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Umhobe we Sizwe by Thando Mama

During the struggle against apartheid, Nkosi Sikele’iAfrika was a significant song sung by Africans and those who were fighting oppression whilst Die Stem van Suid-Afrik’ was the national anthem of South Africa from 1957 to 1994, sharing national anthem status with Nkosi Sikelel’iAfrika until 1997.

The questions Umhobe we Sizwe tries to ask are: can we truly say we are free and is there a need to continue to force reconciliation and unity?

Is the South African anthem worth being sung as a compromise mash-up?

When: 12 March, 6.30pm

Where: GoetheonMain

Literary Crossroads: Writers´ Versatile Worlds

Dilman Dila (Uganda) meets Napo Masheane (South Africa): The post modern world is loud, multifaceted and full of new chances.

Mobile connectivity builds up a bigger, more anonymous but also more engaging audience at the same time. What does it mean for writers in this global and mobile age?

Both guests are masters in their fields and easily change literary forms and by doing so invent new genres with experimenting and with amalgamating interdisciplinary techniques into their works.

When: 12 March, 8pm

Where: Goethe-Institut Johannesburg

Fremde Tänze by Nelisiwe Xaba

During her residency in Freiburg (Germany), Nelisiwe Xaba created a dance evening based on the programmes of female dancers such as Mary Wigman and Sent M’Ahesa. These pioneers of ‘modern dance’ in the ’10s and ’20s often presented a series of short, erotic pieces accompanied by music.

In one evening, they crossed distant places and times, or rather their imagination: a ‘temple dance’ was followed by an ‘Indian dance’, an ‘Arabesque’ or a ‘Siamese dance’.

In her evening of ‘Foreign Dances’, Nelisiwe Xaba turns around the perspective and exoticises the Black Forest.

When: 14 and 15 March, 8pm

Where: Dance Factory

Breakfast conversation with Nelisiwe Xaba, Anna Wagner and Eike Wittrock

In the breakfast conversation, the two directors of the centre, Anna Wagner and Eike Wittrock, will give a brief introduction of the genesis of this project and discuss its first edition in Freiburg with Nelisiwe Xaba. In an informal setting, they would like to open the discussion for future collaborations of the Spiegel-Center with the Johannesburg dance and art scene and address questions of producing and curating in a global art world.

When: 15 March, 10.30am

Where: Sophiatown Bar Lounge, 1 Central Place, Newtown

Details: venter@johannesburg.goethe.org

From the historical Faust to Goethe’s ‘Faust’

Although Faust lived half a millennium ago, he still fascinates writers and readers to this day. Or does the Faust myth with the historical Faust have much less to do with Goethe’s Faust?

The story of Faust poetry is full of curiosities, such as the first dramatic composition of the Faust material.

Faust‘s character enjoyed exceptional popularity in the so-called Sturm und Drang era.

When: 26 March, 7pm

Where: Goethe-Institut Johannesburg, library

9 Urban Biotopes: e-book launch

Nine Urban Biotopes is a residency programme funded by the EU and directed by Stefan Horn of Berlin. It is based on urban dialogues, and partnered and organised by the Goethe-Institut in South Africa.

It ran throughout last year and aimed to generate a conversation about the future of urban living in cities in Europe and South Africa.

Distribution of the e-Book will be through Apple and Google stores, and will be available by 31 March.

When: 31 March, 6.30pm

Where: Goethe-Institut Johannesburg