Light art and light installations in the Ruhr area
The pot lights up! Light artists and lighting designers have created impressive installations on former collieries and in old industrial cellars. The transformative power of light – a topic in the art for centuries – is taking on a completely new dimension in the Ruhr area. On and in abandoned industrial plants, colorful, glowing installations symbolize the change in an entire region. This journey brings light into the dark season – and brings you closer to the most radiant aspect of contemporary art.
Hidden art spaces, shimmering facades, extraordinary architecture
The skyline makes Frankfurt a total work of art of its very own. Whether light art in the Commerzbank Tower or the twin towers of Deutsche Bank – “Mainhattan” looks particularly impressive on the outside. However, true art treasures are hidden behind mirrored glass facades and the aura of discretion. The 3-day trip takes you to important art collections in the pulsating heart of the financial world and to places that are otherwise not or only partially accessible to the public.
Through the home of the artist group “Blauer Reiter”
In Murnau and Kochel, in the wonderful landscape of the foothills of the Alps, you can follow in the footsteps of the “Blue Rider”, where an artists’ colony was established before the First World War. Franz Marc lived in Sindelsdorf and Ried, Gabriele Münter, Wassily Kandinsky, Jawlensky and Marianne Werefkin lived in Murnau for a long time or temporarily. They all cast a spell over the surroundings of the Alpine foothills.
North Friesland – land between the skies
Emil Nolde reproduced the extraordinary landscape of North Friesland in his pictures very emotionally. Our journey paints a picture of his time and home. In order to understand Nolde, we introduce North Friesland with its Dutch, Frisian and Danish influences, with its windmills and the “Barghus” and “Haubarg” farmhouse types, which are particularly well-kept on the coast.
Ore Mountains foreland, Zwickau, Weimar and Chemnitz
In 1905, German Expressionists formed the group “Die Brücke” in Dresden. At the same time, our journey leads in the footsteps of Henry van de Velde, who paved the way for modern architecture at the same time as the Brücke artists, and of Otto Dix, the expressionist born in Gera. A special aspect is dedicated to the spectacular Gunzenhauser Museum in Chemnitz, which offers an extraordinary range of classical modernism. An evening in the Art Nouveau Theater in Chemnitz can be wonderfully combined with this trip.
From the Worpswede artists’ colony to the Bossard art site
Worpswede, on the edge of the Teufelsmoor, is one of the most outstanding artist colonies in Germany. This is not least due to the legendary Paula Modersohn-Becker – one of the first women in Germany who was able to assert herself in the art world that was once dominated by men. But that is by no means the only reason: Paula and her male colleagues not only left behind a great treasure trove of Expressionist paintings in Worpswede. The same style was also built! And so Worpswede is today one of the rare places where expressionist architecture can be found – especially the “Café Verrück” by Bernhard Hoetger and the “Käseglocke” by Bruno Taut.
Cotton spinning, GDR art, and classic modernism
art scene, which helped the city to become very self-confident even after the fall of the Wall. The Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst (HGB) is one of the best addresses for budding artists – today, but also in the GDR era. Because the HGB was the nucleus of the so-called Leipzig School, probably the most outstanding trend in modern painting in eastern Germany from the 1970s to the 1980s. On this trip, you will not only get to know the Leipzig School and the current developments in the city. You will also visit the neighboring Halle, which with the Giebichenstein Castle, picturesquely situated above the Saale, has an equally renowned art college and a correspondingly lively art scene. The Moritzburg with its first-class collection is also on the program there.
