Visual Arts

The Fourth Wall, Installation Paço das Artes 2012 Photo: Clemens von Wedemeyer/Art: Clemens von Wedemeyer

German visual arts are highly regarded throughout the world. Through its varied programme of activities, the Goethe-Institut helps people all over the globe to come into contact and engage with art from Germany. The focus is on contemporary art.

The Visual Arts Division acts as consultant and motivator for diverse projects carried out or promoted by the Goethe-Instituts abroad in the fields of visual arts, design and architecture. A continuous dialogue generates programmes that convey insights into the current art scene in Germany that stimulate artistic discourses and facilitate personal encounters between artists at home and abroad.

The division is given support with regards to content by a voluntary advisory board made up of renowned figures from the German art scene.

Activities of the Visual Arts Division

The primary task of the Visual Arts Division is individual, professional consulting for the numerous art, design and architecture projects that are initiated, supported or conducted by the Goethe-Instituts abroad. Furthermore, the division promotes intercultural exchange by means of diverse centrally-coordinated programmes.

In cooperation with local partner organizations, we initiate and support group and solo exhibitions in all the various branches of the visual arts: painting, sculpture, the graphic arts, architecture, photography, media art, design and fashion.

The Goethe-Institut produces touring exhibitions that document cultural themes or recent historical developments. We also place touring exhibitions produced by the Institute for Foreign Relations (ifa) in Stuttgart with cultural institutes abroad.

Conferences and panel discussions focus on important trends in contemporary German art. Workshops, artist- and curator-in-residence programmes and curator research journeys and talks with artists from Germany are also organized.

The spectrum of the approximately 1,000 events held each year includes group and solo exhibitions, lectures, symposiums, workshops and artist-in-residency programmes.

Promotion

Research trips for curators from Germany

Since 2008, the Goethe-Institut in Germany has been offering curators who live and work in Germany and wish to pursue a specific research project in the field of international contemporary art the opportunity to apply for a grant towards a research trip abroad.

Visual Arts Project Fund

Collaborative work processes and artistic research in global, trans-cultural contexts open up opportunities for shared learning and the production of new knowledge across national borders. 

​The Goethe-Institut's Visual Arts Project Fund supports artists, curators and institutions from different countries and regions in the realisation of projects planned jointly and based on a division of labour. The aim is to promote international networks in the visual arts, architecture, design and art education/cultural mediation through innovative artistic and curatorial work.
More Information including details about the application process

International Coproduction Fund

With the International Coproduction Fund, the Goethe-Institut aims to encourage new collaborative working processes and innovative productions in intercultural exchange in order to promote the emergence of new working networks and approaches within a global context and to explore further forms of intercultural collaboration.
 
This Fund targets professional artists, ensembles and initiatives abroad and in Germany working in the fields of theatre, dance, music and performance art. There are no topical or regional restrictions, but preference will be given to projects between German and non-European partners, especially in transition countries.
More Information including details about the application process at: goethe.de/ikf