APRIL MAY 2013 programme
OVERVIEW When
What & Where
06/4/2013
@25 Goethe-Institut, Johannesburg
07/4/2013 - City of Gold Festival 13/4/2013 Various locations in Johannesburg 09/4/2013 Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei Goethe-Institut, Johannesburg 18/4/2013
Albert Einstein and Thomas Mann Goethe-Institut, Johannesburg
20/4/2013
SoundMindLab Goethe-Institut, Johannesburg
23/4/2013
New South African Voices Goethe-Institut, Johannesburg
25/4/2013 - Sfeer 28/4/2013 GoetheonMain, 245 Main Street, Maboneng Precinct
10/5/2013 Tell them we are from here The Bioscope 12/5/2013 - Francis Burger - Unlearning 19/6/2013 GoetheonMain, 245 Main Street, Maboneng Precinct 12/5/2013 Taxi Poetry Thokoza Park, Soweto 14/5/2013 - Sabelo Mhlangeni Isivumelwano: 15/5/2013 An Agreement Goethe-Institut, Johannesburg
16/5/2013 Sue Williamson: All our Mothers Goodman Gallery, 163 Jan Smuts Ave, Johannesburg 23/5/2013 - The Brother breaks the Bullion 20/6/2013 GoetheonMain, 245 Main Street, Maboneng Precinct
24/5/2013 Words Up! King Kong Building, 6 Verwey Street, Troyeville 28/5/2013 New South African Voices Goethe-Institut, Johannesburg Don’t forget to sign up for German courses Term dates: 21.05.2013 – 21.08.2013
Memorial Event
@25
06.04.2013, 12H00 – 18H00 Goethe-Institut, Auditorium, Johannesburg Visual artist and activist Zanele Muholi’s non-profit organisation Inkanyiso presents @25, an event to commemorate the lives of Buhle Msibi (1981 2006) and Busi Sigasa (1982 - 2007), black lesbian cultural activists, who both passed away at the age of 25. Buhle Msibi was a proud lesbian mother, poet and writer, as well as actress, singer and lyricist who was involved in every aspect of the work of Forum for the Empowerment of Women (FEW) from the early stages. She was a leading member of the SAfroDykes and the FEW performing group, for which she wrote, directed and performed in a number of dramatic and musical productions. Busi Sigasa also went by the name “(Queen) Latifah”, something of a testimony to her aspirations. She was a writer and poet like Buhle, but preferred the printed medium to the stage. A hustler who was neither afraid of hard work nor of speaking her mind, Busi was one of FEW’s more vocal and energetic volunteers. Inkanyiso invites you to come celebrate the life and work of these two passionate and fearless human rights defenders, who had already made such a mark when they passed...@ 25. A number of poets and writers will be featured at the event and will participate in conversations about art, activism, human rights, and well-being. The event will be facilitated by Donna A. M. Smith, co-founder and former CEO of FEW, who also writes and performs poetry. Zanele Muholi’s 2006 FEW documentary will also be screened at the event. For more information, contact Inkanyiso at inkanyiso2009@gmail.com or go to inkanyiso.org
Image: Lerato Maduna
Street Art
City of Gold festival
07.04.2013 – 13.04.2013 Various locations in Johannesburg
Installation Image of Artwork by Heraku
From the 7 –13 April 2013 Grayscale Concepts will host the 3rd annual “City Of Gold” Urban Art Festival in Johannesburg South Africa. The festival aims at rejuvenating dilapidated or forgotten urban spaces through the painting of large-scale graffiti/street art murals. Graffiti and Street Art are often misunderstood by the general public at large. The festival also hopes to educate the public audience and demonstrate the positive and constructive roles these art forms can play in the urban environment, while at the same time inspiring the local youth and establishing Joburg as a destination for international artists. The 2013 edition will feature the well respected German artist Herakut who was invited by the Goethe-Institut, well as other international and some of South Africa’s finest graffiti artists. For more info visit www.cityofgoldfestival.co.za
Film
Die Fetten Jahre sind vorbei (The Edukators) 09.04.2013, 19H00 Goethe-Institut, Auditorium, Johannesburg Roughly every two months, we will screen a German film with English subtitles at our auditorium. On Tuesday, 9 April, we start with Die Fetten Jahre sind vorbei, an acclaimed feature film from 2004: Jan and Peter share a flat in Berlin, a Volkswagen bus, and ideas on how to take action against social injustice. They spy on luxury mansions and break in when the owners are not at home. They do not steal anything; instead,
they re-arrange the furniture and leave what they hope are unsettling notes, such as “You have too much money” or “Your days of plenty are numbered”, and sign themselves as “The Edukators”. Peter’s girlfriend Jule has just lost her flat because she fell behind with the rent, and moves in with Peter and Jan. She joins them in their subversive activities. But when a rich businessman catches them in the act, they rashly decide to kidnap him. Faced with the values of the generation in power, they will see what kind of revolutionaries they are, if their friendship can survive, and discover if they truly work in the interest of the greater good or just in their own self-interest. Passions rage and loyalties shatter in director Hans Weingartner’s exciting film that’s “Fresh, biting, gripping, tender, and tense” (The Telegraph On Sunday). A film by Hans Weingartner. With Daniel Brühl, Julia Jentsch, Stipe Erceg and others. Germany, 2004 Admission: free.
History
Albert Einstein und Thomas Mann: Eine relative Freundschaft
18.04.2013 Goethe-Institut, Library, Johannesburg
Thomas Mann
Albert Einstein
One of the two has fundamentally changed our understanding of space and time, the other one, at the age of 29, was considered to be the most prominent romancer of the modern age. Though their nature differed substantially, they were united through their encouragement for the Weimar Republic and their vehement rejection of National Socialism. Not only abroad, but definitely since they were forcefully emigrated in 1933, Albert Einstein and Thomas Mann were ranked to be among the representatives of the “better Germany”. The presentation aims to draw out the careers and the points of
contact of lives and work between the two exceptional personalities. The presenter, Dr. Michael Schaaf, is a science historian. He used to teach at the University of Cape Town. At present, he teaches at the German International School Johannesburg. Schaaf is the author of several books. The event, which is organised by the Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache (GfdS), will be in German only.
Music
SoundMindLab Launch
20.04.2013, 16H00 Goethe-Institut, Auditorium, Johannesburg SoundMindLab is an exciting new Johannesburg-based artistic venture that will provide a regular platform for innovative contemporary, electronic and experimental music, as well as creative conversations and workshops around contemporary sonic and interdisciplinary practice. Partnered by Wits University and the music rights organisation SAMRO, the Lab also aims to foster artistic connections Image: João Orecchia
and collaborations across Africa and globally. Come and join the
SoundMindLab launch: a playful and creative event where musicians will perform in the varied spaces of the Goethe-Institut in Parkwood and create distinct sonic environments for listeners to experience and interact with, as they chart their own sound paths. The performance will finish in the auditorium where the first music performed on SoundMindLab’s new grand piano can be heard by all. Performers include Jill Richards, João Orecchia, Lukas Ligeti, Waldo Alexander and more. Admission: free
Literature
New South African Voices hosts Indonesian Poets: The Poetry of Language and the Baggage of the Past
23.04.2013, 19H00 Goethe-Institut, Library, Johannesburg Two different countries, two generations of writers, four distinct voices
Rustum Kozain
Toeti Heraty
Miriam Tlali
Saut Situmorang
that shaped their respective countries’ literature. This edition of New South African Voices explores the role of literatur in the fight against apartheid in South Africa and in the struggle for independence in Indonesia. Through literature and poetry, the invited authors examine how colonialism shaped both countries and the impact that the Cape Malay tradition had on South Africa and its culture. Toeti Heraty and Miriam Tlali (both born in 1933) are not only skilled writers but also have been brave fighters for women’s rights and political change for decades. Both will discuss writing today with a younger generation of poets, namely Saut Situmorang and Rustum Kozain (both born in 1966). Together our guests will look at how transformation has enabled new ways of writing and reflection. They will discuss which of these changes are global phenomena and which are specifically Indonesian or South African. This special edition of the New South African Voices series features Indonesian poets who have traveled to Southern Africa as part of the „What is poetry“ project, which aims at sharing poetry and discussing the meaning of language in shaping individual and national identities. The next edition takes place on 28.05.2013 (check in this programme). Admission: free
Performing Arts
Sfeer
25.04.2013 – 28.04.2013, Opening: Thursday 25 April 19h00 GoetheonMain, 245 Main Street, Maboneng Precinct Sfeer: A world of light and dark, of ghostly objects and sand; an inviting dreamscape in which we are reminded that ‘imagination is more important than knowledge’ (A. Einstein). This interdisciplinary theater project explores the space of our imagination; it is about longing Image: Marlé Coetzer
and how we are not confined to
the physical space we occupy. Sfeer punctures the membrane between the material world and the vastness of dreamscapes. This work is a collaboration between director/puppeteer Naomi van Niekerk, choreographer /performer Athena Mazarakis and musician/ composer Arnaud van Vliet. Performance dates and times Opening: Thursday 25 April 19h00 Performance: Friday 26 April, 19h00, Saturday 27 April 15h30, and 19h00, Sunday 28 April 15h30.
Intervention
FrancIs Burger: Unlearning
02.05.2013 – 19.05.2013, Opening: 12/5/2013, 14H00 GoetheonMain, 245 Main Street, Maboneng Precinct Unlearning is an exhibition and project about losing knowledge – whether through erasure, amnesia, overwriting, disguising, reducing, ridiculing, hiding, covering, mimicking or undermining. Performed on-site at GoetheonMain as a growing installation, Unlearning will investigate the prospect of losing knowledge through practical application, staged conversations and theoretical research. Used intermittently as a classroom, a stage, a laboratory and an office, the installation will develop within the space as an adisciplinary, intertextual bricolage. Unlearning will feature words, images and objects by Francis Burger, Pamella Dlungwana, Georgia Munnik and others. A workshop involving language games and experiments will run for one of the two weeks of the exhibition. Unlearning by Francis Burger with Pamella Dlungwana, Georgia Munnik and others runs at GoetheonMain, from Thursday 2 May to Sunday 19 May, with the public opening on Sunday, 12 May at 14H00. For details of the workshop, related events and the launch of the project blog, visit goethe.de/johannesburg
Artoworks by Francis Burger, Pamella Dlungwana, Georgia Munnik and others
Film & Exhibition
Project: Tell them we are from here
10.05.2013 19H00 The Bioscope, 286 Fox Street, Maboneng Precinct
Picture: Man on Ground, Femi
Taking as point of departure Akin Omotoso’s award winning film Man on Ground, the interactive exhibition Tell them we are from here is an initiative to stimulate continued dialogue about xenophobia within South African communities. The film Man on Ground was inspired by the photo of Ernesto Nhamuave, the Mozambican man who was burnt alive during the 2008 xenophobic attacks. The image became a symbol for the riots and Nhamuave became known as ‘The Burning Man’. In 2013, recently another Mozambican man was dragged by a police van to his death, which highlights the importance to keep the dialogue around identity and belonging alive and vibrant. The exhibition, which is timed to coincide with the 5th anniversary of the 2008 attacks, includes three two-minute films, photography and text - all revolving around the theme of xenophobia. The short films are based on the responses from the screenings of Man on Ground in communities in Cape Town, Durban, Musina and Mpumalanga. The event starts with the opening of the interactive exhibition Tell them we are from here introduced by Akin Omotoso. At 8 pm there will be film screenings of The Burning Man – Ernesto Alfabeto Nhamuave by Adze Ugah (24 min) and Man on Ground (80 min) followed by a discussion. The exhibition will be on show until the 19th of May and also form part of the Film+School programme.
Poetry
Taxi Poetry: Show & Shine
12.05.2013, from 12H00 Thokoza Park, Soweto The initial inspiration for this project came from an idea presented in Imraan Coovadia’s novel The Institute for Taxi Poetry. In this book, Coovadia introduces into the taxi industry a new player, a new role – namely that of the taxi poet. Karabo Kgoleng and Zen Marie’s project looks to explore the role of words and poems in speaking to the multiplicity of people and perspectives within the taxi industry and the city. The theme of the project is centred on the concept of love, or love poems. The tradition of writing love poetry is as age-old as it is diverse, ranging from poems that celebrate or yearn for a loved one, to poems that regret or suffer from non-reciprocated love. For Taxi Poetry, 30 of Gauteng’s commuter taxis will be plastered with poetry created by South African writers. The taxis will meet for a Show & Shine event on 12 May in Maponya Mall’s parking lot – with music, braai & poetry.
Photography
Sabelo Mhlangeni: Isivumelwano: An Agreement
14.05.2013 – 15.06.2013, Opening 14.05.2013, 18H30 Goethe-Institut, Johannesburg Shown for the first time in Johannesburg, Sabelo Mhlangeni’s photographic exhibition Isivumelwano: An Agreement comprises a series of photographs shot at various Southern African wedding ceremonies. The project began with the documentation of weddings in South African townships, and continued with an exploration of these ceremonies in Lesotho, Mozambique and Swaziland.
Image: Sabelo Mhlangeni
The resulting body of work focuses on the beauty and ornate nature of these ceremonies, as well as the traditions and attire that embrace the adaptability of cultures. Wedding ceremonies in black Southern African cultures are significant gatherings, often with more than one day of celebrations. Isivumelwano looks at the way Southern African cultures have been adapted over the years looking particularly at the amalgamation of African cultural practices and Western white wedding rituals. The show will travel to Lesotho, Mozambique and Swaziland between 2013 and 2014.
Photography
Sue Williamson: All our Mothers
16.05.2013, 18H00 Goodman Gallery, 163 Jan Smuts Ave, Johannesburg
by Sue Williamson
Sue Williamson’s series of portraits of women in the struggle, A Few South Africans (1983-1987), became icons of the struggle era. Postcards of these brave and powerful women were pinned up in homes everywhere. Thirty years later, the artist has been revisiting these women: those who still live in South Africa, and others who lived in exile at the time. During those meetings, she interviewed them together with their granddaughters, or with a young woman with whom they feel a strong connection. What were the histories and values of the older generation? Have those values changed? How do they compare with what the youth of today feel is important? What advice would they hand on? In turn, the younger women were asked if they accepted that advice, and whether they felt the sacrifices of the older generation had been worth it. The responses were deeply felt and often surprising. The exhibition will open at the Goodman Gallery Johannesburg on Thursday, May 16, and the multi-screen video installation will also be accompanied by a series of photographs of women taken by the artist over a thirty year period.
Music Installation
The Brother breaks the Bullion
23.05.2013 – 20.06.2013, Opening 23.05.2013, 18H30 GoetheonMain, 245 Main Street, Maboneng Precinct “Once upon a time, there was this vault filled with gold bullion. The townsfolk accused the vault minders of filling their gold bullions with tungsten instead of gold and masquerading these as real. To this day this places the issue of value into question. With the aid of performance art, sound and visual installations The Brother Breaks the Bullion is a theatrical interrogation into the value we put into things, places and spaces.” The installation is open during the regular GoetheonMain opening times. Full band performances take place on 23 May, 18H30 & 13 June, 18H30.
Spoken Word
Words Up!
24.05.2013, 18H30 King Kong Building, 6 Verwey Street, Troyeville Stories are created by being told. In telling narratives, stories are invented, passed on, changed and adapted. They wander through the world, are passed between persons and easily transcend man-made boundaries. In doing so, the story’s form changes, the narrative gains some details and loses others, while the focus and theme shift. Stories contribute to the creation of a common identity and sense of belonging. Storytelling has been a vital medium that African communities relied on to communicate about current affairs, updates on events, and life’s lessons. Communities were brought together and serious matters were aired in a very informal way.
Linda Gabriel
WORDS UP! invites artists like Tumelo Khoza, Mpho Khosi, Masai Dabula, Dineo ‘Dee’ Rasedile and Erik Paliane to showcase their spoken word skills and engage the audience in an exciting torrent of words and stories. The artists compete against each other to win a trip to Antananarivo, Madagascar, where they will engage with local artists and participate in further spoken word events. Well established local spoken word artists will function as the jury. WORDS UP! then travels to Nairobi, Abidjan and four other African cities. Together, the artists will weave a great narrative that crosses boundaries, countries and languages. Performances will be filmed and made available on an online-platform that serves to document this oral tradition. The website goethe.de/spokenword goes live at the end of May.
Literature
New South African voices Twists and Turns – Family Tales in Contemporary South African Literature
28.05.2013, 19H00 Goethe-Institut, Library, Johannesburg From Oedipus Rex to the Holy Family in the New Testament to Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrocks or Shimmer Chinodya´s Strife – world literature boasts many poignant family tales. Few fields of life have been so emotionally charged as that of the family: A place of love and protection but also a place of tremendous conflicts and tragedies. South Africa has a long history of immigration and its society has been strongly influenced by the many people that came here to seek fortune or freedom. Each family that has arrived and lived here brought with it a new culture and a different way of life. Seen through the lens of family life, how do two South African writers
Ashraf Kagee
Maren Bodenstein
whose families hail from Germany and India depict the country’s historical and social change in their work? To explore this question, the Goethe-Institut hosts Maren Bodenstein, who will read excerpts from her debut novel Shooting Snakes, as well as Ashraf Kagee, whose debut novel Khalil´s Journey has won the European Union Literary Award 2012. The event forms part of the New South African Voices series, held bi-monthly at the library of the Goethe-Institut. Admission: free
Film
film + school
03.04.2013 – 29.05.2013 The Bioscope, 286 Fox Street, Maboneng Precinct
The Bioscope FILM+SCHOOL Series is a film awareness and appreciation initiative by the Bioscope Independent Cinema in partnership with the Goethe-Institut South Africa. The central aims of the initiative are to introduce young learners to the art of filmmaking, to spark interest in a wide range of topics and to encourage discussion. The new edition of the FILM+SCHOOL programme will introduce young learners to the world of making short films through a diverse programme of South African, international and student films. Short films are an important part of filmmaking, especially when considering that the very first cinematic images produced in the late 19th century were newsreels and travel films often only a few minutes in length. The programme starts with the beginnings of cinema, presenting a selection of early German and French short films and then progress to recent examples of contemporary short films. The selection will include the recent 2013 Oscar nominated live action and animated short films as well award-winning South African student films. The programme will also include the winners of South Africa’s very first mobile phone film competition held by the 2013 Jozi Film Festival. These shorts, filmed exclusively on cell phones will reveal the exciting possibilities to students of creating their own short films.
As short films often serve as a key entry point for students into the film industry, the FILM+SCHOOL programme is designed to inspire students and provide an understanding of cinema’s historical relationship with the format as well as the exciting possibilities of the short film. To register your class, please contact Puleng Plessie: pulengplessie@gmail.com or 076-2532 530
Visual Arts
The Space Between Us
05.04.2013 – 10.04.2013 Berlin, Stuttgart The Space Between Us is an exhibition project that considers the resonances of African art and African artists’ presence in Germany, particularly Berlin and Stuttgart. The Space Between Us performs another iteration of the project series on media and migration that took place in Frankfurt am Main in 2007 and 2009 (Migration & Media), in Bamako 2011 (Staying and Leaving, in collaboration with the Maison Africaine de la Photographie, Bamako) and Johannesburg in 2012 (Shoe Shop, in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut). The Space Between Us includes artworks by Emmanuel Bakary Daou, Fatoumata Diabaté, Satch Hoyt, Dorothee Kreutzfeldt, Serge Alain Nitegeka, Musa Nxumalo, Thabiso Sekgala, Dierk Schmidt, films by Brigitta Kuster, Thenjiwe Nkosi, Nana Oforiatta-Ayim, and presentations by Rangoato Hlasane, Malose Malahlela, Bongani Madondo, Cara Snyman and others. The Space Between Us project starts with a lab in April 2013 and will present an exhibition in public space in Berlin (September to December 2013) and Stuttgart (January to March 2014), a reading room focusing on German literature on African matters and discourses, a one week music festival and a film programme. The project is realised in collaboration with the ifa-Galerie in Berlin and Stuttgart.
Chimurenga Chronic End of March 2013 The Chimurenga Chronic is a new quarterly gazette. The first edition, supported by the Goethe-Institut, will be launched at the end of March 2013. The Chronic is a publication born out of an urgent need to write our world differently, to begin asking new questions, or even the old ones anew. These questions loom over a contemporary Africa. Yet most knowledge produced on the continent remains heavily reliant on simplistic and rigid categories unable to capture the complexities that inflect so much of
contemporary quotidian life here. The Chronic is a small, deeply subjective attempt to do things differently. Ironically, they “started with what we know, taking inspiration from the flexibility, readiness to take risks, and ability to manoeuvre through different temporal orders that defines life here. […] We recognise the success of this initiative is not how long it lives but that it lives fully, that it travels and inserts itself directly in our lives, takes its place and speaks to the place in which we live, love and work.“ The Chimurenga Chronic favours writing, art and photography that is open, plural, and inflected by the workings of power, innovation, creativity and resistance.
Language Courses
LEARN GERMAN – Join us for German language courses
Learn German with the world-wide leader in German language pedagogy. Whether you want to learn German for daily life, personal interest, professional development, or university studies – the Goethe-Institut is your qualified partner. We guarantee your rapid linguistic progress promoted by our highly qualified teachers, state-of-the-art teaching methods, intensive consultation and support, a system of course levels applied around the world, and internationally recognized examinations. We offer beginner and intermediate courses at the Goethe-Institut and organise one-to-one tutoring at any learning level as well as special corporate courses for your company. Enrolment is possible anytime during the opening times of the GoetheInstitut. Ask us for individual courses if you like to get one-on-one German lessons with a qualified teacher. Term dates: 21.05.2013 – 21.08.2013 Contact Matthias Jakus for more information: bso@johannesburg.goethe.org or 011 442 3232
Front cover detail: Soundmindlab. Image: João Orecchia Design: www.prinsdesign.co.za
Term dates: 21.05.2013 – 21.08.2013. Enrolment anytime Goethe-Institut
Goethe-institut
The Goethe-Institut is the cultural institute of the Federal Republic of Germany with a global reach. It promotes knowledge of the German language abroad, fosters international cultural cooperation and conveys a comprehensive picture of Germany. In South Africa, our focus is on strengthening cultural scenes, libraries and the teaching of German. German Language courses: The Goethe-Institut is the world-wide market leader for teaching German. Whether you want to learn German for everyday life, personal interest, your job or for university studies – the Goethe-Institut is your qualified partner. Library: The library on Jan Smuts Avenue offers German books as well as many translations of German authors, movies, music CDs and audio books. Most items can be taken out. It is open for all, Mon – Thu from 14:00 – 18:00 and Saturdays from 10:00 – 14:00 Cultural Programme: A variety of cultural events are hosted by the Goethe-Institut, from visual arts to drama, dance, literature, film, and others. Our goal is to support the local cultural scenes and strengthen pan-African dialogue through the arts. For further information visit goethe.de/johannesburg, join us on facebook.com/goethe.suedafrika or twitter.com/goethejoburg
The events in this programme are in partnership with:
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