(North Rhine-Westphalia) The Centre for International Light Art at Unna is the first and only museum in the world dedicated exclusively to light art.
The former Linden brewery has provided an accomplished platform for this genre of contemporary art since 2001. It is visible for miles around thanks to its soaring 52 metre chimney and offers an exhibition space deep underground totalling 2,400 square metres. The labyrinthine corridors and cooling and fermenting rooms of this disused brewery – where Linden
Adler pilsner was made between 1852 and 1979 – have been given a new lease of life through transformative light installations.
The genre of light art is a relatively new form of artistic expression which emerged in the 1960s. Used in this way, light no longer serves to interpret or illuminate but becomes in itself an artistic medium.
Because of technological innovations in the fluorescent tube and lighting industry, light art is now considered an art form in its own right alongside painting, sculpture and photography.
Based in Unna’s landmark industrial monument, the Centre for International Light Art has an ambitious mix of permanent and special exhibitions and provides a forum for debates, symposia, conferences and workshops on the subject of light. It also features a permanent installation designed especially for its vaulted cellar.
This was created by twelve internationally renowned light artists, namely Mario Merz, Joseph Kosuth, James Turrell, Mischa Kuball, Rebecca Horn, Christina Kubisch, Johannes Dinnebier, Keith Sonnier, Jan van Munster, François Morellet, Christian Boltanski and Olafur Eliasson.
Information
Zentrum für Internationale Lichtkunst
Unna, Lindenplatz 1, 59423 Unna, Germany