CULTURE

Goethe Institute marks 50 years

Well-know films, funky graffiti and hot Latin American tunes are just a a few of the events happening at the Goethe Institute in Athens over the weekend, as the establishment celebrates 50 years in Greece. «Above all, the idea is to party,» said Horst Deinwallner, director of the Goethe Institute in Athens, who also heads the institutes of South Eastern Europe, Turkey and Israel, at a press conference yesterday. Besides plenty of beer and food, old and new friends will be participating in a quiz-rally, a presentation of self-taught learning methods, a display of the activities by the documentation center as well as getting the feel of a German language class. On the arts front, the Carpe Diem creative team is already working on a graffiti wall to be completed over the weekend, while in the foyer, artists Gabriela von Habsburg and Nikolaus Hipp will be presenting their works. Furthermore, Katja von Garnier’s «Making Up,» an Oscar-winning short comedy film produced in 1992 and Filippos Tsitos’s «Parlez-moi d’Amour» (1994) will be screened on Saturday at 4 p.m., while Werner Herzog’s renowned «Fitzcarraldo» (1980/81), featuring Klaus Kinski and Claudia Cardinale, will be screened on Sunday at noon. On the music front, on Saturday, vocal ensemble Eklipsis will perform at 6 p.m., followed by composer Minas Alexiadis and jazz pianist Pantelis Benetatos, while Greek rock group Morfes will be performing at 8.45 p.m. On Sunday, the Latin American band Anaconda will appear at noon. Initially established in Munich in 1951, the Goethe Institute began operating in Athens the following year, as the first institute of its kind to be founded abroad. Following its recent merger with the Inter Nationes Foundation, it is now officially known as Goethe-Institute Inter Nationes. Furthermore, as of late 2001, the Athenian establishment supervises all fellow Southern European institutes including those of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Yugoslavia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, as well as Turkey and Israel. There are currently 1,200 students enrolled in Athens. Goethe Institute, 14-16 Omirou, tel 010.366.1016 www.goethe.de/athen Irrespective of future developments, the Bonhams sale may contribute to shaping the Greek part of the international art market. Another benefit from sales of this kind is that they indirectly advance the study of the field by providing documentation of, and research into, the works. This is particularly valuable for Greek art in which, compared with other Western art, connoisseurship and research are not particularly strong areas.

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