Light Art from the Collection
19 October 2025 to 19 April 2026
Exhibition opening: Saturday, 18 October 2025, 5 p.m.
To mark its 20th anniversary, the Museum Ritter is presenting a choice selection of light works from the Marli Hoppe-Ritter Collection on the ground floor. Around 20 pieces from the early 1960s to the present day captivate through their enthralling sensuality and intriguing visual effects. They represent the ongoing interest artists show in the creative potential of light –because light is not only a medium but also a metaphor for seeing and understanding. It makes things visible and draws our gaze into the artwork, while simultaneously extending out into the surrounding space with its brilliance.
Art with and from light has developed into a focus in the collection over recent years. The Museum’s depot contains numerous historical examples of post-war light art, which reached its first peak in Europe around 1960 with movements such as ZERO in Düsseldorf, GRAV in France, and Arte Programmata in Italy. Winged by a spirit of new departure, progressive artists at that time increasingly harnessed the specific properties of light through their creativity. By combining fluorescent tubes or lightbulbs with electric motors and industrially manufactured materials such as lenses, aluminium, corrugated glass or Plexiglas, they arrived at astonishing visual effects.
Nor has artistic interest in light waned since that time. While some contemporary artists feature opulent plays of vibrant colours and create emotionally charged works that fill the atmosphere of the space with radiance, others prefer the cool sensuality of white or bluish neon light. Some works fascinate with their changing hues or sophisticated illusions of depth, which are skilfully created by redirecting the light and combining it with reflectors or one-way mirrors. Also among the exhibits are some that do not require their own light source. These are made, for instance, of fluorescent acrylic glass that produce a magical glow under the influence of the light outside. It is above all these auratic qualities that make light a constantly fascinating material for art.
Participating Artists:
Werner Bauer, Angela Bulloch, Karl Gerstner, Christian Herdeg, Hans Kotter, Brigitte Kowanz, Heinz Mack, Yoshiyuki Miura, François Morellet, Maurizio Nannucci, Betty Rieckmann, Annette Sauermann, Regine Schumann, Grazia Varisco