Beijing's Goethe Institute continues 25-year tradition

German film director Volker Schlondorff meets Chinese director Jiang Wen when attending the German Film Festival co-organized by Goethe-Institut China in Beijing last year. Photos provided to China Daily

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All the world's a stage

Goethe-Institut China has been bridging two cultures for a quarter-century, with cultural exchanges in music, dance, drama and other arts. Chen Nan looks at what's coming next.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent visit to Germany highlighted a long relationship that is in full flower this spring with a series of cultural exchanges.

The programs are fueled by the legacy of the writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, an iconic figure in German culture commemorated 200 years after his death in the name of the Goethe-Institut, which has been promoting cultural exchanges around the world since 1951.

Last year, the institute celebrated its 25th anniversary in China with a series of events that attracted more than 300,000 participants. In 2014, it continues its mission of promoting the use of the German language, providing access to knowledge and information about Germany, and cooperating with Chinese partners in fields such as music, dance, theater, film, visual arts and architecture.

The Goethe-Institut China has brought two exhibitions to Beijing that are currently on show: Nostalgia by Omer Fast at Central Academy of Fine Arts (through April 20) and a group exhibition, Art Post-Internet, which continues at Ullens Center for Contemporary Art through May 11.

The German band Messer will come to China to give three concerts and three workshops as part of the 2014 German-Chinese Language Year in Shanghai, Nanjing and Qingdao.

Strindberg's classic tragedy drama Miss Julie will tour Beijing and Tianjin in late April.

Candida Hoefer, one of Germany's most renowned contemporary artists, will come to Beijing to share and discuss her art world. The documentary Candida Hoefer, by Ralph Goertz, head of the Institute for Art Documentation and Scenography, will also be screened in Beijing in April. Goertz spent 10 years filming Hoefer and her work.

The German-Chinese Language Year has been underway for months, says Peter Anders, director of Goethe-Institut China.