Goethe-Institut Glasgow Turns 50

For 50 years, the Goethe-Institut has provided Glasgow access to courses in German language and culture. In 2004, the team settled in their current home at 3 Park Circus, in a building shared with the Alliance Française Glasgow, creating a hub of European learning and community right in the heart of Scotland’s largest city.

With a Language Department and lending library providing courses in German language at all levels of proficiency, and a Cultural Programme Department facilitating the artistic exchange between Scotland and Germany with artist residencies and events such as the Fokus Film Festival (which returns in January 2024 for the first time since the pandemic), the institute has sustained a thriving link between two cultures for half a century, and are celebrating their abiding achievement with a free-of-charge, one-day festival, for all ages, this October.

Though the festival proper runs on 28 October, attractions start a little earlier, with poetry trail On the Tip of Your Tongue opening on the 25th. Writers from across Germany, France and Scotland have adapted each other’s favourite proverbs into poems, and the resulting work has been placed around the institute, encouraging visitors to explore the grounds. On the same day, people can attend a 40-minute sound portrait, created for the 2020 at-home Counterflows festival by Radiophrenia co-managers Mark Vernon and Barry Burns, in collaboration with Berlin-based sound artist Antje Vowinckel.

As for the 28th, visitors will be able to sit in on taster lessons in German, getting a feel for the kind of courses that Goethe-Institut Glasgow runs year-round. For the little ones, the lending library is hosting a miniature scavenger hunt aimed at 6-10 year olds; The German Language Adventure is an all-ages, self-paced game that allows players to explore German-speaking cities, using creativity and logic to solve puzzles and pick up the local lingo, and interactive science experiments will be running to let the cleverest of kids pick up on some German greetings, as well as instructions on how to “feed the Foam Monster”.

If you’ve already learned some basic German, a graffiti art workshop will teach you how to render words and slogans in an authentic German street-art fashion, and artist Elspeth Chapman will host a class on how to recycle books into decorative art and origami.

If you want to get engrossed in German culture, the institute will be screening the greats of German cinema’s last five decades, with Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire, Faith Akin’s Soul Kitchen, and plenty more on show. 

Another four thought-provoking films, featuring experimental choreography and dance, make up the Screendance: Bodies in Motion event, and Elisabeth Schilling, who has participated in 230 contemporary dance performances across 19 countries, offers her expertise to those interested in the art of contemporary dance. No previous experience is required for her workshop, but Schilling is sure to help improve dance skills and offer insight into this breathtaking art form. If the beat has a hold on you,  Hip Hop! Can't Stop! Won't Stop! is open to anyone who wants to stretch out their breakdancing skills, this time against the unique flavour of German hip-hop.

If theatrics are your thing, Offsite is a haunting performance installation on the topic of communicating with spirits, an immersive experience that’s only for the festival’s bravest attendees.

The 50th birthday is packed with what are sure to be memorable performances. BWA is an exploration into translation and non-verbal communication, between two performers and a flexiply strip. German writer Mithu Sanyal hosts a reading from new book Identitti, and will be in conversation with journalist Chitra Ramaswamy. Starman, named for the David Bowie anthem, sees a live drawing session with graphic novelist Reinhard Kleist introduced with the music of Raymond MacDonald. MacDonald, a renowned avant-garde composer, will also be giving a solo performance of improvised saxophone music, and R.AGGS of SAY Award winners Sacred Paws will be in concert to close the festivities.

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50 Years of the Goethe-Institut, 3 Park Circus, Glasgow, 28 Oct, free
goethe.de