material and social adversity, transforming precarity into a conceptual tool.

Climate Change at the Mediterranean
The Great Alexandria’s Final Battle

Climate change has shown no mercy to the places that were once magnificent and powerful. Two Thousand years after Alexander the Great created his magnum opus, where is the city of Alexandria now? Through a series of interviews, we have attempted to answer those questions.
 

Pop and Electronic Music 2022
No More War!

2022 was a year of contradictions. While at festivals and sold-out stadium concerts it seemed as though everything was back to pre-pandemic normal, smaller-scale gigs and tours galore were called off – owing to insufficient demand. Economically speaking, it was an anxious year, and musically speaking, all the more provocative: from the clash over the sexist hit party song “Layla” to some raucous grunge anthems and retro R&B that fit right in with the Y2K retro trend. Meanwhile, over in the USA, Kim Petras made history as the most successful German pop singer on the American charts since Nena.

100 Years of Joseph Beuys

Joseph Beuys would have turned 100 in 2021. In celebration, we’ve gathered events on Beuys from our colleagues and partners in the region — and included some 2021 perspectives on the artist’s work.

Colonial Looted Art
The Restitution of the Benin Bronzes

The German government returned some of the Benin Bronzes to Nigeria– 125 years after they were stolen by the British troops in 1897. Cultural historian, art and heritage specialist Dr. Oluwatoyin Zainab Sogbesan and Digital heritage specialist Olorunfemi Johnson talk about questions of ownership, historical contexts and the demands of the so-called Restitution Study Group.
 

Trust and Pop Music
Fading dreams

Queen, The Beatles, Lana del Rey: Pop songs are often about trust – in the Establishment, in others, in ourselves. Over the years, utopian faith has given way to dystopian distrust.
 

Indigenous Rap
“We don’t fit labels”

Young rappers of indigenous origins are entering the Brazilian music scene and creating a legion of fans. As they strive to defend the rescue of their own origins and denounce the violence in their communities, they also face prejudice and hate on social networks.

A Conversation with Bénédicte Savoy
Restitution is Like the Fall of the Berlin Wall

The renowned art historian Bénédicte Savoy is an expert on the forced appropriation of cultural assets through war and colonialism, an area of research that concerns everyone in Europe. This historical moment is an opportunity for museums and their visitors.

Music
“Dreams also serve as legitimation”

From Stockhausen to Wagner: important composers from past centuries claim to have been inspired whilst asleep. An interview with musicologist Magdalena Zorn about dreams as a source of inspiration, artistic self-portrayal – and what dreamed music actually sounds like.
 

The Ocean As an Art Object
Art As a Translator

The art world can often be very superficial, criticizes the curator Anne-Marie Melster. Through her “Artport_making waves” collective she wants to take a more content-driven approach and illustrate that art, science and politics can complement one another in the area of climate change. 

U.S. Edition
One Million Roses for Angela Davis

In the 1970s, a postcard campaign organized by the state of East Germany called for the release of the imprisoned philosopher and Black Power activist Angela Davis. This dossier explores this unusual — and often contradictory — alliance.

Street art in Germany
Art in the public space

Graffiti, street art and murals: large-scale wall art is something that’s become an intrinsic part of the streetscape in many towns and cities. We take you on a quick tour through Germany.
 

Inspirador
How Montevideo Uses Art to Protect Its Historic Heritage

Every five years, coinciding with the municipal elections, artists, architects, and designers from the city of Montevideo join in an artistic-political campaign parallel to the elections. With a perspective rooted in the artistic field, the project calls for the participation of society to reimagine what life in the city can be like.

Inspirador
How Amsterdam Fights Climate Crisis Through Artivism

Over the past 20 years, the fossil fuel industry  has been responsible for three-fourths of human-caused carbon emissions on the planet. Part of the cultural sector also draws its funding from fossil fuels. The Fossil Free Culture initiative wants to tackle this.

Dieter Rams
“Design has to make things understandable”

The long-time chief designer at the German consumer products company, Braun, Dieter Rams, knew how to design industrial products unobtrusively and clearly. His creations became timeless classics and an inspiration for other technology manufacturers – for example, for Apple.

Classical, Contemporary and Early Music 2021
Reawakening and setbacks

Racism, abuse of power, Covid – 2021 was another year of controversy and profound social debate in the early, new and classical music scene. Hannah Schmidt looks back on some of the main issues and incidents – and how the German classical music scene coped with another pandemic year.

Artificial intelligence and art
When is art really art?

Artificial intelligence making art puts a new spin on age-old questions, such as if AI art can really be called art, and who gets credit as the artist – the machine, the programmer or the person whose data was fed into the algorithm.

Inclusion
“It’s always first and foremost about art”

Artists with intellectual impairments should have the same opportunities as others – but that isn’t always the case. Katja de Bragança from the participative research institute TOUCHDOWN 21 talks about the options available to artists with a disability in Germany.

Art from the Ashes
How São Paulo Is Transforming Environmental Crimes into Art

In the last two years, Brazil has set a sad new record: 30 percent of the Pantanal ecosystem has been burned in just one year. An artist from São Paulo wants to draw attention to this.

Urban art
Transforming cities

Art in urban spaces is about so much more than just colourful walls: It can also be a central element of social change. Two street art projects in Cologne and Dusseldorf are using art to increase participation and social cohesion.
 

Theatre
United against a shift to the right

Pressure on the German theatre and cultural landscape has increased significantly since the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany party won seats in parliament. The institutions have developed ways to deal with right-wing attacks – in part by joining together in solidarity.

Maria Eichhorn
Critically questioning the system of the arts

For decades, Maria Eichhorn has critically explored both social power relations and the art system itself in her work. Now she has an exhibition planned for the German Pavilion at the 2022 Biennale in Venice.

Exhibition series „Invisible Inventories“
Decolonising the discourse

The exhibition series “Invisible Inventories” showcases the results of an international research project whose aim is to build a database of Kenyan art objects in museums in Europe and North America. Shortly before the digital exhibition opening, Clara Himmelheber from the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum and Frauke Gathof from the Weltkulturen Museum talk about the work on establishing an equal relationship.

Non-fungible tokens
A revolution in the digital art market

A blockchain technology is making waves in the art scene. For the first time, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are making it possible to trade digital art just like paintings, sculptures or photographs – and charge equally high prices. We look at what non-fungible tokens are all about and how they can bring in so much money. 

Community and Design
The Public Interest Design Lab

How can community-led planning, public engagement, and design be used to restore justice to our cities? How can design strengthen the social bonds that are vital to a thriving, equitable D.C.? These questions prompted the Public Interest Design Lab, a new initiative of the Goethe-Institut, in partnership with DC Public Library. In its first year, this fellowship supported six design practitioners from many fields confronting the most urgent issues in their communities.

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