ifa blog

Interviews, essays, reports – in the ifa blog, the diverse topics of the ifa are vividly presented in various formats.

Metaphor for enlightenment. A flock of birds flies out of a head. A man climbs up a spiral staircase to the open head. In the background clouds, a skyline and a tree.

We Need a New Enlightenment

Previous concepts of progress have failed. Our oceans are polluted, the climate is changing, we are ravaged by diseases, hunger is proliferating, and black bodies are drowning in oceans ...

View post

Freedom of the Press Under Attack – in Germany and Paraguay

The climate in Germany towards journalists clearly heated up in 2021. The greatest danger came from non-governmental actors. The same applies for Paraguay, albeit under different ...

View post

The Future of German-Afghan Cultural Relations

The swift fall of Kabul into Taliban hands and the evacuation of Western military forces, aid workers and other civilians dominated the screens in August. While international media ...

View post

So Where Do You Come From?

The German-Vietnamese author, Khuê Phạm, travelled to Singapore as part of the ifa's lecture programme to present her debut novel at the Literature Festival. To her surprise, she found ...

View post
People are on the street and there is a stand with balloons

'Celebration of Our Common Cultural Life'

Sixty years ago the Federal Republic of Germany signed the recruitment agreement with Turkey. According to the literary scholar Nesrin Tanç, the perspective of the so-called 'guest ...

View post

KULTURAUSTAUSCH. The Title Is the Programme

70 years of people from all over the world and topics that move them, 70 years of cultural exchange. The magazine for international perspectives celebrates its anniversary in 2021 and ...

View post
Detail from the comic 'Temple of refuge'

TEMPLE OF REFUGE: ­'A Better World for Everyone'

In 2016, Sartep Namiq fled from Iraqi Kurdistan to Berlin. In a utopian comic book, realised together with cyberpunk legend Bruce Sterling and a new star of the German comic scene Felix ...

View post
Olga Karatch forms a heart with her fingers.

'Women are Demanding Political Divorce'

The protests in Belarus have been going on since August 2020 and people have been standing up to President Lukashenka. Most recently, the attempted kidnapping of Belarusian athlete ...

View post

French Fashion, Real Soft Power and Civil Society. Challenging Perspectives and Voices on Cultural Europe

German cars or French fashion – European culture is even among specialists for cultural policy often perceived through symbols of commercial success. And for some, the EU is not as much ...

View post