Events
A Journey of Light Through the Region
Ahlen – Hamm – Unna – Ahlen
Sa, 24/10/26, 3 pm
Meeting point: Ahlen Art Museum
| Time | Schedule |
|---|---|
| 3 pm | Departure from Ahlen. |
| 3.40 pm | Hamm: Light Installations in Sacred Spaces: “Stranded” by molitor & kuzmin and “public stage” by Mischa Kuball. |
| Culinary break/snack in Hamm (Afterward, we’ll enjoy a light snack—included in the tour price—at a cozy restaurant within walking distance). | |
| 6 pm | Unna: Center for International Light Art. Visit to the current temporary exhibition “LIGHT DIALOGUES.” |
| 7.30 pm | Unna-Lünern: Contrasts in the village church. “That’s what (s)he said” by Brent Birnbaum and “Tunnel IV” by Chul Hyun Ann. |
| 8 pm | Return trip via Hamm: A glimpse of Vollrad Kutscher’s “Blue Wave” as we drive by. |
| Final stop: Ahlen, St. Bartholomäus Art and Culture Church. At the St. Bartholomäus Art and Culture Church in Ahlen, we’ll see the temporary light art installations on display. |
The tour will be expertly guided by cultural educator Kristina Wotschel.
Advance tickets: 22 euros (plus service fee); at the door: 25 euros.
Registration will open soon through Volkshochschule Ahlen.
Fully booked!
Nights of Light Art
HELLWEG – ein LICHTWEG
Fri, 23/10 – Fri, 06/11/26
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.
Opening "Ein Ding der Unmöglichkeit!"
Anna & Bernhard Blume in Dialogue with Video Art
Sat, 21/11/26, 4–7 pm
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.)
WORKSHOP
FOR ADULTS
Crazy Faces
Sat, 28/11/26, 3.30–5.30 pm
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)
WORKSHOP
FOR ADULTS
Against Logic
Sat, 05/12/26, 3–6 pm
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)
Guided Tours
Sundays, 12 noon
5 Euro per person plus admission
max. 16 persons, without advance booking
PRIVATE TOURS
by appointment only, max. 16 people
80 Euro plus 5 Euro entrance fee per person
after 6 pm and at weekends
95 Euro plus 5 Euro entrance fee per person
Glow in the Dark
Guided Tour for the Night of Light Art
Sat, 24/10/26, 8 pm
To celebrate the 9th Night of Light Art, we’ll dim the lights in the museum and join you on a journey to discover works that are over 100 years old. Led by Dagmar Schmidt, you’ll sharpen your senses for an extraordinary experience: Immerse yourself in a sensory journey of discovery where the phenomenon of light can be experienced in a completely new and moving way.
Fee: 12 euros
Ausverkauft!
SCHOOL & KITA
Museum for discovery, core learning and research
From pre-school
to the 13th grade
From pre-school to year 13. First you go to the exhibition accompanied by our art educators, then to the studio for practical work.
Tuesdays to Fridays by arrangement.
| Preschool | |
|---|---|
| Duration | 1.5 hours |
| Group size | max. 12 children from 5 years |
| Costs | 3 euro per child |
| School classes | |
|---|---|
| Duration | 2 hours |
| Group size | one class group |
| Costs | 4 Euro per pupil |
10 Euro material fee per class, 2 accompanying persons are free.
Children´s birthday
CHILDREN'S BIRTHDAY
AT THE MUSEUM
For children | 5–12 years
Celebrate your birthday in the museum with your friends, join us on a journey of discovery through the current exhibition and become artists in our museum studio.
| Duration: | 2 hours |
| Costs: | 85 Euro | Sat – Sun 95 Euro plus 10 Euro material costs per group |
| Group size: | max. 12 children |