Gelsenkirchen
Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen
The Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen's collection of paintings is, in the best sense of the world, representative, featuring a tour that traces the history of German art since the advent of Modernism. However, it's most unique feature is unquestionably how it presents kinetic works of art. The manner in which it combines these with related works from the fields of light art and op art make it stand out in particular, not just among the museums which make up the RuhrKunstMuseen, but across the art scene as a whole.
Kinetic Art – Moving Art
Not only when accompanied by children, when visiting the Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen, your first stop should be the slightly darkened basement. Here, visitors are invited to move and touch a number of the artworks on display. This museum is without peer when it comes to emphasising how mechanics and motorisation are making their way into the field of art.
Once visitors have set aside their fear of touching and their general shyness towards the exceptional art, they can easily spend an hour listening to the sequences of musical notes produced by Peter Vogel's 3-metre tall speaking column – sequences which vary depending on how the light falls – or allowing themselves to be transfixed by Peter Segler's prismatic, pastel-coloured play on light, "Spin und Dreieck" (spin and triangle). Endless visual worlds and interior landscapes are opened up to the viewer in what is colloquially known as the "mirror room" but which is actually called "Repro Modul", an installation created by Inge Haas.
From Zero to curious treasures
In addition to works created by the Düsseldorf-based group ZERO (Heinz Mack, Otto Piene and Günther Uecker), the museum is also home to works from the B1 art group, members of which can be found across the entire Ruhr area. This includes the playful objects created by Rolf Glasmeier as part of his series "Kaufhausobjekte" (department store objects), the light art created by Günter Dohr, or Kuno Gonschior's psychedelic toadstool, "Rundkonvex Rot-Grün-Violett" (Round Convex Red-Green-Violet), which bewilders the senses.
An absolute favourite among the locals of Gelsenkirchen is Kees Aafjes' mildly obscene sculpture of a beetle – sadly not always on display – which bears the name "Spanische Fliege" (spanish fly). Here, visitors are invited to stroke the beetle and, when they comply, it expresses its pleasure. Time and time again, the manner in which the museum's collection is presented is characterised by the contrast between strict experimentations with form and playful machines of association.
Finding your favourite picture
The upper floor currently makes visitors feel as if they are taking part in a large art fair – everyone finds their favourite picture in the Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen's painting gallery. The exemplary acquisition policy of the 1950s has ensured that, today, a high concentration of different artworks are able to be displayed: from artists ranging from Max Liebermann to Auguste Rodin, from Ernst Ludwig Kirchner to Alexej von Jawlensky to Emil Nolde. Post-1945 German art is also represented here, for example in the form of Konrad Klapheck and Gerhard Richter. The collection, displayed along an elegant system of paths which leads along the stairs and balconies of the museum, displays big names in the art world alongside lesser well-known artists and features works that date up to the present. It is precisely this part of the collection which makes the museum a place of discovery for curious appreciators of art.
An additional focus of the collection is the artistic work of Anton Stankowski, a graphic designer who was born in Gelsenkirchen and who was responsible for designing logos for institutions such as the Deutsche Bank and the Börse Frankfurt. What's more, the museum owns over 3,000 paper-based works, which it presents in smaller exhibitions in its graphic prints department. The fact that the museum displays an ever-changing selection of contemporary artworks in the Alte Villa (Old Villa) is another aspect which perfectly rounds off a free – yet always worthwhile – visit to the Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen.
Gallery
Exhibitions
Events
04. July 2026
19:00
Sing our Songs!
Concert
Place: former church of St. Mariä Himmelfahrt, Goldbergstraße 11, 45894 Gelsenkirchen
Singing has always been a central feature of worker resistance – as in the Ruhr region too. Thematically linked to the exhibition Radical Hope. Art and Worker Resistance in Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen (13 June till 4 October 2026), the opera ensemble of the Musiktheater im Revier will be performing historical songs focused on industrial conflict and strikes as participatory practice in the former church St. Mariä Himmelfahrt in Gelsenkirchen’s Buer district. Amateur singers and choirs will join the opera choir to perform a selection of regional, national and international workers’ songs. The audience is also welcome to join in! All together we would like to fill the church with song and the diverse perspectives of worker resistances. The programme will include songs from this region – like the ones sung by the female employees of a Gelsenkirchen-based company who won their fight for equal pay, or by those working in the mines – as well as global perspectives, like the protest songs sung by the Italian Wages for Housework movement or the striking men and women in South African mines.
Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen in collaboration with Musiktheater im Revier and the Catholic church of St. Urbanus.
A project as part of Manifesta 16 +.
04. July 2026
19:00
Sing our Songs!
Concert
Place: former church of St. Mariä Himmelfahrt, Goldbergstraße 11, 45894 Gelsenkirchen
Singing has always been a central feature of worker resistance – as in the Ruhr region too. Thematically linked to the exhibition Radical Hope. Art and Worker Resistance in Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen (13 June till 4 October 2026), the opera ensemble of the Musiktheater im Revier will be performing historical songs focused on industrial conflict and strikes as participatory practice in the former church St. Mariä Himmelfahrt in Gelsenkirchen’s Buer district. Amateur singers and choirs will join the opera choir to perform a selection of regional, national and international workers’ songs. The audience is also welcome to join in! All together we would like to fill the church with song and the diverse perspectives of worker resistances. The programme will include songs from this region – like the ones sung by the female employees of a Gelsenkirchen-based company who won their fight for equal pay, or by those working in the mines – as well as global perspectives, like the protest songs sung by the Italian Wages for Housework movement or the striking men and women in South African mines.
Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen in collaboration with Musiktheater im Revier and the Catholic church of St. Urbanus.
A project as part of Manifesta 16 +.
12. July 2026
14:00
Lisa Klosterkötter: »Unter der Markise« (Under the Awning)
An artistic celebration in the museum garden with games, food, and a performance by and with children from Gelsenkirchen. Curated and facilitated by Citra Amongsari, Paula Erstmann, Anne Meerpohl, Jasmine Parsley, and Philipp Joy Reinhardt.
In collaboration with the Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen, the Art Award of the Kunststiftung NRW – Nam June Paik Award 2026 is awarded to the artist Michael Beutler (born 1976, lives and works in Berlin and Aachen). The internationally renowned award is endowed with 25,000 euros.
A support award is also bestowed as part of the art award. It is conferred on artist and curator Lisa Klosterkötter (*1990, lives and works in Cologne). For the Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen, she is developing the multi-part exhibition and event format »Ein Dorf« (A Village), which explores forms of community, neighbourhood and public coexistence. Readings, artistic interventions and performative formats, both indoors and outdoors, reflect the museum’s self-image as a place of reflection and exchange.
26. July 2026
15:00
Public Guided Tour
Radical Hope. Art and Worker Resistance
The international group exhibition Radical Hope examines how artists from modernity to the present day have approached the theme of worker resistance – documentarily, poetically, critically, radically, in solidarity and from personal experience.
In the early twentieth century, art brought working-class struggle against social injustice into focus. From the 1960s, labour struggles influenced artistic practice when artists themselves went on strike. And beyond the realm of art, resistance against working conditions has, to the present, generated impressive images and practices that move in step with global developments.
Gelsenkirchen is also home to a feminist chapter in the history of worker resistance. In the early 1980s, female workers fought for equal pay, thereby becoming part of a European movement which also included the campaign ‘Wages for Housework’ initiated by feminist artists in Italy. Both positions feature in the exhibition, which highlights various artistic perspectives and practices within the labour movement and at the same time looks at the manifold overlaps between different aesthetics of protest in art and everyday life.
Artists: Juan Pérez Agirregoikoa, Claire Fontaine, Jeremy Deller Milli Gandini, Nicolás Guagnini, Käthe Kollwitz, Lee Lozano, Anna Malagrida & Mathieu Pernot, Irène Mélix, Gustav Metzger, Malgorzata Mirga-Tas, Jean-Luc Moulène, Mariuccia Secol, Selma Selman, Takis (Panayiotis Vassilakis), Nicole Wermers
26. July 2026
15:00
Public Guided Tour
Radical Hope. Art and Worker Resistance
The international group exhibition Radical Hope examines how artists from modernity to the present day have approached the theme of worker resistance – documentarily, poetically, critically, radically, in solidarity and from personal experience.
In the early twentieth century, art brought working-class struggle against social injustice into focus. From the 1960s, labour struggles influenced artistic practice when artists themselves went on strike. And beyond the realm of art, resistance against working conditions has, to the present, generated impressive images and practices that move in step with global developments.
Gelsenkirchen is also home to a feminist chapter in the history of worker resistance. In the early 1980s, female workers fought for equal pay, thereby becoming part of a European movement which also included the campaign ‘Wages for Housework’ initiated by feminist artists in Italy. Both positions feature in the exhibition, which highlights various artistic perspectives and practices within the labour movement and at the same time looks at the manifold overlaps between different aesthetics of protest in art and everyday life.
Artists: Juan Pérez Agirregoikoa, Claire Fontaine, Jeremy Deller Milli Gandini, Nicolás Guagnini, Käthe Kollwitz, Lee Lozano, Anna Malagrida & Mathieu Pernot, Irène Mélix, Gustav Metzger, Malgorzata Mirga-Tas, Jean-Luc Moulène, Mariuccia Secol, Selma Selman, Takis (Panayiotis Vassilakis), Nicole Wermers
26. July 2026
15:00
Public Guided Tour
Radical Hope. Art and Worker Resistance
The international group exhibition Radical Hope examines how artists from modernity to the present day have approached the theme of worker resistance – documentarily, poetically, critically, radically, in solidarity and from personal experience.
In the early twentieth century, art brought working-class struggle against social injustice into focus. From the 1960s, labour struggles influenced artistic practice when artists themselves went on strike. And beyond the realm of art, resistance against working conditions has, to the present, generated impressive images and practices that move in step with global developments.
Gelsenkirchen is also home to a feminist chapter in the history of worker resistance. In the early 1980s, female workers fought for equal pay, thereby becoming part of a European movement which also included the campaign ‘Wages for Housework’ initiated by feminist artists in Italy. Both positions feature in the exhibition, which highlights various artistic perspectives and practices within the labour movement and at the same time looks at the manifold overlaps between different aesthetics of protest in art and everyday life.
Artists: Juan Pérez Agirregoikoa, Claire Fontaine, Jeremy Deller Milli Gandini, Nicolás Guagnini, Käthe Kollwitz, Lee Lozano, Anna Malagrida & Mathieu Pernot, Irène Mélix, Gustav Metzger, Malgorzata Mirga-Tas, Jean-Luc Moulène, Mariuccia Secol, Selma Selman, Takis (Panayiotis Vassilakis), Nicole Wermers
26. July 2026
15:00
Public Guided Tour
Radical Hope. Art and Worker Resistance
The international group exhibition Radical Hope examines how artists from modernity to the present day have approached the theme of worker resistance – documentarily, poetically, critically, radically, in solidarity and from personal experience.
In the early twentieth century, art brought working-class struggle against social injustice into focus. From the 1960s, labour struggles influenced artistic practice when artists themselves went on strike. And beyond the realm of art, resistance against working conditions has, to the present, generated impressive images and practices that move in step with global developments.
Gelsenkirchen is also home to a feminist chapter in the history of worker resistance. In the early 1980s, female workers fought for equal pay, thereby becoming part of a European movement which also included the campaign ‘Wages for Housework’ initiated by feminist artists in Italy. Both positions feature in the exhibition, which highlights various artistic perspectives and practices within the labour movement and at the same time looks at the manifold overlaps between different aesthetics of protest in art and everyday life.
Artists: Juan Pérez Agirregoikoa, Claire Fontaine, Jeremy Deller Milli Gandini, Nicolás Guagnini, Käthe Kollwitz, Lee Lozano, Anna Malagrida & Mathieu Pernot, Irène Mélix, Gustav Metzger, Malgorzata Mirga-Tas, Jean-Luc Moulène, Mariuccia Secol, Selma Selman, Takis (Panayiotis Vassilakis), Nicole Wermers
26. July 2026
15:00
Public Guided Tour
Radical Hope. Art and Worker Resistance
The international group exhibition Radical Hope examines how artists from modernity to the present day have approached the theme of worker resistance – documentarily, poetically, critically, radically, in solidarity and from personal experience.
In the early twentieth century, art brought working-class struggle against social injustice into focus. From the 1960s, labour struggles influenced artistic practice when artists themselves went on strike. And beyond the realm of art, resistance against working conditions has, to the present, generated impressive images and practices that move in step with global developments.
Gelsenkirchen is also home to a feminist chapter in the history of worker resistance. In the early 1980s, female workers fought for equal pay, thereby becoming part of a European movement which also included the campaign ‘Wages for Housework’ initiated by feminist artists in Italy. Both positions feature in the exhibition, which highlights various artistic perspectives and practices within the labour movement and at the same time looks at the manifold overlaps between different aesthetics of protest in art and everyday life.
Artists: Juan Pérez Agirregoikoa, Claire Fontaine, Jeremy Deller Milli Gandini, Nicolás Guagnini, Käthe Kollwitz, Lee Lozano, Anna Malagrida & Mathieu Pernot, Irène Mélix, Gustav Metzger, Malgorzata Mirga-Tas, Jean-Luc Moulène, Mariuccia Secol, Selma Selman, Takis (Panayiotis Vassilakis), Nicole Wermers