FOREST WINTERLIGHTS 2025

With FOREST - WINTERLIGHTS, the art gallery, which opened in March 2025, is transformed into a glowing winter wonderland for the first time.


Berlin-based light and media artist Christopher Bauder composes a poetic forest landscape covering 1,000 square metres with over 600 trees, most of them suspended from the ceiling, and more than 250,000 lights that condense into a shimmering web of colour, sparkle and reflection. The entire space becomes a stage and the light becomes the narrative protagonist.

Bauder, a self-confessed Christmas romantic, brings the nostalgic warmth of Christmas traditions into the present. He lets Berlin's grey winter days shine in festive splendour and combines classic winter motifs with radically contemporary light art. This creates a whole new perspective on what we call ‘the festive season’: familiar and yet enchanting.

DARK MATTER opens the winter season and celebrates a sparkling premiere in the monumental TRANSFORMATOR hall: an ice rink glides through the middle of the art.

A central motif is the upside-down fir trees, inspired by an old tradition in Eastern Europe and parts of Germany. For centuries, they hung from the ceiling during winter as a symbol of life, hope and protection from the dark forces of the cold season. Bauder takes up this symbol and translates it into a spacious installation that brings together nature, ritual and modern art. In 45-minute cycles, a multi-layered narrative of light and sound unfolds, recurring throughout the evening and offering new experiences and interpretations each time.


The visual score is accompanied by a soundtrack by Dutch musician Chris Kuijten. His composition unfolds finely balanced soundscapes that alternate between contemplative silence and subtly danceable rhythms. In this way, it opens up a second level of perception in which the mirrored forest not only glows but also sounds.


A special highlight is the 400-square-metre ice rink, which has been integrated for the first time. Visitors can glide through the light themselves, with skates available for hire on site. But even without skates, FOREST – WINTERLIGHTS can be experienced in all its diversity: as a course of wonder, strolling and lingering.


The festive atmosphere is rounded off by winter delights: mulled wine, non-alcoholic punch and small seasonal specialities invite you to prolong your stay and experience the magic of this unusual winter forest with all your senses.



Duration: 7 November 2025 to 15 February 2026

• WEDNESDAY - THURSDAY 2:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
  
• FRIDAY 12:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.
  
• SATURDAY 11:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m.
  
• SUNDAY 11:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.
  

TICKETS

Online price: £7-13 / On-site price: + £2 surcharge
Combined tickets (permanent exhibition COLLECTION and FOREST - WINTERLIGHTS): Online price: £18-30 / On-site price: + £2 surcharge