An exciting year of cooperation

It is safe to say that the Goethe -Institut had quite a successful year in terms of investing into the Namibian art industry and this year, they are determined to do more than last year. Speaking at the meet-and-greet they hosted for the media and their partners, the institute's director, Daniel Stoevesandt, said they're looking to inspire more Namibian artists to develop the country.

Last year, the institute had projects including the Future Africa Visions in Time travelling exhibition, the monthly Night Under The Stars concerts and the Goethe-Stage that enabled upcoming artists to realise their own artistic experience.

“These three platforms form the foundation of our work and on top of this, every year there are different topics and genres that form part of our other activities in language, information and culture,” he said.

Stoevesandt further said that the creative industry has a lot of artistic but also economic potential in Africa, after having been active already in the fields of music, film and fashion. Lately, a new sector was discovered through Enter Africa, programmes for gaming in Africa. Their sister organisation has enabled young creative people to develop their own locally based games about their cities' pasts and futures.

“We will soon be able to launch our Namibian game so watch the media and our website for more information,” he said.

Programmes that will continue include the EUNIC Music Festival in Namibia that features young hip-hop artists and DJs. Other mind-blowing programmes to be rolled out this year are Museum Conversations - a series of symposiums bringing together a wide range of experts for a dialogue on the future of museums and their role in society. This year in March as part of the German Weeks, the Goethe-Institut will feature Dance On with a piece by William Forsythe. “This will be held in Namibia and we are looking forward to hosting it. It will be continued in September in Windhoek but this time on a regional level. We are very proud that this meeting of many experts from Africa and Europe will take place in Namibia and create a great platform for further conception work around museums and their future role in a post-colonial Africa,” he said.