A new round of "Freepost". Follow and comment on the digitale debate at goethe.de/freepost

or on the Goethe-Institut's Facebook-Page and under the hashtag #freepost on Twitter.

Arts and politics – a debate

How do artists and curators position themselves politically? And how do they network across national borders? The art world discusses - about its role, common values and the future of Europe.

How the art world is growing closer together

Art may not know any boundaries, but the art world certainly does. So how can curators become better networked – and make a stand for their shared values? This is being discussed online by Simona Da Pozzo, Gottfried Hattinger and Hajnalka Somogyi – and you can join in!

Illustration: Bernd Struckmeyer 

On "Freepost"

"Freepost" is a digital discourse on goethe.de. Artists, publicists and civil society actors exchange ideas with each other and with readers. "Freepost" connects debating participants from different countries and takes place both on goethe.de and in the social media. Readers can post their views on Facebook and Twitter under the hashtag #freepost and in reader comments on goethe.de/freepost, name new aspects or ask questions - the moderator brings these into the debate. Thus "Freepost" becomes an international platform, which invites you to leave your own filter-bubble and to open your mind to new ideas. The result is an open, cross-cultural, multilingual correspondence: digitally and completely "postage-free"!

This issue of "Freepost" is a cooperation between the Goethe-Institut and the Internationale Gesellschaft der Bildenden Künste (IGBK).

How political should artists be today?

The first debate between Joseph Young, sound artist, belit sağ, video artist and Via Lewandowsky, visual artist, in October 2018 was dedicated to the positioning of artists in the social and political debate in Europe. Contemporary art in Europe is socially relevant. But how does it shield itself from political appropriation?

„Fragile Affinities - (re)strengthening international artistic collaboration“

The topic of this "Freepost" issue follows on from the symposium "Fragile Affinities - (re) strengthening international artistic collaboration", organized by the IGBK in cooperation with the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, in November 2017. At the symposium, over 100 international participants, artists and curators from Germany, Poland, Hungary, Turkey and Great Britain, discussed their strategies to confront the many current nationalist movements in Europe and how they react to the dwindling acceptance of the European unification process. The symposium was organized under the direction of Andrea Knobloch and Dr. Anke Hervol.