At Goethe-Institut New York, a Free Taste of Germany (Beer, Too)

Germany’s economy powers the eurozone. Its citizens enjoy an enviable standard of living, with a generous social-welfare system that dates back to the time of Bismarck. The German national team won the World Cup last year. All that, and Berlin is the new Prague, the city where artists, students and bohemians from all over the world want to live.

Germany would like to share the love. On Saturday, the Goethe-Institut New York, a cultural arm of the German government, will throw open the doors of its new headquarters, inviting one and all to sample the pleasures of the German language, film, art and D.J.s. Everything is on the haus.

The New York institute, one of more than 150 international branches, opened in 1957. After spending more than half a century on Fifth Avenue, across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it shifted to Spring Street five years ago. Now it will occupy the first and fourth floors of 30 Irving Place, giving it a street-level presence in a lively part of town.

The festivities begin at 2 p.m. Wanda Golonka, a Berlin performance artist, has transformed the first-floor gallery and library into a space conducive to wasting time. On Wednesday, her performance “EXIT: Leave behind the rhythm of functioning, optimizing and accumulating” invited visitors to engage in idle pursuits, such as drawing potatoes or writing letters. The fruits of their nonlabor have been arranged into an installation by Colin Walker, a stage designer and artist in Berlin.

New Yorkers are not very good at time-wasting. They may fail to see the point. No problem (“kein problem”). They can test their German. Tutors will be on hand to describe the language courses that the institute is offering for the first time. Interactive displays will match visitors to the right level. There will also be games and raffles. The top prize is a two-week trip to Germany.

The evening program begins at 6:30, with short avant-garde silent films from the late 1920s, four by Hans Richter, one by the French painter Fernand Léger and one by the American surrealist Man Ray. Richter, a painter associated with the Blaue Reiter group and later with the Dadaists, was an early film experimentalist who made use of techniques like slow motion, stop action, split screen and double exposure.

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