Bengaluru’s Goethe Institut hosts six German artists as part of residency program

We look at what six artists-in-residence from Germany hope to create during their time in Bengaluru

Published - September 16, 2026 06:27 pm IST

Artists Yana Tsegay, Abel Korinsky, Nikki Schuster, Thomas Lea Clarke, Christine Koschel and Herlambang Bayu Aji | Photo Credit: C Madan Mohan

This year, Goethe Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan in Bengaluru, welcomed six artists-in-residence from Germany; similarly, artists from Karnataka and Kerala who are a part of the institute’s Bangalore Residency Expanded program will be sent to Germany. Goethe Institut has partnered with the likes of ISRO, Namma Katte, Indian Music Experience and other cultural spaces in the city to host these artists.

“The residency initiative began in 2009,” says Nandita Nirgudkar, head of cultural programmes at the Goethe Institut, “but back then it was individual residencies. Our group residencies started in 2013.”

The artists in residence are new to the city, so their central focus will be on meeting people and learning from them. They will engage with local artistic and cultural spaces, dive into traditions and art practices in the city and look forward to collaborations.

Goethe Institut recently organised Spot On, an event for the residents to introduce themselves, their work and research in Bengaluru.

Animation artist Nikki Schuster is being hosted by Science Gallery and her experimental works and explore the oft-unnoticed aspects of society. The working title for her project here is MICROPOLIS and she says, “I want to work on the micro, little perspectives set in this big metropolis; I also want to focus on methods of food production as it plays a big role in global climate change.”

The Indian Music Experience Museum will host Thomas Lea Clarke, a sound artiste and musician from Berlin. “I am new to India, both sonically and culturally,” says Thomas, whose work revolves around audio technology and how it carries histories. He says “I am going to let my focus be guided by the people I meet and the music that I come across.”

As a sound artiste based in Berlin, Abel Korinsky’s work is interdisciplinary. He sees this residency as “a chance to respectfully learn from people, and to understand how things work. At the same time, I am trying to understand how digital media is shaping our perception.” He also wishes to learn and observe during his time at the Indian Sonic and Research Organisation in the city. His thought experiments look at soundscapes as archives of history and heritage.

Visual artist Christine Koschel says, “I am interested in the everyday moments of life that you ignore,” and this philosophy of hers resides in conceptual artworks using media such as food and cutlery. Her initial plan was to study the protest songs, yet, upon arriving, she says it is possible her work will transcend into something completely different.

Herlambang Bayu Aji hails from Java, Indonesia, and his art revolves around its social issues. Currently based in Berlin, he will be hosted by the National Centre for Biological Sciences. His art mainly focuses on shadow puppetry. Having created over a hundred puppets for his own method of child-friendly storytelling, Bayu is looking forward to learning about Togalu Gombeyaata, the shadow-puppet tradition of Karnataka.

Suresh Jayaram of 1Shantiroad Studio will host Yana Tsegay, an artist from Frankfurt whose research will focus on Lal Bagh Botanical Garden as a cultivated environment. When asked about her work, she says, “Seeing how a city can be shaped by plants and greenery is special to me and I am curious to experience that; besides, there are many geological monuments here that can inspire me.”

The artists-in-residence program will be on till October 31, 2026.

For more details visit https://www.goethe.de/ins/in/en/index.html

Published - September 16, 2026 06:27 pm IST

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