5-week event to bring more German culture to the UAE

Jurgen Steltzer, German Ambassador to the UAE, said yesterday that a vast range of activities will be held during the programme with the sole purpose to introduce people in the UAE to the different aspects of cultural life in Germany and by that to create a better understanding not only between the two countries but also between Europe and the Arab World, a task which is, due to recent events, more important than ever.

He said that Germany had a strategic partnership with the UAE since 2004. “This partnership has to be extended to all areas of our bilateral relations. After focusing on political and economic relations, which are well established now, we need to go beyond. This is why the Cultural Weeks are being held. We would like to bring more German culture to the UAE and its people,” he said.

The ambassador said that in the last year or two, Germany has considerably enlarged its presence in the cultural sector.

The Goethe Institut has opened in Abu Dhabi and is offering courses in German language. The German Academic Exchange Service has opened an office in the capital to promote Germany for students who can follow over 500 courses at German universities in English language with generally no or very low tution/study fees. The German School in Abu Dhabi has opened to Emirati students.

Programme

The education show, Studying in Germany, will be held as part of the education exhibition at the Expo Centre in Sharjah from Oct 30 to Nov. 2, and as part of the Global Education and Training Exhibition at Beach Rotana Hotel Towers in Abu Dhabi.

A lecture, German Politics in the Gulf Region, will be delivered by Prof Dr Udo Steinbach, director of the German Institute of Middle East Studies, at the Zayed University in Abu Dhabi on Oct.31 at 12 noon.

The German National Day will be celebrated at the Armed Forces Officers Club in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 5.

A music programme, Jazz from Germany, will be performed by the Jazz band, Triband, consisting of four young German musicians, who want to present a combination of Soul, Jazz and Pop, on Nov. 6 in Abu Dhabi at 11 am at the HCT Men’s College and at 7.30 pm at the Hilton Hotel Jazz Bar.

A photo/video exhibition, What Do You Think About the West, will be held at Beit Shamsi Sharjah Art Gallery in the Art Area of Sharjah from Nov.7 to 18, and at the Marina Mall in Abu Dhabi from Nov.20 to 26 in which the former German chancellor Gerhard Schroder will be the guest of honour at the opening ceremony on Nov. 20 at 6.30 pm.

A public podium discussion, Dialogue through Culture? Art, Politics and Conflict, with German journalist Julia Gerlach, photographer Barbel Mollmann and Emirati artists, at the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage on Nov.22 at 7.30pm.

In 2004, Julia and Barbel asked young Arabs in Dubai What Do You Think About the West?. The Arabs asked back, What Does the West Think About Us? The outcome was a photo exhibition portraying nine yound Arabs living and working in Dubai and reactions of young Germans to these portrays on video and Internet. The questions, answers and statements going back and forth between Germany and the Gulf explore the similarities between young people here and there and undermine and simple East-West dichotomy.

A lecture, the nation of Poets: Novalis – Holderlin – Adonis, by Prof Ronald Perlwitz dealing with the influence of German romantic literature on the work of the Syrian poet Adonis and the concept of nation in poetry, will be held at the Authority for Culture and Heritage in Abu Dhabi on Nov.13.

German movie, In July, will be screened at the Grand Cinemas, Abu Dhabi Mall, on Nov.19 at 8.45pm.

German magazine, Discover Me, the first German-English cultural and business magazine in the Middle East, will be launched at the Dubai Marine Beach Resport and Spa on Nov.24 at 7pm. Germany’s famous piano players, the Stenzl Brothers, will perform classical german music followed by an Arabic fashion show.

German Art Exhibition, Winds of Change, by Ines A. Landmesser, reflecting the fast pace of changes in the UAE as well as her previous work, will be at the artist’s residence in Abela building, Khalidiya, Abu Dhabi on Nov.30.

The Berlin Symphonie Orchestra will perform at the Emirates Palace Hotel on Dec.3 for the first time in an Arab country to celebrate the 35 th National Day of the UAE. Germany’s international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, will officially open its information terminal, DW-Punkt, at Goethe Institut on Dec.4.

The director-general of DW, Eric Bettermann, will be present on the occasion.