Going for Gold
German Sports Diplomacy With the European soccer championships and the Paris Olympics, 2024 was prime for sports diplomacy. Germany has a longstanding history of using sports to showcase both its …
Franz Beckenbauer (1945-2024)
Germany’s Last “Kaiser” and His Legacies Franz Beckenbauer was Germany’s most important soccer personality—as a player, coach, soccer executive, and public figure. However, Beckenbauer stood for more than just soccer. …
Akron & Chemnitz
Reflections on Social Divisions & Questions of Identity in Germany and the United States In November 2019 and March 2022, the inaugural cohort of the AGI Social Divisions and Questions …
The Ngonnso Statue
Germany Moves Forward by Facing its Past If you have been to an ethnological museum, you might be familiar with walking through exhibits titled “Africa” or “Oceania” and seeing a …
Either-or? As-well-as?
The logic of hybrid identities and the attempt to break through borders In his last speech as president, Ronald Reagan said, “You can go to France and live there, but …
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Documenta 15 and Anti-Semitism
Documenta 15: Curating the Meta-Collective, Translocating Art, and Anti-Semitism Artist collectives have gained heightened visibility in the twenty-first century, not only as a platform for virtual collaborations but also as …
The Anti-Semitism Scandal at Documenta 15
Documenta is one of the highest-profile contemporary art exhibitions in the world. Dating back to 1955, the exhibition runs for several summer months in and around the small central German …
AGI Profiles: Claudia Roth
Commissioner to the Federal Government for Culture and Media In 2021, Claudia Roth was appointed Commissioner to the Federal Government for Culture and Media (Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und …
Festivals of Fools
Mardi Gras and Karneval In the United States, “Mardi Gras” evokes certain images: wild parties, massive parades with colorful floats, and strings of beads being thrown around. But among the …
Another Unmasterable Past?
The Humboldt Forum Part II As I wrote over a year ago, the new museum and cultural complex in central Berlin, the Humboldt Forum, has gradually opened since late 2020 …
The Passport as Home: Comfort in Rootlessness
Andy Markovits often writes emails in capital letters. He does that when he wants to let you know how he feels about things. It is not only about what he …
Germany intends to restitute artworks from the Kingdom of Benin (“Benin Bronzes”) to Nigeria
On April 30, 2021, Germany’s Culture Minister Monika Grütters announced that restitution of a “substantial” portion of Benin artworks that are held in German museums to Nigeria will begin next …
Kraftwerk, the Greens, and Ever-Changing Radioactivity
Music is the reflection of the society that makes it. One of the most influential musical acts of the twentieth century (second only to the Beatles), Kraftwerk was the defining …
Choose to Challenge
Are we heading towards a “new normal”? While the country has been successfully run by the most powerful woman in the world for almost sixteen years, Germany has never been …
