Art Office

The Goethe Institut Rotterdam will close in mid-2024, it was recently announced. A great loss for the Rotterdam cultural biotope, says CBK Rotterdam director Ove Lucas. In recent years, many Rotterdam artists have worked and exhibited at the Goethe Institut, for example through the series Passages and Goethe Investigating. CBK Rotterdam has been very pleased to participate as a partner in several editions. This special place for artists will therefore cease to exist, as will the exchange program that CBK Rotterdam had with the Goethe Institut Rotterdam and the city of Dresden. A great loss for Rotterdam and its artists, says Lucas. In order not to let the inevitable disappearance of the Goethe Institut pass without a fight, he wrote the following: opinion piece for Vers Beton.

 

Director of the CBK Rotterdam Ove Lucas does not understand why the closure of the Goethe Institut Rotterdam goes almost unnoticed. He wonders why other cultural institutions in particular are so resigned to the closure, and calls for this to be prevented.

“Rotterdam, Genoa, Trieste and Turin – everything was closed. Europe? Forgetting.” On October 6, these words by journalist Nils Minkmar appeared in the newspaper Serial of Suddeutsche Zeitung. It was a cri de coeur after the Goethe Institut had decided a week earlier to close nine branches at short notice: Bordeaux, Genoa, Lille, Osaka, Trieste, Turin, Washington, Curitiba and the liaison office in Strasbourg. But there is one name missing from this list: Rotterdam!

Cuts

The Algemeen Dagblad (AD) reports on September 29 the unexpected departure of the Goethe Institut from Rotterdam. The newspaper notes: “Deadly sin…” and “…regrettable”, but understanding for the international institute's cutbacks prevails. business as usual: digital language courses have made locations redundant and therefore too expensive. Nothing can yet be said about the consequences for the staff, discussions with employees must start now, according to the AD.

It is incredible that the news about the closure of the Goethe Institut Rotterdam did not lead to much more commotion, especially in the Rotterdam cultural world. In the fifty years (yes, you read that correctly, 50!) that the Institute has had a branch in Rotterdam, many art institutions have established connections with it. The Goethe Institut Rotterdam offered a direct path to collaborations with important cities, notable art institutions and established and talented artists from Germany.

Of course, you cannot prove these connections, but the fact that you encounter so many German tourists, students and newcomers in Rotterdam these days must have at least something to do with the committed policy of the Goethe Institut Rotterdam. I can remember very different times. This is how Frank Dam described in his publication in 2018 German mothers: Versuch einer Betrachtung (Ad Donker, Rotterdam) that the problematic relationship between Germany and the Netherlands – logical after the period '40-'45 – dragged on for a long time and had very personal consequences.

New period

My first encounter with the Goethe Institut Rotterdam on the 's-Gravendijkwal was in the mid-80s. In addition to language courses, the Institute also became visible as a partner in projects. The move from 's-Gravendijkwal to Westersingel was spectacular. The globally renowned German curator Peter Weiermair (1944-2021) was invited to create a meaningful exhibition in the new space on the Westersingel. André Dekker (Observatorium, then Goethe Institut) and I were the executors of the project at the time Zeitweiliges Meetings led by Weiermair: Aktuelle Kunst in Frankfurt.

The move also marked a new period for the Goethe Institut Rotterdam. Perhaps it was because the threat of closure was constantly present (after all, there was still a branch in Amsterdam on the Herengracht, what are you going to do about that?), the Rotterdam branch manifested itself as innovative, in keeping with the modern image of this city . Connections with other Rotterdam art institutions and new approaches to the Rotterdam audience (not necessarily German-oriented, I should say) under the impetus of highly committed employees, made the Goethe Institut Rotterdam a full partner in the Rotterdam cultural biotope.

Centrum Beeldende Kunst (CBK) Rotterdam has had a wonderful artist exchange with Dresden through the Goethe Institut for over ten years. We also supported each other with various projects. There are many Rotterdam cultural institutions that also have or had a fruitful collaboration with the Institute. The essence of this collaboration was and is: trust. Every partnership with the Goethe Institut Rotterdam means a substantively supported and sincere collaboration.

Painful

The fact that Wed The Goethe Institut is being closed, it affects me and I find it painful that its notification had so little effect. It reminds me of the times when the plug was abruptly pulled from fellow institutions and we all let it pass a bit. The Goethe Institut Rotterdam has entered into various connections with many organizations and it would be great if they were committed to the future of our location.

In Franz Kafka's famous The transformation (The Transfiguration), main character Gregor Samsa wakes up one day and discovers that he has been turned into an insect that night. It is the beginning of his inevitable end.

Unfortunately, the decision on the future of our Goethe Institut lies elsewhere (in Germany at the Bundestag, with Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Minister of Culture and Media Claudia Roth) and the chance that it will be preserved is nil. Nevertheless, I hereby appeal to prevent the closure. That's the essence of one cri de coeur?

Photo: The German city of Dresden was the setting for an exchange program between CBK Rotterdam and the Goethe Institut Rotterdam.