Goethe-Institut im Exil

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Goethe-Institut im Exil

Begegnungsort, Schutzraum und Bühne für Kulturschaffende, die in ihrer Heimat nicht arbeiten können. Aufgrund der Sicherheitslage ist es seit 2012 geschlossen.

Das Goethe-Institut Damaskus, eröffnet im Jahr 1955, war eines der ersten Institute weltweit. Viele Menschen mussten das Land verlassen und befinden sich nun in Europa im Exil. Um ein Zeichen zu setzen, wird das Goethe-Institut in Berlin einen symbolischen Ort der kulturellen Begegnung schaffen: das „Goethe-Institut Damaskus | Im Exil“. Vom 20. Oktober bis 5. November 2016 werden hier Diskussionen

, Workshops, Filmreihen, Installationen, Ausstellungen, Konzerte und Performances stattfinden.

08/01/2026

SYRIA: QUO VADIS?
A YEAR AFTER THE FALL OF ASSAD — WHERE DO SYRIANS IN GERMANY STAND TODAY?
One year after the fall of the Assad regime — and one year after the launch of Syria: Quo Vadis? at ACUD Kunsthaus — we return to a decisive moment for Syria and for Syrians in exile.

🗓️ Sat, January 24, 2026
🕔 5–7 PM
📍 ACUD Studio, Berlin
🗣️ English
🎟️ Free entrance

Between relief and exhaustion, hope and fear, freedom and uncertainty: how is this historical rupture being experienced today? What does it mean to live in between — unable to return safely, yet increasingly confronted with hostile rhetoric in the country where a new life has been built?
This panel brings together voices from the Syrian diaspora to reflect on political transition, memory, accountability, and the difficult work of imagining a future beyond violence and sectarianism — at a moment when the past has ended, but has not yet loosened its grip.

🎙️ With:
Mohammad Al Attar — writer & playwright
Guevara Namer — filmmaker & visual artist
Joumana Seif — human rights lawyer & transitional justice expert

🗣️ Moderation: Kristin Helberg — journalist & political scientist
The evening is curated by Mohammad Al Attar.

Together, we ask: how can truth, responsibility, and inclusive narratives take shape after decades of repression? And what role can art, law, and public discourse play in accompanying a society marked by loss — yet still searching for possibility?

Part of the event series “Syria: Quo Vadis?” by the Goethe-Institut im Exil, creating space for critical reflection on Syria’s present and future — and for the voices of the Syrian diaspora who actively engage with the ongoing transformations of their country.

For full event details, visit our calendar. We look forward to welcoming you. 💚

07/01/2026

📚✨ FILLING IN THE BLANKS: FATIN ABBAS ✨
Join us for the next session of our monthly reading group Filling in the Blanks, curated and moderated by Ameena Quansah () & Tanasgol Sabbagh (). Together, we read across theory and literature to examine how power, violence, and imagination shape our political realities.

📚 This session, we are thrilled to welcome Fatin Abbas () — novelist, essayist, and scholar — whose work moves between fiction, criticism, and journalism, tracing the invisible structures that govern life, death, and survival. Abbas is the author of Ghost Season (2023) and Black Time: Essays on the Invisible (2025), and teaches Fiction Writing at MIT.

✨ In this session, we will explore necropolitics, haunting, zombification, and the figure of the “living dead” as political, philosophical, and aesthetic frameworks. How do ghosts linger in histories of violence? What does it mean to live in zones of being and non-being? And how can literature help us think — and feel — our way through these questions?

📖 Selected readings include excerpts from:
— Achille Mbembe, Necropolitics
— Ramón Grosfoguel, What Is Racism?
— Mariana Enríquez, Our Share of Night
— Roberto Bolaño, Godzilla in Mexico

Together, we’ll place theory in conversation with political horror and poetry, opening space to think about contemporary forms of power, fear, and resistance.

🗓 JANUARY 14, 2026
⏰ 6–9 PM
📍 ACUD Studio, Berlin
🌍 Language of this session: English
🎟 Free with registration | ⚠️ Limited spots — register early!
Reading the texts is encouraged, but not required.

Let’s fill in the blanks—together. 🖤
📩 Register via email: [email protected]
Subject: Registration Reading Group

05/01/2026

Welcome, January!
This month at the Goethe-Institut in Exile brings together writers, thinkers, and cultural practitioners to read closely, reflect collectively, and stay in dialogue across borders and lived experiences.

On January 14, our reading group “Filling in the Blanks” continues with author Fatin Abbas as our guest. She will bring selected texts, which we will read and discuss together. Open to all curious minds. Register to join.

From January 19 onward, we are delighted to welcome Alaa Alqaisi as an LCB resident in Berlin. Over six weeks, her literary, translational, and scholarly practice will resonate across the city’s cultural landscape, opening new connections between Palestinian perspectives and local discourses. A reading with her is planned for February 25; more information will follow shortly.

A central focus this month is the fifth edition of SYRIA: QUO VADIS? on January 24 at ACUD Kunsthaus Berlin. One year after the fall of the Assad regime — and one year after the launch of this series — we reflect on change, uncertainty, and future perspectives with Mohammad Al Attar, Guevara Namer, Joumana Seif, in conversation with Kristin Helberg.

We close the month with Art & Afternoon Tea on January 25 — an open community meet-up for Afghan artists and cultural practitioners, centered on exchange, connection, and mutual support.

For full event details, visit our calendar. We look forward to welcoming you. 💚

09/12/2025

📸 MEET THE ARTIST: ANDREI LIANKEVICH ⚡️

What compels a photographer to trace the invisible threads of tradition, identity, and history? Which images demand to be seen, and which absences haunt the frame?

The Goethe-Institut in Exile invites you to meet Belarusian photographer Andrei Liankevich in our interview series. Born in Grodno in 1981 and based in Minsk, his work has appeared in The New York Times, Le Figaro, Newsweek, Die Zeit, Spiegel, GEO, Vanity Fair and more. In 2010 he published Pagan, the first book on Belarusian pagan traditions, a project that earned him international recognition and awards. His later works, from Traditional Interiors to Unknown Country, continue to explore culture, memory, and belonging.

On November 7th, we were honored to host Andrei at Sophienkirche in Berlin for Stones That Breathe, Wind That Sings – A Living Archive From Belarusian Palessie: an organ concert and exhibition where his Palessian photo archive entered into dialogue with the music of J.S. Bach, performed by composer and organist Olga Podgaiskaya and soprano saxophonist Vitali Darashuk, mapped by Sergei Novistky and curated by Anna Karpenko

Thanks to for capturing this conversation beautifully. 💕

Stay tuned for more voices and visions are on the horizon. Enjoy the interview and follow us for updates! ✨

04/12/2025

Last Thursday we closed this year’s Goethe-Institut in Exile programme with the final event, presented together with Berlin Review (): “Refusing Violence — How to Shift the Paradigm When the Paradigm Is War”. ⚡️

At Salon am Moritzplatz, we gathered with Yevgenia Belorusets (), Adam Raz, Nahed Samour (), and the Berlin Review editors to reflect on how entrenched forms of language and thought shape our political imagination in times of war — and how alternative frameworks might still be forged.

In the first panel, Yevgenia Belorusets spoke with Berlin Review editor Tobias Haberkorn about her war diaries — freshly published in Berlin Review’s Reader 5 — which bring us close to Ukraine’s war-torn society and pose the question at the heart of the evening: Can we reject militarization while still resisting the violence of an aggressor?

In the second panel, Palestinian-German legal scholar Nahed Samour, Israeli historian Adam Raz, and Carmen Herold of the Goethe-Institut in Exile explored the fragile possibilities for moving from a paradigm of killing toward accountability and the protection of life in Palestine. one of accountability and protection of life.

A night of urgent insights, brave perspectives, and shared attempts to imagine political futures beyond the dominant logic of violence.

➡️ An event in cooperation with Berlin Review

📸 Photos by Malte Seidel (), captured at Salon am Moritzplatz (), Berlin-Kreuzberg.

Thank you for joining us throughout the year — and for thinking, questioning, and imagining with us. More to come in 2026.

02/12/2025

POETS IN THE FLESH: ABDALRAHMAN ALQALAQ! ⚡️
What drives you as a writer in exile? Which influences shape your voice — and which silences demand to be broken?
The Goethe-Institut in Exile invites you to meet the remarkable voices in our video series POETS IN THE FLESH!

Our featured author is the Palestinian writer, poet, and performance artist Abdalrahman Alqalaq. Born in 1997 in Alyarmouk near Damascus, Abdalrahman lives in Berlin and studied Cultural Studies and Aesthetic Practice as well as International Cultural Policy in Hildesheim. His work explores displacement, memory, and the words we inherit, reshape, or lose in exile.

In 2022, his debut poetry collection “24” was published in Arabic. His first German-language book, “Übergangsritus” (, 2024), earned him the Chamisso Publication Grant. In 2025, his second Arabic poetry collection “The Thieves Beat Me to Haifa” appeared, and his play “Absentee Law” was staged at the Burgtheater in Hildesheim.

We were honored to welcome Abdalrahman Alqalaq (.alqalaq) to our reading group FILLING IN THE BLANKS on October 28, curated and moderated by Ameena Quansah () & Tanasgol Sabbagh (). Together, we explored Palestinian literature and reflected on how resistance is carried through language. Stay tuned — there may be new plans taking shape in the new year. Enjoy the video and follow us for updates! ✨

Thanks to for yet another beautiful video. 💕

12/11/2025

📚✨ FILLING IN THE BLANKS: TEMYE TESFU ✨

Join us for the fourth session of our monthly reading group curated and moderated by Ameena Quansah () & Tanasgol Sabbagh () — a space where we rethink language, history, and imagination through shared reading and discussion.

🌌 This month’s session, led by Temye Tesfu — writer, spoken word poet, and curator — turns toward speculative fiction as a tool for rewriting the gaps and silences of history. Together, we’ll engage with Saidiya Hartman’s essay “Venus in Two Acts,” a text that wrestles with the impossibility of recovering the lives of enslaved women and imagines what storytelling might restore when the archive refuses to speak.

💬 How can speculation become a practice of care, resistance, and repair? What does it mean to write for those whose stories were never told — and to dream beyond the violence of the record?

🗓 NOVEMBER 25, 2025
⏰ 6–9 PM
📍 ACUD Studio, Berlin
🌍 Languages: English & German

📖 Saidiya Hartman’s text will be available to all registered participants in both English and German. Reading it beforehand is encouraged but not required.

🎟 Free with registration | Limited spots — register early!
📩 Register via email: [email protected]
Subject: Registration Reading Group

Let’s fill in the blanks — and imagine what could have been said. ✨

💫 Due to the great interest and engaging conversations so far, “Filling in the Blanks” will continue in 2026! Stay tuned for next year’s sessions and new guests.

12/11/2025

We’re thrilled to share a throwback to a very special night at ACUD Studio on Thursday, October 30: AGE OF OUTRAGE – Comedy Across Borders & Identities! ✨

It was the first stand-up comedy event by the Goethe-Institut in Exile, and what a start it was! Four brilliant comedians — Aladdin Alghafri (), who turned his journey from Syrian refugee to Deutsche Bahn engineer into painfully funny Arab-German realities; Mila Panić (), the Bosnian-born, Berlin-bred powerhouse whose fearless and darkly ironic punchlines hit with political precision; Pavlo Voytovych (), the Ukrainian screenwriter and Comedy Central regular blending migration, flatmate drama, and fatherhood into a dry, pan-European cocktail; and Younes Benslaoui (), the Moroccan-Austrian-German MC whose warmth and razor-sharp timing navigated the madness of everyday identity with ease — all turned everyday absurdities into sharp, hilarious stand-up.

💥 Humor as survival. Laughter as resistance. This night left us so inspired — a huge thank-you to everyone who joined and made it unforgettable. Swipe through to relive the laughs with us! 💚

More nights of laughter like this one — yes or yes? 😉 Tell us in the comments if you’d love to see more stand-up in our programme!

📸 .photography

03/11/2025

PAGAN BY ANDREI LIANKEVICH
An evening exploring the sacred pulse of Belarusian rituals — where the ancient meets the present, and the hidden spirit of the land still speaks.

🗓️ Tue, Nov 11 | ⏰ 7:00 PM
📍 ACUD Studio, Veteranenstr. 21, 10119 Berlin
🎟️ Free entrance

For over a decade, photographer Andrei Liankevich () has traced the remnants of pre-Christian traditions in rural Belarus — ceremonies like Carrying of the Candle, Summoning of the Spring, and Marriage of the Fireplace.

Each image captures a quiet defiance: a whispered resistance that survived centuries of conversion, colonization, and erasure.

Join us as Andrei Liankevich presents the new edition of his award-winning book Pagan and discusses his work in conversation with curator Anna Karpenko ().

✨ A journey through memory, myth, and the enduring power of ritual.

Poster: Pagan© Alina Derya Yakaboylu, using a photograph by Andrei Liankevich

03/11/2025

PAGAN BY ANDREI LIANKEVICH
An evening exploring the sacred pulse of Belarusian rituals — where the ancient meets the present, and the hidden spirit of the land still speaks.

🗓️ Tue, Nov 11 | ⏰ 7:00 PM
📍 ACUD Studio, Veteranenstr. 21, 10119 Berlin
🎟️ Free entrance

For over a decade, photographer Andrei Liankevich () has traced the remnants of pre-Christian traditions in rural Belarus — ceremonies like Carrying of the Candle, Summoning of the Spring, and Marriage of the Fireplace.

Each image captures a quiet defiance: a whispered resistance that survived centuries of conversion, colonization, and erasure.

Join us as Liankevich presents the new edition of his award-winning book Pagan and discusses his work in conversation with curator Anna Karpenko ().

✨ A journey through memory, myth, and the enduring power of ritual.

Poster: Pagan© Alina Derya Yakaboylu, using a photograph by Andrei Liankevich

30/10/2025

STONES THAT BREATHE – WIND THAT SINGS
A Living Archive from Belarusian Palessie

🗓️ Fri, Nov 7 | ⏰ 8:00 PM
📍 Sophienkirche, Große Hamburger Str. 29-30, 10115 Berlin | Concert & Installation
🎟️ Free entrance | 📩 Register: [email protected]

An evening where ritual, sound, and image intertwine.
From the heart of Belarusian Palessie comes the ancient ceremony of the “Transfer of the Candle” (Перанос Свечкі) — a living tradition of unity, renewal, and light.

📸 Photographer Andrei Liankevich’s (Andrei Liankevich) archive of Palessie unfolds in dialogue with the sacred organ music of Olga Podgaiskaya, enhanced by Sergey Novitsky’s visual mapping and curated by Anna Karpenko — weaving Bach’s timeless harmonies with the breath of ancestral memory.

✨ A sensorial journey proving that stones can breathe and the wind can sing. 🎶

Presented by with kind support from Kultur Büro Elisabeth (.elisabeth.villaelisabeth)

29/10/2025

We warmly invite you to the film screening and Q&A of “Sima’s Song” by acclaimed Afghan director Roya Sadat:

🗓️ Sunday, 02.11.2025
🕔 5:00–6:40 PM – Film Screening at ACUD Kino, Berlin
🗣️ 7:00–8:00 PM – Extended Q&A with Roya Sadat and Aziz Deldar, moderated by Ibrahim Hotak and Carmen Herold, at ACUD Studio

🎬 “Sima’s Song”
Directed by Roya Sadat , Afghanistan, 2024, 98 min, original version with English subtitles
In the vibrant yet turbulent streets of Kabul, “Sima’s Song” follows two women—Suraya and Sima—whose friendship and ideals are tested across four decades of political upheaval. A story of courage, loss, and sisterhood, the film pays tribute to the unbreakable spirit of Afghan women and their fight for freedom.

Adresse

Veteranenstraße 21
Berlin
10119

Webseite

http://goethe.de/exil

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