Frequently asked questions

The Kultursymposium Weimar is a discursive festival for new networks and ideas. Every two years, the Goethe-Institut invites over 500 people from all over the world to come together in Weimar to attend the event. Interdisciplinary, diverse and international, the Kultursymposium reflects the richness and complexity of global discourses and proposes new ideas for international cultural exchange. Each edition of this successful festival format has a different theme – for example the focus for 2021 was »Generations«.

The first Kultursymposium Weimar took place in 2016 with the topic »The Sharing Game« and the second edition in 2019 bore the title »Recalculating the Route«. In contrast to the first two editions, the Kultursymposium Weimar 2021 was realised in a digital space due to the pandemic.

The word "Kultursymposium" captures the interplay between discursive and artistic formats. In a diverse programme of performances, discussions, films, musical contributions, short lectures and interactive workshops, the festival brings together international perspectives, disciplines and voices from the Goethe-Institut network.

The cultural city of Weimar is closely connected to the Goethe-Institut. Indeed, the namesake of our institution, the poet and thinker Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, lived here for many years. The city brings together cultural diversity and a network of exciting programme partners for the Kultursymposium Weimar. The city is also creating a cultural framework for the festival, ranging from debates in the Duchess Anna Amalia library to lectures at the Bauhaus-University.

Selected contributions from the Kultursymposium Weimar 2023 are now available in our Media Library. In addition to exciting content from the festival days and from all over the world, there are supplementary features on the topic of trust.

The Kultursymposium Weimar project team organises the event from the capital city office of the Goethe-Institut in Berlin. The team is supported by colleagues from the Goethe-Institut’s head office in Munich and the many ideas and voices from Goethe-Instituts across the world.