How Zeitgeist Irland championed Irish arts and culture in Germany
With a year-long programme of over 400 events in over 150 towns and cities across Germany, Zeitgeist Irland 24 – an initiative of Culture Ireland and the Embassy of Ireland in Germany – was a landmark year of Irish arts and culture in 2024.
With a year-long programme of over 400 events in over 150 towns and cities across Germany, Zeitgeist Irland 24 – an initiative of Culture Ireland and the Embassy of Ireland in Germany – was a landmark year of Irish arts and culture in 2024.
Throughout the year, a new generation of Irish artists were presented to German audiences, representing the richness and diversity of Irish culture, and capturing the spirit of a changing nation.
A diverse programme of Irish arts throughout Germany
A spectrum of art forms were showcased during Zeitgeist Irland 24 and presented to audiences in every corner of Germany.
This included keystone engagements such as Irish film Small Things Like These, starring Cillian Murphy, opening the 74th Berlinale; Changing States: Ireland in the 21st Century, the largest ever international exhibition of Irish contemporary photography at Haus am Kleistpark; and the inaugural concert of David Brophy in his new role as chief conductor of WDR broadcast orchestra in Cologne.
New Irish talents showcasing at renowned festivals across Germany
Internationally recognised digital arts festival transmediale and electronic music festival CTM both curated substantive Irish components in their 2024 programmes, Opera Collective Ireland performed at Schloss Rheinsburg’s summer opera festival in Brandenburg; while Irish Theatre makers took part in PLUG & PLAY festival in Staatstheater Mainz.
Fine arts enthusiasts enjoyed Irish visual arts including at group exhibition Footfalls in Britta Rettberg gallery in Munich and performance art event Potluck in Kunststation Sankt Peter in Cologne.
A diverse range of musical acts offering indie rock, trad, techno, hip-hop, and more besides played Germany in the course of the year such as Sharon Shannon, Junior Brother, Sunil Sharpe, The Armagh Rhymers, Soda Blonde, and Celaviedmai, to name a few.
Meaningful professional connections for Irish artists were made at industry showcases.
While emerging pop and rock bands played the industry renowned Reeperbahn festival in Hamburg with First Music Contact, there was a substantive Irish cohort at this year’s International Festival of Animation in Stuttgart with Animation Ireland, and Irish literary talents Audrey Magee, Naoise Dolan and Ferdia Lennon took part at events at the internationally-relevant Leipzig Book Fair with Literature Ireland.
Established names and emerging artists
The programme engaged hundreds of Irish artists throughout the year, including well-known names such as composer Jennifer Walshe, Dead Centre theatre company, prize-winning writers Paul Lynch, Paul Murray and Colm Tóibín, performance artist Amanda Coogan, musician Wallis Bird, and visual artist Niamh O’ Malley.
At the same time the programme provided opportunities for a range of emerging talent across the artforms to present their work for the first time in Germany.
A unique aspect of Zeitgeist Irland 24 was the way in which it engaged with the substantial Irish creative diaspora in Germany.
Among others, dancer and choreographer Sheena McGrandles – who presented her productions MINT at Hebbel am Üfer (Berlin) and DAWN at Theatre im Depot (Düsseldorf) – has largely built her career in Germany, as has Dublin-born visual artist Mariechen Danz, whose solo exhibition edge out was at the Berlin state art museum (Berlinische Galerie), a first for an Irish artist. Rising pop-music star Toshín, a recent arrival in Berlin, delighted new audiences in Germany concerts during the year’s programme.
Zeitgeist Irland 24 commissioned a special podcast series by Neil Hoare, to highlight this diverse talent, with all fifteen episodes available.
Irish arts: a long-standing reputation for breaking ground
Irish artists have had a long-standing reputation for making groundbreaking work.
During the course of the year’s programme, many contemporary artists sought to connect with the work of Samuel Beckett, who had a substantive creative relationship with Germany in the late 20th Century.
Actor Mary Kelly took the central role as Winnie in a new production of Happy Days in the English Theatre in Berlin, directed by Beckett’s long-term associate Walter D. Asmus.
Artist Gerard Byrne and Beckett-expert Judith Wilkinson curated a large-scale exhibition in the Württembergischer Kunstverein in Stuttgart of Beckett’s experimental television plays for German station SDR.
Theatre Company, Pan Pan brought their innovative interpretation of Cascando to the public in Mainz, Marburg and Berlin.
If I Fall, Don't Pick Me Up
Partnerships and connections
The Zeitgeist Irland 24 programme built its success on the many partnerships formed throughout the year between both Irish artists and Irish cultural institutions and German presenters and cultural venues.
The Irish Museum of Modern Art, for example, worked closely with the Gallery for Contemporary Art in Leipzig to exhibit Scene of the Myth by artist Sarah Pierce. Irish musician Carol McConnell and composer Ian Wilson collaborated with Ensemble Musikfabrik in Cologne on the concert Voces Amissea (Lost Voices).
The Literary Colloquium Berlin programmed the Irish Hub – a summer of Irish writers-in-residence and public readings – with the collaboration of Literature Ireland.
Irish culture in Germany
These were just some of the many partnerships and connections that made the year’s cultural programme meaningful with lasting impact.
Though Zeitgeist Irland 24 has wrapped, you can follow the Embassy on Instagram to discover the continued growth and diversity of Irish culture in Germany.
