Saturday, Apr 04, 2026 08:45 [IST]
Last Update: Saturday, Apr 04, 2026 03:11 [IST]
GANGTOK,: Astrid Wege, director
of Goethe-Institut/ Max Mueller Bhavan, Kolkata, met with the officials of
State Culture department at Manan Kendra here today to discuss possible collaborations
between Goethe-Institut Kolkata and the Culture department.
Culture department’s chief engineer RimpDorjee
Lepcha, along with the department officials, gave the director a tour of the
department, along with the State Central Library and the department’s studio.
“This is just the beginning, but it has been a
fruitful meeting in terms that we understood that there’s a mutual interest in
collaboration in the field of film, music, literature, etc. We discussed
different forms of collaboration, including bringing films, filmmakers, bands,
etc. We also discussed conducting workshops so individuals from Germany and
local artistes can connect or even starting a project like the Biodesign Lab.
The meeting today was open-ended, bringing together ideas from an international
perspective and international cultural exchange,” Wegetold SIKKIM EXPRESS.
Wege is currently in Sikkim to participate in Biodesign
Lab, a collaborative research and artistic project initiated by Goethe-Institut
South Asia and a collaboration between the Goethe-Institutes in South Asia and
the Biodesign Lab at HfG Karlsruhe. The current lab, ‘Elemental Imprints’, is
being held at Gangtok from April 2-11, in collaboration with EchostreamGangtok.
Also participating are Strengthening Networks Amongst Artists on Northeast
(SNANE) as project mediators.
“Goethe-Institut Kolkata is part of a worldwide
network of Goethe-Institutes, the official cultural institute of Germany. We
are active in 99 countries and out of our 150 institutes, six are in India.
Goethe-Institut Kolkata is active in East India and the Northeast, and that is
why we are here in Sikkim. We are here for BioDesign Lab, a very interesting
regional project, to develop sustainable designs working with materials that
are in abundance locally. It is a workshop, a lab with one international expert
from Germany and artists, designers, architects, etc. from the Northeast and
other parts of India,” said the director.
She further informed that Goethe-Institut has
three major lines of activities. The first one is language, where they teach
German and conduct examinations following the European framework, and the
examination is acknowledged internationally. Goethe-Institut offers language
courses from A1 (from scratch) to C2 (proficient), and the same method of
learning is adopted globally.
The second is cultural exchange, an exchange of
ideas and dialogue, by bringing together artists and cultural producers from
Germany to their hosting countries. For example, bringing together guest plays
or bands from Germany and connecting with local artistes, and having
co-production. “Recently we had an interesting co-production in the field of
performance where three artists from India were involved, with one artist from
Mizoram. Goethe-Institut Kolkata started with the aim to involve more cultural
artists from the Northeast. It is very important to establish connections at an
institutional level and this is the first step we are taking in Sikkim,” said
Wege.
The Goethe-Institut director informed that the
third major line of activities is access to contemporary Germany, which mainly
includes libraries. “We have a beautiful library in Kolkata which provides ample
materials on Germany, in English, German and regional languages. We do not only
have books but also have films, games, VR activities, etc. The idea is to give
a holistic image of Germany to people who are interested in Germany as a
culture, country, or as a destination for work. As part of the library or part
of Goethe-Institut Kolkata, we have a huge programme project called ‘My Way to
Germany’, which is a comprehensive web portal and support project designed to
assist individuals from non-EU countries in successfully migrating to Germany
for professional or personal reasons. Interested people can check our website,”
concluded Wege.
