Playing Kafka: in word, image, sound & space

Playing Kafka
in word, image, sound & space

Presented by the Goethe-Institut & the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Toronto

September 4 – October 5, 2024
Goethe-Institut Toronto

2024 marks the 100th anniversary of the death of writer Franz Kafka. Unknown in his lifetime, Kafka, a Jew born in Prague, became the most read German-language author.

During his lifetime, he published only a few short stories, including The Metamorphosis, The Trial (written in one night) and The Castle. How does an author who never finished a novel and destroyed 90% of his writing before his untimely death become a modern classic, honoured with his own style label, Kafkaesque? What is the lasting allure that pervades his work?

The answer might lie in the mystery he left readers with. Between realism and the fantastical, Kafka foreshadowed the alienation of a prescriptive modern society, holding the tension between tragedy and absurdity, dream and nightmare. Incomprehensible bureaucracies, patriarchal oppression, angst and menace are met with humour and compassion; questions of identity, power structures, and exclusion continue to resonate.

Kafka to this day is an inspiration for artists like Kundera, Garcia Marquez, Murakami, Borges, Coetzee, Sartre, Orwell, Glass, Soderbergh and The Cure.

The Goethe-Institut Toronto and the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Toronto invite you to engage with the puzzle that is Kafka’s world, through his words as well as moving images, graphic design and XR creations by other artists. In person and virtually, step out of and back into Kafka’s literature for a fresh view.

Kafka’s World: Graphic Novel meets VR

Opening Event: September 4, 6-8pm
September 11 – October 5, 2024 | Mon + Wed 11am-5pm and by request

This double exhibition brings together a VR experience around Kafka’s Metamorphosis and a re-imagining of The Castle by graphic artist Jaromír 99.

VRwandlung: A Virtual Metamorphosis

“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” Thus begins the best-known novella of the 20th century, Die Verwandlung. “VRwandlung transfers Kafka’s work from the pages of a book to virtual reality. The protagonist is no longer Samsa, but you,” explains Mika Johnson, who created the VR experience around this man-to-beetle tale for the Goethe-Institut together with his co-creator Ján Tompkins.

Find yourself in 1915, in Gregor Samsa’s room in the Old Town of Prague – and in a different body. VRwandlung can be experienced with a VR set, sensor slippers and hand motion controllers on an individual first come first served basis. Join us for the free opening event with Ján Tompkins on September 4.

Jaromír 99: The Castle

Jaromír Švejdík’s aka Jaromír 99’s acclaimed comic book adaptation of The Castle is based on the art technique of Scherenschnitt―cut papers bent in different ways, glued together and torn―, here realized digitally. The artwork from the book embraces the Goethe Space and frames the audience experience of VRwandlung. Jaromír’s stark and dramatic black-and-white design emphasizes the isolation, inaccessibility and ominous atmosphere Kafka is known for. In contrast to the original novel, Jaromír 99 set the events in his native Jeseník, K.’s face reflects Kafka’s image―at an age he did not get to live.

“Artwork suggestive of woodcuts and expressionism and German artist Käthe Kollwitz in particular.” – Booklist

Jaromír 99 is a Czech artist, musician, and animator. He won the European Academy Award for his animated film Alois Nebel and is a member of the Kafka Band, whose soundtrack to The Castle will accompany this exhibition.

Kafka goes to the Movies

Activated by theatre maker Alon Nashman
October 1, 2024, 6:30pm

“It is a longing that has lived in me since the advent of cinematography: I would like to turn into a street where such a staged cinematographic scene is taking place. What could one improvise there?” – Kafka’s diary, 1911

While working on a television project about Kafka, German actor Hanns Zischler (Babylon Berlin) discovered a series of passionate writings in Kafka’s journals about his avid moviegoing. Zischler spent the next 25 years combing through archives and libraries to locate many of the films mentioned by Kafka.

Join us for an evening of performance, moving image and conversation around the acclaimed writer and the revolutionary new medium of film he adored, revealing his boundless curiosity, active social life and sense of humour.

Alon Nashman is a Dora-winning theatre creator. Trained at the National Theatre School of Canada, one of his biggest successes is Kafka and Son, based on Kafka’s Letter to His Father. The production has toured across Canada, Iceland, Edinburgh Fringe, Budapest, London, South Africa, Prague (Outstanding Performance Award), Germany’s Thespis Festival (Jury Prize).

Playing Kafka

September 5 – October 5, 2024

What decisions would you make if you were Joseph K. in The Trial? The video game Playing Kafka brings Kafka’s literary world to life on screen. Immerse yourself in the mysterious world of Kafka’s plots and characters. By interacting with the game world, through dialogues and interactive puzzles, players embark on a truly Kafkaesque journey.

In English, German, Czech, for mobile devices (iOS, Android) as well as for PC (Windows, Mac OS) and accompanied by comprehensive educational material.

Playing Kafka has been developed by the Goethe-Institut with independent game studio Charles Games. Supported by the National Recovery Plan of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, funded by the European Union.

Access the game at goethe.de/playingkafka or on iPad at the Goethe-Institut.

Kafka Salon

The heart of any Kafka celebration remains his timeless writing. Whether novella, graphic novel, video or magazine, our selection of books and media by and about Kafka, in German and English, invites you spend an afternoon (or more) at the Goethe, diving into Kafka’s World, or join our special German Verwandlungs-“Lesezirkel” on September 11.

All programs are free & open to the public. For more information, visit goethe.de/toronto/events.

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