Goethe-Institut Washington

The German Cultural Center

812 Seventh St. NW

Washington, DC 20001

202-289-1200

www.goethe.de/washington

 

EXHIBITIONS

Thursday, September 8, 6 – 8 pm

EXHIBIT OPENING – Tonight!

Oskar Fischinger: Motion Paintings

Oskar Fischinger (1900-1967), the German-born pioneer of abstract animation, was a formidable influence in Germany and continues to assert considerable interest today. A series of 52 drawings and paintings will be on display in this rare appearance, a must-see for anyone interested in this powerfully significant artist.

Opening with Jack Rutberg, agent for the Oskar Fischinger Estate. RSVP to 202-289-1200 ext. 165.

Until October 26

www.goethe.de/ins/us/was/ver/art/en818328.htm

 

Thursday, September 15, 6:30 – 8 pm

exhibiT OPENING

Adolf Cluss, From Germany to America:

Shaping a Capital City Worthy of a Republic

Adolf Cluss (1825-1905) was the architect of many of Washington’s most beloved 19th-century buildings. Only seven of them remain here in downtown DC—of about seventy built by him between 1862 and 1890— and include the Smithsonian’s Arts & Industries Building, Eastern Market, the 9th Street Masonic Temple, the Sumner and Franklin Schools, and Calvary Baptist Church.

Designed to raise awareness of the life and work of Adolf Cluss, one of the most influential architects in post-Civil War Washington, this exhibit at the Sumner School Museum portrays Cluss’s revolutionary roots and his vision of a capital city both uplifting and functional through images, texts, artifacts, and interactive multimedia displays. 

RSVP requested to 202-289-1200 ext. 177 or nbroadwater@washington.goethe.org

Additional public programs are planned in Washington and Germany, and include:

Friday, September 9, 1pm: Join us at the Goethe-Institut for a telephone connection and a toast to the opening of the exhibition in Heilbronn, Germany.

Tuesday, September 13, 6:30pm: Lecture “Cluss on Capitol Hill” by project director Joseph Browne at the Naval Lodge Hall.

Thursday, September 20, 6pm: Presentation of Cluss CD and book at the City Museum.

Tuesday, September 27, 6pm: Lecture “Adolf Cluss and Architectural Theory” at the Sumner School Museum.

The exhibit is on display until February 28, 2006

The August issue of the Adolf Cluss Exhibition Project newsletter is now online at www.goethe.de/ins/us/was/pro/vtour/clussnewsletter/acluss12.htm.

www.adolf-cluss.org

Charles Sumner School Museum

17th and M Streets NW

 

FILM

Monday, September 12, 6:30 pm

GERMAN-ISRAELI DIALOGUE

Film: Art Liberates

Directors: Solo Avital & Adam Horowitz (DVD)

Giving their opinion on subjects such as the Holocaust, Israel, guilt, memory, freedom, language, parents and art, a mix of Berliners, both Israelis and Germans, illustrate their views in this documentary.

Film: House and Desert

Director: Anna Faroqhi (BETA SP).

Scrutinizing houses and their residents at many places in her journey, Anna Faroqhi conveys an image of how people live today, which in turn reflects the history of the country.

The screenings will be followed by a discussion with director Anna Faroqhi and Israeli journalist and author Yo’av Karny.

$6

In conjunction with the discussion on Thursday, September 29.

www.goethe.de/ins/us/was/ver/flm/en812889.htm 

 

Monday, September 19, 6:30 pm

Film and Lecture

6:30 pm: “An Evening of Oskar Fischinger Films” (35 mm)

7:30 pm: Lecture by Curator Peter Frank

Oskar Fischinger's earliest drawings and paintings were first created as sequential components in his films to evoke various states of consciousness, often using music as a springboard to syncopate lines, forms and color. Fischinger's influence on the development of avant-garde abstract films is profound, with the genius of his vision acknowledged by 20th-century luminaries such as Orson Welles, Wassily Kandinsky, Moholy Nagy, Lyonel Feininger, Leopold Stokowski and John Cage.

RSVP to 202-289-1200 ext. 175

No charge.

www.goethe.de/ins/us/was/ver/art/en818328.htm

 

September 26 – November 21

FILM

Metropolis: Eight Film Portraits of Great Cities

Loved or feared, the metropolis has always fascinated its inhabitants and inspired artists and writers. Walter Ruttmann's 1927 classic portrait of Berlin became the model after which many "city-films" were created. In this series, we show the original and several Ruttmann-inspired films, as well as other works that portray some of the world's great cities. Join us on a poetic, occasionally nostalgic, and always fascinating tour through old and new urban centers of the world over the past 125 years.

www.goethe.de/ins/us/was/ver/flm/met/enindex.htm

 

Monday, September 26, 6:30 pm

FILM

Rain (Regen)

Director: Joris Ivens, 16 mm

This early Dutch short film is like a poem. It offers a few brief impressions of a rainy afternoon in Amsterdam without forming a sequence or story, and conveys a sense of melancholy and quietness.

Berlin, Symphony of a Great City (Berlin – Sinfonie der Großstadt)

Director: Walter Ruttmann, 35 mm

A train arrives in Berlin… The atmosphere of the city is depicted in stages that encompass morning until midnight.

Both films $6

www.goethe.de/ins/us/was/ver/flm/met/en860440.htm

 

OTHER EVENTS

Wednesday, September 14, 6:30 pm

Discussion

Public Diplomacy in the Arab World

There is broad consensus that Public Diplomacy should be strengthened as an integral part of US Foreign Policy, especially in the Arab and Islamic World. It is considered indispensable in achieving objectives like conveying American values and making American action understandable. This discussion will focus on experiences with and expectations about cultural dialogue as part of public diplomacy.

The international group of panelists will include:

Johannes Ebert, Regional Director for the Goethe-Institut in the Near East and North Africa, Cairo
Alberto M. Fernandez, Director for the Office of Press and Public Diplomacy Bureau of Near East Affairs
Ambassador Hans-Guenter Gnodtke, Commissioner for Dialogue with the Islamic World at the German Foreign Office/Cultural Department
Horst Harnischfeger, former Secretary General of the Goethe-Institut, Munich

Hisham Melhem, Washington Bureau Chief for the leading Lebanese Daily An-Nahar

RSVP to 202-289-1200 ext. 167

www.goethe.de/ins/us/was/ver/ztg/en818276.htm

 

Saturday, September 17, 11 am – 5 pm

ARTS ON FOOT FESTIVAL

11 am: Walking Tour: German Immigrant Artists

(Led by Alice Stewart, local historian) While the Old Downtown always had a number of large government and commercial buildings, it was also, as it is again today, a neighborhood where artists of all kinds lived and worked. This tour offers glimpses into the artistic contributions and lives of many of the German-American artists who lived or worked in the neighborhood of the Goethe-Institut. No charge as part of Arts on Foot 2005. RSVP to 202-289-1200 ext. 510

www.goethe.de/ins/us/was/ver/en865711.htm

2 pm: Children’s Film: The Little Vampire

Based on the popular novel series The Little Vampire by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg, this vampire comedy for children tells the story of Tony, a lonely boy and Rudolph, a friendly little vampire, who become inseparable after they meet one night. No charge as part of Arts on Foot 2005.

Children will have the opportunity to design their own little vampire before or after the film!

www.goethe.de/ins/us/was/ver/en865708.htm

Visit the Goethe-Institut’s table down on F Street and take our quiz to win a prize! Stop by the Goethe-Institut to view the exhibit Oskar Fischinger: Motion Paintings.

 

Thursday, September 29, 6:30 pm

DISCUSSION

German-Israeli Dialogue

To accompany the evening of German-Israeli films, the Goethe-Institut will host a panel discussion in which participants in the German-Israeli Young Leader Exchange, a program coordinated by the Bertelsmann Foundation, will share personal experiences following the screening of a documentary about the Exchange. No charge. RSVP to 202-289-1200 ext. 169.

www.goethe.de/ins/us/was/en875772.htm

 

Thursday, September 29, 6:45 pm

book conversation

Wilhelm Tell

To mark the Schiller Year 2005 (the 200th anniversary of Schiller's death) we will talk about his last drama, Wilhelm Tell (1804). This play about the Swiss people’s fight for freedom and the assassination of a despotic ruler was banned from the German stage under the Nazi regime. Wildly popular from the start, it supplied the libretto for one of Rossini's French operas, Guillaume Tell, and has become the Swiss national play. For readers of German, Swiss author Max Frisch's ironic correction of the national myth, Wilhelm Tell für die Schule (1971), will provide a fascinating counterpoint to Schiller's heroic version of history.

Sponsored by the American Goethe Society

RSVP to iwagner@gmu.edu 

 

Special Announcement: Looking for an artistic setting with a cosmopolitan ambience for your next function? Contact Craig Childers at 202-289-1200 x115 for rates and availability.

 

ADDITIONAL AREA EVENTS

 

Currently showing

FILM

The Edukators

Director: Hans Weingartner

In this sharp and funny satire, which screened at the Goethe-Institut as part of our 13th Annual New Films series, two young German men, Jan (Daniel Brühl, Ladies in Lavender and Good Bye, Lenin!) and Peter (Stipe Erceg), set out to make a rebellious political statement by breaking into expensive homes of the wealthy, rearranging their furniture, and leaving cryptic notes like "Your days of plenty are numbered."

Read Stephen Hunter’s Washington Post review: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/04/AR2005080401978.html

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

555 11th St NW

 

Thursday, September 8, 11 am – 2 pm

special event

Garten Fest

Featuring bratwurst and a flea market.

www.zionbaltimore.org

Zion Church of the City of Baltimore

 

Thursday, September 8, 6 – 8 pm

lecture

German Expressionism: Its Nineteenth-Century Roots

By Robert Rosenblum, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University

RSVP to 202-387-3355.

German Historical Institute

1607 New Hampshire Ave. NW

 

Friday, September 23, 8 pm

concert

The Genius of Bach: Mass in B Minor

Organized by the Washington Bach Consort

202-429-2121 or www.bachconsort.org

Strathmore Hall

Bethesda, MD