Special exhibition

This year, the Kunstmuseum Celle with the Robert Simon Collection is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its founding. The basis for this was the merger of the already established Kunst-Stiftung Celle, which had been in existence since 1992, with the newly founded Robert Simon Kunststiftung. Thus, the private initiative of a "museum for a limited time," which had started fifteen years earlier, officially became the "Kunstmuseum Celle." In the meantime, the museum houses one of the largest publicly accessible collections of international light art in the German-speaking world. As "the first 24-hour art museum in the world," it connects people with luminous and non-luminous contemporary art both day and night. For over ten years, this concept has been expanded to include light art installations at and in the Celle train station. The "German Light Art Prize," awarded every two years by the Robert Simon Kunststiftung since 2014, brings international attention to Celle. We are taking this anniversary as an opportunity to look forward with a major light art exhibition showcasing the successes of the past 25 years. The exhibition project gathers our "comets of light art" and harnesses their concentrated luminosity as a push into the future. Works by visionaries, pioneers, luminaries, and trailblazers of light art with national and international impact will be on display. They look ahead to the potentials, spaces of influence, and future development opportunities of light art – as well as of the Kunstmuseum as a place where it can be experienced. Not only existing works will be shown. In close cooperation with the participating artists, we will create light spaces with new perspectives on their respective positions. The exhibition will engage the museum on all floors, in both the interior and exterior spaces, during the day and at night, extending its reach to the light art station in Celle. A selection of the artists includes: Philipp Geist | Daniel Hausig | Hartung Trenz | Margareta Hesse | Albert Hien | Hans Kotter | Brigitte Kowanz | Mischa Kuball | molitor & kuzmin | Boris Petrovsky | Stephan Reusse | Regine Schumann | Paul Schwer | Otto Piene | Jan van Munster.