The Goethe-Institut in Johannesburg is hosting film, art, language and literature events throughout the month of November with the aim of sharing and nurturing various important forms of cultural exchange. Here’s all you need to know about the event schedule.
What does the Goethe-Institut do?
The Goethe-Institut aims to cultivate international and local cultural exchange through the arts, sciences and languages. With over 100 institutes worldwide, and 14 in the sub-Saharan region, including the one in Johannesburg, the Goethe-Institut is committed to fostering transnational diversity, understanding and trust.
The Johannesburg institute’s Language department offers German lessons in the Goethe-Institut and otherwise, supporting German teachers in the country and working closely with the South African Department of Education.
Their Library and Information Department works in partnership with libraries and other institutions involved in book and reading promotion in South Africa and encourages exchanges between information specialists and publishers in South Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and Germany.
And their Cultural Programmes Department focuses on a variety of different artistic approaches from the visual arts to drama, dance, literature, film, and others to support the local cultural scenes and strengthen pan-African dialogue through the arts.
Goethe-Institut Johannesburg Library takes on a sonic modality
The Goethe-Institut Johannesburg Library is entering an exciting new chapter with the launch of the Sonic Library, a dynamic initiative that reimagines the library as an experimental, participatory space for sound, performance and broadcasting.
Building on the library’s longstanding role in archiving knowledge and supporting learning, the Sonic Library expands these possibilities by recognizing sound as a vital form of cultural memory and historical record.
Through this initiative, the library becomes a platform for documenting, preserving and activating the sounds that have shaped and continue to shape social, cultural, and political life in South Africa, across the African continent, and beyond.
The Sonic Library explores the intersections between traditional library practices and the demands of a digital age. By embracing oral traditions, listening practices, and sonic storytelling, the project challenges conventional ideas of knowledge preservation and access.
Through collaborations with artists, researchers, cultural practitioners and communities, the Sonic Library seeks to preserve cultural heritage while encouraging new forms of engagement with sound as a tool for history, identity, memory and creative expression.
When: Library open hours are – Monday to Thursday from 2pm to 6pm
Where: Goethe-Institut Johannesburg Library, 119 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood, Johannesburg
Still to come in September
Silent Book Club
To participate in the Goethe-Institut’s Silent Book Club, bring any book that you are interested in reading or explore the Goethe library for a title that piques your interest and join your fellow bookworms for a few hours of silent, communal reading.
Cost: Free entry
When: Wednesday, 30 September 2026 from 6.30pm to 9pm
Where: Goethe-Institut Johannesburg, 119 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood, Johannesburg
Open Call for Proposals: Earn a Chance to be Awarded a Performing Arts and Music Grant
The Africa-Europe Partnerships for Culture: Sub-Saharan Africa component invites performing arts and music creatives and practitioners to apply for the grant call for the Circulation of Performing Arts and Music as well as the Professional Mobility Grant in Performing Arts and Music.
This ambitious project, led by the Goethe-Institut and Expertise France in partnership with Institut français, embodies the Team Europe spirit and seeks to renew and strengthen cultural ties between Sub-Saharan Africa and the European Union through the principles of equity, inclusion and sustainability.
Applications are open until 30 September 2026, and selected projects will be announced in January 2027.
Get the details on how to apply
The Goethe-Institut’s October Programme
Exhibition: A Secret Third Thing
Reflective of the history of its locale, A Secret Third Thing is an excavation and a tenuous mining undergone with no clear endpoint in sight.
The secrecy the exhibition brings to question is not some retrievable piece of information, but the reckoning with a fidgety, sometimes exciting, sometimes scary and always dynamic undercurrent. This undercurrent is the haunting of a city that refuses to be continuously taken from with no recourse or consequence.
The city refuses a position of docility. The apartment guests find themselves in is stripped of any of those homely identifying marks but holds echoes of the city, with music from the street below making its way to the fifth floor and the sound of people going about their lives.
Adopting this space in limbo, A Secret Third Thing refutes the derogatory assumptions of inner-city Johannesburg. In turn, the artists presented become active specters that talk back at the city, insinuating the idea of how we can be both the haunted and the ones who haunt in return.
Featured artists include Senzeni Marasela, Ntsako Nkuna, Simon Gush, Smiso Cele, Siyababa, Oratile Papi Konopi, Masindi Mbolekwa.
Cost: Free entry
When: Running until 10 October 2026
Where: Goethe-Institut Johannesburg, 119 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood, Johannesburg
Exhibition: Truth Lab – From Evidence to Expression
Truth Lab Building Narrative Studio took place from 14 to 18 September and culminated in a Pop-Up Exhibition titled From Evidence to Expression, at the Goethe-Institut Johannesburg.
The Truth Lab’s From Evidence to Expression public exhibition is currently showcasing both the final artworks and the investigative processes behind them.
Featuring approximately six to ten works, the exhibition invites audiences to engage with the journey of evidence gathering, verification and storytelling through sketches, drafts, research materials and completed creative outputs.
The artworks were co-created and installed by the participants, the exhibition offers an immersive look into the journey of truth-building and evidence-based storytelling.
Together, these components reflect Truth Lab’s commitment to strengthening inclusive knowledge ecosystems, fostering creative collaboration, and empowering young creators to use evidence-based storytelling as a tool to resist misinformation and promote informed public engagement.
From Evidence to Expression is a presentation of how misinformation spreads and how we can recreate dependable networks of knowledge through the different mediums.
Cost: Free entry
When: Running from 23 September until 18 October 2026. Exhibition is open for viewing Monday to Thursday from 2pm to 6pm
Where: Goethe-Institut Johannesburg, 119 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood, Johannesburg
Mobi Arts 2026 Tour presents Labdi
Launched in 2024, the Goethe MobiArts programme of the Goethe-Institut enables artists from Sub-Saharan Africa to travel across the continent through the Goethe-Institut network, allowing them to engage with local artistic scenes.
This year’s recipient for music, Labdi (Kenya), visits South Africa as one of her three chosen Goethe-Institut tour stops, presenting two concerts in Johannesburg.
Labdi is a trailblazing Kenyan musician, cultural operator and brand innovator dedicated to elevating contemporary African identity. Operating at the intersection of culture, business, and community, she builds high-impact platforms that challenge traditional boundaries.
As one of East Africa’s pioneering Orutu players, her sound fuses Ohangla, Taarab, and Benga with experimental folk and soul textures. A speaker, thought leader, and composer, Labdi champions sustainable cultural ecosystems and uncompromising creative narratives.
Unmasking the Artist at Native Rebels Soweto
In this concert, Labdi is accompanied by bassist Blessing (@bleee.t); jazz composer, guitarist, touring musician and scholar Vuma Levin; and singer, percussionist, teacher, creator and theatre-maker Mpumi Nhlapo (aka Mamadruma).
Curating the vibes on the decks are Iamsiwas, Nativ Selct and DJ Zu.
Cost: From R100pp, book via Quicket
When: Saturday, 10 October 2026 from 6pm to 11pm
Where: Native Rebels, 1345 Kadebe St, Jabavu, Soweto
The Weekly Touch-up at Jozi Gold Brewing Company
Your Weekly Touch Up is a Wednesday evening showcase that platforms underground and alternative African acts that South Africans should be aware of.
Cost: Free entry, keep an eye out here for an RSVP link as RSVP is essential
When: Wednesday, 14 October 2026 from 6.30pm to 12am
Where: Jozi Gold Brewing Company, 81 De Korte St, Braamfontein, Johannesburg
Kids by Boris Nikitin and Tšeliso Monaheng
Kids is a theatre/live cinema hybrid show that follows a group of young people as they move through the Johannesburg night.
They belong to Generation Z, born in the late 2000s, fifteen years after the end of apartheid, into a world of economic crises, newly erupting wars, propagandistic hysteria and heated tempers – a world that can no longer agree on what is real and what is not.
They walk through a wounded past that has shaped this place over decades. These kids are not children, but manic poets with a heightened perception of an environment shaped by this history and by the possibilities it holds. They ask questions, they doubt, they desire, and they are vulnerable. But tonight, they do not hide their vulnerability – they turn it into their weapon.
Kids (working title) is theatre and live cinema – rehearsed, scripted, choreographed and performed anew each time. Director and writer Boris Nikitin and director of photography and journalist Tšeliso Monaheng are developing the work together with five young actors in the urban landscape of charismatic Johannesburg.
The audience follows the action live on a large cinema screen onstage.
Cost: R100pp to R150pp, book via Webtickets
When: Friday to Sunday, 2 to 4 October 2026 at 6pm nightly
Where: Ramolao Makhene Theatre, The Market Theatre Laboratory, 138 Lilian Ngoyi St, Newtown, Johannesburg
Ableton User Group Johannesburg
In this hands-on workshop,Ableton Certified Trainer Emile Hoogenhout will demonstrate some of the powerful instruments and devices in Live 12.3, including Meld, Roar, Auto Shift and Drum Sampler, along with new modulation behaviour, MIDI transformation tools and Generator devices for creative sound design and music production.
This free community workshop welcomes both beginners and experienced producers. Come connect with fellow music makers, learn new techniques, and explore tools that can expand your creative workflow. The Ableton User Group Johannesburg meets monthly throughout the year, with upcoming dates shared in advance.
Cost: Free entry
When: Wednesday, 7 October 2026 from 4pm to 7pm
Where: Goethe-Institut Johannesburg, 119 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood, Johannesburg
Gamedev meetups
Every second Thursday of every month, gaming enthusiasts can join the Goethe-Institut for talks, game showcases, networking with other game developers, and playtesting. Refreshments are also served throughout the evening to keep the energy up.
Cost: Free entry
When: Thursday, 8 October 2026 from 6pm to 9pm
Where: Goethe-Institut Johannesburg, 119 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood, Johannesburg
Gusher* screening – In Response to A Secret Third Thing
In response to A Secret Third Thing at the Goethe-Institut Johannesburg, Mike Ngudle, one of the founding members of Gusher*, curates a programme of South African films and moving-image practices.
Bringing together local filmmakers and moving-image practices, the programme considers the ghosts left by the city’s histories: the movement of people in search of work and belonging, the landscapes transformed by mining, and the forms of labour and displacement that continue to shape life across South Africa.
In dialogue with the exhibition’s idea of Johannesburg as both haunted and haunting, the screening asks what remains beneath the city’s surface, and how cinema can excavate, remember and give presence to these unresolved histories.
Cost: Free entry
When: Friday, 9 October 2026 from 6.30pm to 7.30pm
Where: Goethe-Institut Johannesburg, 119 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood, Johannesburg
AFRO-Freedom Book Club
The AFRO-Freedom Book Club is a public gathering that celebrates Afrikan writers, aiming to spark dialogue and civic engagement within the community. This club is a fantastic space for Afro-centric, creative, opinionated, and open-minded individuals, and the meetups take place on the second Wednesday of each month. Anyone can join in, regardless of whether they’ve read the book or not.
The book selection for October is Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta. Inspired by Nigeria’s folktales and its war, Under the Udala Trees is a deeply searching, powerful debut about the dangers of living and loving openly.
Ijeoma comes of age as her nation does; born before independence, she is eleven when civil war breaks out in the young republic of Nigeria. Sent away to safety, she meets another displaced child and they, star-crossed, fall in love. They are from different ethnic communities. They are also both girls.
When their love is discovered, Ijeoma learns that she will have to hide this part of herself. But there is a cost to living inside a lie.
Okparanta’s Under the Udala Trees uses one woman’s lifetime to examine the ways in which Nigerians continue to struggle toward selfhood. Even as their nation contends with and recovers from the effects of war and division, Nigerian lives are also wrecked and lost from taboo and prejudice.
This story offers a glimmer of hope – a future where a woman might just be able to shape her life around truth and love.
This story offers a glimmer of hope – a future where a woman might just be able to shape her life around truth and love.
The monthly book selection is shared via the mailing list and on social media (Facebook and Instagram). Email [email protected] for more information.
Cost: Free entry
When: Wednesday, 14 October 2026 from 7pm to 9pm
Where: Goethe-Institut Johannesburg, 119 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood, Johannesburg
Wikipedia Meetup
Wikipedia meetups are community gatherings where Wikipedians and other Wikimedians come together to socialise, collaborate, and work toward the shared goal of improving free knowledge. These meetups can be in person or online, and anyone may organise or attend: no special permissions are required, and formats vary widely depending on the group’s goals.
What This Johannesburg Meetup Is About
At the Goethe-Institut edition of the meetup, participants focus on discussions around:
- Wikimedia South Africa, its work, programmes, and current projects within the chapter and the larger Wikimedia movement.
- Activities and developments happening locally, across Africa, and internationally within Wikimedia.
- Open conversations and Q&A about Wikipedia and its sister projects.
This aligns perfectly with how Wikipedia meetups often include discussion, collaboration, sharing ideas, and sometimes editing activities.
Purpose of the Meetups
The overall purpose is to create a space where everything related to Wikipedia can be learned, explored, or discussed.
From a practical standpoint, attendees can expect:
- Learning about how Wikipedia works and how the local affiliate (Wikimedia South Africa) operates.
- Asking any questions about Wikipedia editing, policies, or participation.
- Hearing about upcoming Wikimedia events in South Africa, Africa, and the global movement.
- Occasional editathons, training sessions, and hands-on guidance, which reflects the common meetup format of editingfocused gatherings.
Who can attend?
The event is open to Wikipedia editors, beginners, researchers, community members, and anyone simply curious about how Wikipedia works.
This openness mirrors global Wikipedia meetup norms, where gatherings are designed for all levels of experience and are often supported by experienced editors.
Cost: Free entry. Email [email protected] for more information
When: Saturday, 17 October 2026 from 10.30am to 12.30pm
Where: Goethe-Institut Johannesburg, 119 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood, Johannesburg
Tracing Distance: The Echoes of Silence
Tracing Distance: The Echoes of Silence is a curatorial project developed through the CPVC Curating Exhibitions: The Politics of Display course at Wits University.
In 2026, the course is conceptualised under the theme “An (An)archival Impulse”, inviting students to approach the Ernest Cole Collection at the Wits Historical Papers Research Archive not as a completed historical record, but as a living and relational resource that continues to generate questions, encounters and forms of knowledge in the present.
The exhibition space is proposed as a site in which the immaterial, the overlooked and the partially concealed might be encountered anew. Artists, curators and practitioners are invited in conversation through the exhibition programme.
The curatorial cohort is led by Ashleigh Cooper, Okuhle Gubuza, Tshegofatso Letwaba, Khulekani Magudulela, Paidamoyo Mkhonto,Thabang Muthumuni, Duduzile Veki and Zenande Xaba.
Cost: Free entry
When: Running from 31 October 2026 to 29 January 2027
Where: Goethe-Institut Johannesburg, 119 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood, Johannesburg
Get in touch
Website: goethe.de/ins/za
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 011 442 3232
Instagram:@goetheinstitut_southafrica
Facebook:@goethe.joburg
