GoetheonMain, the artist-run project space by the Goethe-Institut Johannesburg, is calling for proposals for ideas for exhibitions, workshops, events and performances.

The Goethe-Institut is known worldwide for promoting intercultural engagement through fostering dialogue and exchange in the arts. GoetheonMain was developed by the Goethe-Institut South Africa and launched in May 2009 at Arts on Main in Johannesburg as a non-commercial, artist-run project space – an exceptional free platform in a city where cultural spaces are either commercially or governmentally managed. The multi-disciplinary GoetheonMain has since hosted a wide range of exhibitions, workshops, events and performances; including visual art, literature, film, music, dance and theatre projects.

The way in which project selection takes place is central in understanding the philosophy of GoetheonMain. In order to create an unbiased and open platform, the programme is decided by an independent committee of arts professionals, who meet after the yearly public call for proposals. Projects are invariably hotly debated. The focus above all else is on artistic quality, whilst maintaining a sensitivity for the context and local relevance, and favouring an experimental approach.

The GoetheonMain space itself also implies a certain conceptual frame – that of the city, or a sense of ‘urbanity’: a focus on the human relation as much as built environment. Previous projects at GoetheonMain have dealt extensively with politics of space, noting the stratified city, gentrification, issues of access, and a loss of the ‘center’ so typical of many world metropolises, but also of the personal as political – focusing on private narratives, identities, eccentricities and broader global issues affecting the city dweller.

This year’s application deadline is set for Thursday 15 August 2014 for the realisation period January to December 2015.

For more information and to download the application form here , or visit www.goethe.de/goetheonmain.

www.goethe.de