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The Long Night of Ideas

“17 venues – 17 ideas”: the Long Night of Ideas in Berlin invites visitors to experience some surprising encounters in a number of unusual places. We present five highlights.

11.05.2017
© dpa - Long Night of Ideas

Germany. Games, debates, discussions, guided tours, shows: on 12 May 2017, the second Long Night of Ideas will be inviting visitors to embark on a fun and fascinating exploration of the city of Berlin and German foreign policy work. The event will turn Germany’s capital into one big stage for new insights. All of the activities are linked to Germany’s foreign cultural and educational policy work. The programme ranges from street football and German-Arab guided museum tours to art on the roof of the Federal Foreign Office.

“Long Night of Ideas - Lange Nacht der Ideen in Berlin”: Peter Lee, Game Designer

In view of the many crises at present, foreign cultural and educational policy is “more important than ever as a cross-border ‘door-opener’” – says the Federal Foreign Office, explaining that it creates opportunities in the pre-political sphere and opens up future prospects. The full programme of the Long Night of Ideas can be found here. We present five highlights: 

Simulating cultural exchange 

The Long Night of Ideas offers an opportunity to acquire international experience without having to board a plane. In an experimental field, participants quickly learn how international experience can influence global issues. The invitation extended by the “Kulturweit” voluntary service and the German Commission for UNESCO sounds fascinating: “Enter our trans-sphere. Join an existing nation or create a new one. Share opinions and possibilities with others, increase your cultural capital! Play for yourself, for your nation or for the good of the world. Think big and make history, as this game is all about changing the rules.” When playing a game, people often feel, see and act more freely than they otherwise would, and as a consequence also learn something that will benefit them in real life. The history that the participants will be making together during the course of the evening will be recorded in a large “world view”.

The role of digital games as cultural ambassador 

At the Game Science Center in Berlin, visitors can test out computer games from Germany, Indonesia and Brazil for themselves, discovering as they do so one particular aspect of foreign cultural and educational policy: digitisation and Culture 4.0. In recent months, nominees and winners of the German Computer Games Award have been travelling to Indonesia and Brazil at the invitation of the Goethe-Institut and in cooperation with the Stiftung Digitale Spielekultur (the German foundation for digital games culture), where they shared thoughts and ideas with other games developers. The result was intercultural gaming projects such as “Jermania”, an app that teaches users about German language and culture, and playable prototypes like “Ja-CAR-ta” and “Therapy Soccer”.

The challenge posed by the new disorder

The world is in a state of upheaval due to renationalisation and populism – so what can and should politics and culture do to counter this? The Federal Foreign Office, in cooperation with the daily newspaper “Der Tagesspiegel”, will be looking into these questions at a rather unusual location: on the construction site of the future Humboldt Forum, a place for encounters and lively exchange in the heart of Berlin. 

Street football for culture and peace

Using sport to drive forward social change and integration: various sports projects from Lebanon, Cambodia and Germany allow visitors to experience possible approaches through sport, as well as the unifying power of football. The streetfootballworld initiative has launched the football3 project, a variation of street football that is being used in social projects all over the world and can be tried out during the Long Night of Ideas in Berlin. Players are not judged by a referee, but do score bonus points for fair play. 

Rooftop art

For the Long Night of Ideas, the AArtist-in-Residence-Atelier on the roof of the Federal Foreign Office will be opening its doors to visitors. AArtist-in-residence Said Baalbaki, who commenced his work there in May 2017, will be presenting his art. Although he was born in Lebanon, Germany became his new home roughly 15 years ago. Baalbaki is a mediator between East and West who uses his work to explore philosophical questions about perception, authenticity and truth. He takes everyday cooking utensils such as saucepans, frying pans and cutlery and uses conventional sculpture techniques to transform them into military objects such as armour, shields and helmets.

To experience the event “live”, tune in to Facebook on 12 May, when deutschland.de will be reporting from the Long Night of Ideas: www.facebook.com/deutschland.de

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