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
The Goethe-Institut’s November Programme
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
Sonic Lecture: Goethe-Institut Library presents Nothing to Commit Records
Goethe-Institut Library presents Nothing to Commit Records. The project is a curatorial and publishing initiative established in 2017 by curator and writer Bhavisha Panchia.
Operating as a research platform, record label and collection, Nothing to Commit Records is committed to the production, preservation and circulation of artistic practices that traverse contemporary art, writing, music and sound.
The platform foregrounds sound and music as critical sites for attending to social, spatial and geopolitical conditions, generating modes of listening, research and critical inquiry.
The platform is invested in creative practices that challenge and critique dominant narratives, reimagine historical processes and examine diasporic formations, including national and cultural identities produced through coloniality and modernity.
The project hosts a collection that includes a selection of artistic-produced albums, experimental music and sound art projects, serving as a growing archive for future research and exploration.
Across three lecture-listening sessions, Bhavisha Panchia presents different curatorial modalities of Nothing to Commit Records, exploring how research can be expressed sonically.
Contact [email protected] or call 011 442 3232 for more information.
Cost: Free entry
When: Saturday, 7 November 2026 from 1pm to 4pm
Where: Goethe-Institut Johannesburg, 119 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood, Johannesburg
88th Commemoration of the November Pogrom
The Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, Goethe-Institut, and Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung invite you to commemorate the 1938 November Pogrom (Kristallnacht).
The programme will feature formal remarks by H.E. Mr Oliver Rentschler, Ambassador-Designate of the Federal Republic of Germany to South Africa, as well as keynote addresses from Dr Berno Bahro (exhibition research director/author for Between Success & Persecution) and Hazel Shore (daughter of Martha Jacob, champion track and field athlete).
There will be a candle-lighting ceremony with survivors and descendants, a musical performance by violinist Dr Sharon De Kock, and a walkabout of the exhibition Between Success & Persecution: Jewish Stars in German Sports Before 1933 and Beyond.
Cost: Free entry, RSVP online
When: Sunday, 8 November from 2.30pm to 5pm
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 November is The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan, A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice.
Rebecca meets The House of Spirits in this sweeping, gorgeously atmospheric novel about a ruined mansion by the sea, the djinn that haunts it, and a curious girl who unearths the tragedy that happened there a hundred years previous
Akbar Manzil was once a grand estate off the coast of South Africa. Now, nearly a century since it was built, it stands in ruins: an isolated boarding house for misfits, seeking to forget their pasts and disappear into the mansion’s dark corridors.
Until Sana. She and her father are the latest of Akbar Manzil’s long list of tenants, seeking a new home after suffering painful loss.
Unlike the others, who choose not to look too closely at the mansion’s unsettling qualities – the strange assortment of bones in the overgrown garden, the mysterious figure seen to move sometimes at night – she is curious and questioning and finds herself irresistibly drawn to the history of the mansion.
To the eerie and forgotten East Wing, home to a clutter of broken and abandoned objects – and to the locked door at its end, unopened for decades.
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, 11 November 2026 from 7pm to 9pm
Where: Goethe-Institut South Africa, 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, 12 November 2026 from 6pm to 9pm
Where: Goethe-Institut Johannesburg, 119 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood, Johannesburg
Online Workshop: Learning Strategies
In this workshop, participants learning the German language explore various strategies designed to make learning more effective and enjoyable. With practical tips and guidance, you’ll learn to identify the approach that best aligns with your individual learning style.
Effective learning strategies form the foundation for successfully mastering a foreign language. Such techniques not only accelerate your learning process but also ensure that newly acquired knowledge can be retained with ease and applied confidently in everyday contexts. B
y applying these consistently, you will observe measurable progress and experience significant improvement in your German language acquisition.
Cost: Free entry, register online
When: Monday, 16 November 2026 from 4pm to 5.30pm
Where: Online
Goethe Writing Club
The Goethe Writing Club meets once per quarter, on the third Thursday of the final month of each quarter. Each session is dedicated to sharing and discussing original writing in a constructive and collaborative environment.
Participants are expected to:
- Write a piece of fiction (any form) of up to 3000 words
- Upload their work to a shared folder before the meeting
- Read fellow participants’ submissions in preparation for discussion
Each meetup features new themes and creative challenges, offering fresh inspiration and opportunities to grow as a writer.
For more information contact [email protected] or call 011 442 3232
Cost: Free entry
When: Next meetup – Thursday, 19 November 2026 from 6pm to 9pm
Where: Goethe-Institut Johannesburg, 119 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood, Johannesburg
Film Screening: The Lives of Others (2006)
In the Academy Award-winning film The Lives of Others, Gerd Wiesler, captain in the East German State Security Ministry in East Germany, 1984, is put on the case of author Georg Dreymann. What Wiesler learns through eavesdropping Dreymann and his lover leads to his enlightenment.
The film is screened in German with English subtitles and has an age restriction of 12. For more information, contact [email protected] or call 011 442 3232.
Cost: Free entry
When: Saturday, 21 November 2026 from 1.30pm to 3.50pm
Where: Goethe-Institut Johannesburg, 119 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood, Johannesburg
Silent Book Club
The Silent Book Club regularly invites book lovers to the Goethe-Institut to share their love for books with like-minded people as they read together in silence.
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, 25 November 2026 from 6.30pm to 9pm
Where: Goethe-Institut South Africa, 119 Jan Smuts Ave, Parkwood, Johannesburg
Film Screening: I Shouldn’t Have Been There in the First Place
Just Detention International South Africa (JDI-SA), in partnership with the Embassy of Ireland in South Africa, launches its latest long-form documentary, I Shouldn’t Have Been There in the First Place, documenting the stories of five brave survivors of sexual violence in prison and police holding, including men, women and members of the LGBTIQ+ community.
Cost: Free enrty
When: Friday, 27 October 2026. Programme is from 9am to 3pm
Where: Goethe-Institut South Africa, 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
