Calendar

The ninth edition of the festival invites visitors from across the Hellweg region on a journey of discovery. In addition to the 51 permanent light art installations that illuminate the Hellweg from Ahlen to Fröndenberg and from Lippstadt to Unna, there is an extensive program featuring temporary exhibitions throughout the region. This year’s theme is to showcase art from storage in churches and historic buildings, as many light art works are currently stored in museums, with artists, and in private collections.

The main opening of the 9th edition of the Nights of Light Art will take place on Thursday, October 22, 2026, from 7 to 8 pm at the Wilhelm Morgner Museum (Thomästraße 1, Soest).

In Ahlen, the Nights of Light Art will open on Friday, October 23, 2026, at 6 pm at the St. Bartholomäus Art and Culture Church. Light artworks by Volkhard Kempter, Christoph Dahlhausen, and Andreas Horlitz will engage in a dialogue with the historic architecture. On October 28 at 6.30 pm, the Art and Culture Church will host the panel discussion “Lichtwechsel – When Light Art Enters the Sacred Space,” followed on November 7 at 11 am by the closing event “Ancient & Modern Portraits for Organ,” which combines classical organ works with pop and rock hits.

Programmheft

With an unflinching gaze, Anna (1936–2020) and Bernhard Johannes Blume (1937–2011) brought the petty-bourgeois world of postwar Germany into sharp focus. Everyday objects play a key role in this, appearing to spiral out of control in their images.

Their humorous works are precise commentaries on social norms and themes that remain as relevant today as ever. We are dedicating a major retrospective exhibition to the artist couple and placing their work in a new, contemporary context: Their large-format black-and-white photographs, Polaroid series, as well as drawings and objects from the estate of Anna and Bernhard Blume enter into a dialogue with international contemporary video art.

Our supposed order of “things” remains an illusion, which the artist duo exposes in their provocatively chaotic and absurdly philosophical visual world. Hard to believe—a thing of impossibility!

Welcome:
Dr. Martina Padberg
Director, Kunstmuseum Ahlen

Remarks:
Angelika Weide, Head of the Cultural Affairs Department
of the Münster District Government

Patrick Bürger, Deputy Chairman of the Board
of the LWL Cultural Foundation

Roland Klein, Deputy Board Member
of Sparkasse Münsterland Ost

Introduction:
Dr. Anna Luise von Campe
Curator, Kunstmuseum Ahlen

The museum will remain open until 7:00 p.m.

Admission is free!

(Due to the construction of the new city hall, there are only a few parking spaces available directly at the museum. Additional parking is available about a 5-minute walk away on Freiheit or at Stadtpark 4.)

In this creative workshop, participants explore the facets of human perception. We investigate how long a portrait remains recognizable to us as a face when it is gradually distorted, and at what point the familiar gives way to pure areas of color and form.

After a tour of the exhibition, we’ll get creative together at the art school. We’ll start with photographs of faces, which we’ll cut into strips and then reassemble. Whether with strict regularity or in varying widths, this experimental rearrangement will result in collages that oscillate between humor, absurdity, and abstract color fields.

In a relaxed atmosphere, we’ll create multifaceted, one-of-a-kind pieces that reveal in surprising ways how familiar faces can be reimagined and visually deconstructed.

Fee: 20 euros (includes admission and materials)

In this creative workshop, participants explore the interplay between expectation and visual reality. When things seem to defy the laws of physics and behave unexpectedly, it instantly fills us with wonder. We’ll use precisely this element of surprise as our artistic inspiration.

After a tour of the exhibition, we’ll get to work together in the art school. Using seemingly everyday materials and various textures, we’ll create sculptural objects that break with our habits. Through experimentation, we’ll produce works that appear to defy the laws of physics.

We’ll create sculptures that leave us somewhere between pondering and smiling, and that show in surprising ways how reality can be bent using simple means.

Fee: 30 euros (includes admission and materials)

Are you unable to visit in person? We offer a guided tour over the phone highlighting the exhibition’s key features! This service is aimed at anyone who is unable to attend cultural events in person due to visual or mobility impairments, or other barriers. It also opens up new opportunities for participation for people who feel uncomfortable in large groups or face financial constraints. With the ‘Bei Anruf Kultur’ project, we offer an innovative way to experience art and culture in a new light, without the need for any technical gadgets or special equipment.

The (audio) tour lasts 60 minutes and is led by curator Dr Anna Luise von Campe. She describes the visual elements of the exhibitions and guides participants through the museum’s galleries.

Register via beianrufkultur.de or by telephone on 040 209 404 36.

We’re exploring the laws of physics! After taking a look at our exhibit, we’ll head straight to the art class. There, we’ll make little roly-poly toys out of paper, modeling clay, and half a ping-pong ball. The easy-to-follow steps leave plenty of room for creative design. Whether wild, colorful, or funny—the result is a charming creation that makes us smile, because no matter how often we nudge the figures over, they always reliably pop right back up!

All materials are provided; no prior experience is necessary.

Admission plus 5 euros per family

Supported by the Förderkreis Kunstmuseum Ahlen e.V.

Author, poetry slammer, and spoken-word artist Andreas Lating—aka “Andi Substanz”—from Münster is coming to our exhibition with his typewriter! Spontaneous poetry will emerge through his interaction with the audience and the art of Anna & Bernhard Blume. Experience how unique literary masterpieces are typed onto paper from the impressions of the moment.

Admission: 12 euros

With their unique blend of poetry, comedy, cabaret, wordplay, physical comedy, dance, and song, this legendary cabaret duo brings the absurdities of the real world to life. In 2026, Ulan & Bator celebrated their quarter-century anniversary—and that’s not just something to be celebrated, but something to be danced to, sung about, and performed! They’re treating themselves—and their audience—to a colorful anniversary evening featuring their favorite numbers and highlights from their award-winning stage career.

A collaborative event presented by the Ahlen Art Museum and Kulturgut Haus Nottbeck.

Supported by the Förderkreis Kunstmuseum Ahlen e.V.

Venue: Kulturgut Haus Nottbeck
Doors open: 7:20 p.m.
Advance tickets: 19 euros / 17 euros (reduced)
At the door: 22 euros / 20 euros (reduced)

Tickets available via reservix.de

n this workshop, participants explore the boundaries between abstract materials and human presence. As soon as a free, amorphous form takes on the appearance of human feet, it is instantly transformed: an independent object comes to life from simple materials, unfolding an immediate, emotional impact as a biomorphic, bizarre creature.

After a brief tour of the exhibition, we’ll get creative together in the art school. A variety of everyday and packaging materials—such as wire and balloons—will serve as the foundation for our sculptures; we’ll shape them into individual bases and then wrap them in plaster bandages to build up the forms. By adding small, figurative elements, we’ll gradually create whimsical, comically bizarre sculptural creatures.

The resulting one-of-a-kind pieces demonstrate how everyday forms and sculptural techniques can give rise to lifelike works of art.

Fee: 35 euros (includes admission and materials)

Note: Please bring work clothes/an apron and a container (approximately A4 size) for transporting your sculpture. The sculptures will likely still be slightly damp.

With “Kunstgenuss,” you can enjoy the exhibition after the museum closes in a relaxed atmosphere—followed by a three-course meal at Restaurant Chagall.

The evening begins with a guided tour of the exhibition “A Thing of Impossibility: Anna & Bernhard Blume in Dialogue with Video Art.” Together, we’ll immerse ourselves in the humorous and incisive world of this artist couple, who question everyday life and the search for structure with great wit. Contemporary video works bridge the gap to the present, entering into a dialogue with the photographic installations.

Afterward, the evening continues in a culinary fashion at Restaurant Chagall: next door, a special menu awaits you in an atmospheric setting. The impressions from the exhibition linger, inspiring conversation and creating space for stimulating exchanges and shared laughter. The evening comes to a relaxed close amid fine culinary delights.

Admission: 10 Euros, menu: 39 Euros (package only)

Book via Restaurant Chagall at: info@chagall-ahlen.de