[UN]Apparent worlds reside in Arolsen

The exhibition is open! Come by until May 18, 2025

Opening hours

March 8 – May 18, 2025

Magdalena Hohlweg – [UN]scheinbare Welten
Collage, installation, photography

Wed – Sat 2.30 – 5 pm

Sun 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Sunday guided tour 11.15 a.m.

Guided tour with me on Sunday, 27.04. at 11:15 am

Easter Sunday, 20.04.2025, no guided tour.

Address: Schlossstraße 27, Bad Arolsen

Countless finds are currently being brought together in the Bad Arolsen Museum to form new habitats. Insectology is blossoming here, so to speak. Things are not always what they seem at first glance. However, anyone who thinks that a typewriter was involved in the creation of this exhibit has typed correctly. This work is one of many others that now reside in Bad Arolsen. Fits, wobbles and has air!

“Magdalena Hohlweg’s collages elevate incoherence to an art form.

The highly individual and intuitive selection of everyday found objects opens up new perspectives in the works and establishes its own [UN]order.

Every element, no matter how banal, is essential to the overall message of the bizarre works and puts our perception to the test.

Depending on their placement in the works, the most banal fragments result in either bird-like creatures or insects, which are often not so easy to distinguish from the real models from nature.

Insect or not insect? That’s the question here!”

Arolsen Residential Palace breathes history: centuries-old creaking steps, long galleries, paneled walls, historic rooms that have certainly seen a lot.

Now, fragile bird creatures and bizarre insects have taken up residence in the stately halls.

The accompanying text panels not only shed light on the individual aspects of my work relating to perception, change and values. The enlargements also make it easier to engage with the miniature works. Thanks to an elaborate technique in which several macro shots are superimposed, the powerful photos on the panels lose none of their brilliance. And you can see for yourself whether you have seen correctly. Unlike usual: please feel free to get really close to the originals!

At first glance, some of the works are reminiscent of scientific collections, because:

Collecting, measuring, organizing, preparing, exhibiting – these were the central activities of scientific research until well into the 20th century. For a long time, environmental conditions and behavioral patterns played no role whatsoever. Essential environmental conditions and species-specific behavior were completely neglected.

In my works, I elevate the principles of incoherence and arbitrariness to an art form. The highly individual and random compilation of everyday found objects opens up new perspectives and establishes a radically new order. Every detail, no matter how small, is declared indispensable here.

Insect or non-insect? That is the question with some of the exhibits.

How do we perceive our world?

How can an object gain a presence in our consciousness and have a deeper impact?

In the end, it’s all a question of observation. The value of any object is closely linked to our perception.

It is only through our attention that things come to life and unfold their magic.

My workplace can also be found in the exhibition. Well – here the showcase is surrounded by participants on one of my guided tours. I brought some materials with me to show how the works were created.

The tours are simply great fun. It was another entertaining hour with everyone. Thank you to all the visitors!

Before the hanging, I had slight doubts as to how my small-scale works would hold their own in the baroque halls and galleries. Like countless splashes of color, they could get lost on the huge walls, couldn’t they?

On the contrary! The 40 or so exhibits shine here in a wonderful contrast that reveals new perspectives.

I couldn’t imagine a more worthy setting – glitz and glamor for the smallest insignificances of our everyday world. Here they shine with all their – sometimes somewhat morbid – charm.

From the small scenes measuring 5 x 5 cm to the large-format works, which at first glance may look like old scientific collections – each exhibit has found its place and invites you to take a closer look.

The exhibition has already been visited by a number of school classes from the Bad Arolsen area. I am delighted when the children in particular can take away ideas for discovering exciting things even in the smallest remnants.

It was also a huge pleasure for me to create more fantastic creatures together with enthusiastic third graders. So far, I have experienced it in all the groups: every child really does find their very own little treasure in the initially meaningless particles that I offer them for their work.

After viewing the exhibition, they all worked diligently and in great depth. At the end, each child proudly took their own work home with them.

The exhibition has now been running for several weeks. It’s hard to believe how quickly time has passed.

Incidentally, I was given a very special welcome during my final preparations in the museum rooms. I had already been delighted with the sunny weather on my arrival. After the gray days in February, the first warming rays of sunshine were a real treat. This peacock eye must have thought so too, sitting on the steps in front of the exhibition as if it had ended its hibernation just for me. What a nice greeting. The stones were certainly a good place to warm up for a first outing after the long cold season. What a lovely, unexpected encounter. Because one of the themes of my exhibition is once again metamorphosis. Because just as everything in nature is always changing, we are also confronted with profound changes, especially in these difficult times.

Nature accepts change with much more naturalness and ease than we do, right?

And the vernissage? It was entertaining and filled with intensive discussions:

In an interview with Melanie Mehring, Director of the Bad Pyrmont Castle Museum, the introduction to the exhibition was very informative and the vernissage was very entertaining overall.

I could see that from the enthusiastic feedback, the interesting conversations and nice encounters on the evening of the vernissage. I would like to say a heartfelt “THANK YOU” to all visitors. It was a really nice evening.

And even before the detailed press articles were published, the first weekend was very well attended – and the trend is rising 🙂

Fortunately, setting up the exhibition was not entirely in my hands. You can hardly manage such a big project on your own. The preparations together with the museum management were great fun. And many thanks also to all the other helpers.

However, the design of the cabinet on metamorphosis in particular took a lot of effort this time. This structure was easier for me in my Romanticism 2.0 exhibition. After the life-threatening events last September, I’m obviously not yet as stress-resistant as I felt before. Nevertheless, I am well on the road to recovery! And the expansive cocoon is open! Just step inside and let the change happen 🙂

I am also really happy about the individual text panels with the large-format illustrations, which not only focus on selected individual works in the exhibition, but also go into more detail about the entire spectrum of my work relating to change, perception and values. Here you will find new perspectives.

Incidentally, I have my dear husband, Manfred Hohlweg, to thank for the extremely high-resolution and very elaborate photographs of individual exhibits.

For the countless tiny details, he superimposes several shots on top of each other to create these fantastic macro shots with an impressive depth of field. The illumination down to the last detail allows amazing zooms into the smallest treasures of our everyday life and nature.

It’s hard to believe that these tiny finds look like bizarre works of art if you can only zoom in close enough, as is possible in the exhibition. Find out more about Manfred Hohlweg’s macro photographs here.

I actually spent so many intensive hours completing the walk-in “cocoon” that I still haven’t been able to book a guided tour of the castle, despite having visited Bad Arolsen several times in the meantime. I will make up for that! After all, the museum in the castle is only one part of the imposing estate.

I don’t want to anticipate everything. So let’s just take a look at the cocoon from the outside, which was made especially for this period. I wanted an unfinished, inconspicuous, somewhat enigmatic exterior. Because camouflage is also an important principle in nature. And not every step in the course of a metamorphosis is “pretty”

A visit to the (un)apparent worlds can indeed be organized as a great day trip. After your visit to the exhibition, there is also the very impressive Brehm Library and the Princely Waldeck Court Library to discover in addition to the castle tours. I would also highly recommend the impressive Christian-Daniel-Rauch-Museum.

But above all: don’t miss the [UN]apparent worlds! Because they are really presented here in an impressive setting 🙂

Incidentally, Bad Arolsen Residential Palace is located to the west of Kassel.

Directions from the museum