A Matter of Perspective
A Matter of Perspective
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WORKSHOP from 25 to 27 March 2026
Storied [Art] Matter. Methodological Approaches across Material Engagement and Aesthetics
The workshop will explore methodological experiments and alternative approaches to narrating material culture, with a particular focus on three-dimensional objects. Participants will examine the stories we tell about materials, as well as the stories that the materials themselves embody, creating a dialogue between material agency and human (aesthetic) interpretation. Through hands-on methodologies such as fieldwork, material science and engagement with materials, alongside ecocritical theoretical frameworks, the event will bring together new approaches to researching the ‘storied matter’ of artistic production.
‚[…] the stories of matter are everywhere: in the air we breathe, the food we eat, in the things and beings of this world, within and beyond the human realm. All matter, in other words, is a „storied matter“.‘
The above statement, taken from Serenella Iovino and Serpil Oppermann’s book Material Ecocriticism (2014, 19), outlines a theoretical approach involving the understanding of matter as a constant process of shared becoming that sheds light on the ‘world we inhabit’ (19). Materials used to make (art) objects have become the subject of renewed critical attention from artists and researchers alike. Questions concerning the provenance of materials, artistic production and the concept of materials as historical, multispecies assemblages resonate deeply with ecocritical discourses within the environmental humanities. In order to understand materials as expressions of a more-than-human past and present, scholars of art and material culture are combining methods from different disciplines in novel ways. These new research practices challenge traditional narratives about the creation of objects. Materials are no longer viewed as inert matter devoid of history and awaiting artistic shaping. Instead, objects are conceptualised as temporary and fragile assemblages in which more-than-human stories intertwine.
On 25 March 2026 (18:00–19:30), Serpil Oppermann (Cappadocia University) opens the programme with the virtual keynote “Artistic Encounters with Storied Matter in the Blue Humanities”, streamed live exclusively to the museum, followed by a Q&A.
The programme continues on 26 March 2026 (10:00–18:30), opening with an introduction by Kaja Ninnis (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) and Ursula Ströbele (Braunschweig University of Art).
Contributions from Dominik Bais (Lechner Museum, Ingolstadt), Carolin Bohlmann (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna), Marjolijn Bol (Utrecht University), Alice Iacobone (University of St Gallen), Ina Jessen (Hamburg), Aleksandra Lipińska (University of Cologne) and Olga Smith (Newcastle University) will explore topics such as extractivism, ecocritical methodologies and the histories and agency of artistic materials.
On 27 March 2026 (8:30–13:30), we will take a field trip to the Lechner Sculpture Park in Obereichstätt. The trip is structured as an intimate working group session for in-depth discussion of the forthcoming volume Methods for Ecocritical Art History with co-editor Olga Smith. The workshop will conclude with a tour of the historic iron foundry and former quarry. Separate registration is required for this event, as the number of participants is limited to 20.
The workshop emerges from Art | Material | Ecology. Working Group for the Study of Material Flows and Ecologies in the Arts and is organised by Kaja Ninnis and Ursula Ströbele following the invitation of Dominik Bais.
You are warmly invited! Admission is free. Please note that the event will be held in English.
Register by 15 March 2026 at info@lechner-museum.de
Press contact:
Simone Nickl
Goethestraße 25a 80336 Munich
Phone: +49 89 4807103
Mail: office@nickl-connect.de
Entrance fees
Visit the Lechner Museum and get the opportunity to discover even more fascinating art in Ingolstadt! The purchase of a ticket for our current exhibition entitles you to free admission to the Museum of Concrete Art on the same day — and vice versa. We look forward to seeing you!
Adults
6,00 €Reduced
4,00 €Free admission
Children, adolescents up to 17 years
and students, trainees,
Students up to 21 years
Opening hours
Plan your visit to the Lechner Museum and find out our current opening hours here. Experience art up close and be inspired by our exhibitions.
Attention: The opening times apply to the Lechner Museum in Ingolstadt. The sculpture park in Obereichstätt can only be visited as part of a guided tour.
Thursday to Sunday
10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.Closed on:
- January 1st
- Mardi Gras
- Good Friday
- November 1st
- December 24th
- December 25th
- December 31st
- The museum is open on all other holidays!
Guided tours
Discover the Lechner Museum and the sculpture park in Obereichstätt on a combined tour that takes place every last Sunday of the month. Experience art and nature in picturesque surroundings and let knowledgeable experts guide you through the respective exhibitions.
No registration is required for public combined tours.
Please note that the transfer from the museum to the sculpture park in Obereichstätt takes place on your own responsibility and takes approximately 30-35 minutes by car.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to travel by public transport.
Come by and be inspired by art and nature!
Combined guided tour (Lechner Museum and Sculpture Park Obereichstätt) every last Sunday of the month.
No registration is required for the combined public tours.
The journey from the museum to the sculpture park in Obereichstätt is approx. 30-35 minutes by car. The transfer from Ingolstadt to Obereichstätt is on your personal responsibility. A transfer by public transport is not possible.
Adults 12,50 €
Reduced 10,50 €
Guided tour fee 100 € + reduced entrance fee.
To book a private combined tour, please contact us via the booking form:
Bei Fragen wenden Sie sich bitte an 0841 305-1838 oder lechnermuseum@ingolstadt.de
Bitte beachten Sie, dass der Skulpturenpark während des Ausstellungsumbaus ab dem 13. April 2026 vorübergehend geschlossen bleibt. Wir danken Ihnen für Ihr Verständnis.
art education
We are pleased to announce that we are now offering art education!
Every month we cordially invite you and your children to our children's studio. In addition, unforgettable children's birthday parties can be organised on request.
School classes and kindergarten groups are also welcome to create exciting art projects with us, and there is always something new to discover at the Lechner Museum!
As our exhibitions change regularly, the themes in the Children's Studio also change - so there is always new exciting content and creative workshops waiting for the children!
You can find more information about our programme on the right-hand side. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at kv@alflechner-stiftung.com.
Offenes Studio
Every first Saturday of the month
10 - 12 o'clock
FEES
Flat rate 4 € for 2 hoursPLEASE NOTE
For children aged 6 and over and limited to 12 participants
REGISTRATION
By e-mail to KV@ALFLECHNER-STIFTUNG.COM
Please enter the date, the name(s) of your child/children and their age. You will then receive an e-mail confirming your registration.
Kids birthsdays
ON REQUEST
Please contact kv@alflechner-stiftung.com
FEES
120 € for 2 hoursAccompanying persons = free admission
PLEASE NOTE
For children from 6 years and limited to 12 participants
Kinder Studio für Kitas und Schulen
Every Thursday and Friday
Between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. Guided tour and workshop
FEES
School: flat rate of €30 for 1 hourFlat rate of €50 for 1.5 hours
Care centre/group with special needs: flat rate of €20 for 1 hourFlat rate of €25 for 1.5 hours
The maximum group size depends on the programme/exhibition and is determined by the museum. Accompanying persons = free admission
REGISTRATION: Please contact KV@ALFLECHNER-STIFTUNG.COM
Directions
Regardless of whether you want to travel by car, bike, bus or train, here you will find all the details to easily reach us.
BY TRAIN: Take the DB Regio to the “Ingolstadt Nord” stop. From there, it's a 7 minute walk to the museum or a 2 minute taxi-ride. By ICE to “Ingolstadt Hbf”, from there 10 minutes by cab (approx. 10 euros) or by bus to the central bus station. From there it's a 3-minute walk to the museum.
By car: Take the A9 freeway to the Ingolstadt Nord exit, then follow the B16a westbound and the B13 until it joins Heydeckstraße. At the end of Haydeckstraße, turn left into Esplanade. The museum is approx. 150 meters on the right side.
PARKING SACES: There is a bicycle rack and two designated car parking spaces for museum visitors right in front of the Lechner Museum. Further parking spaces are available nearby in the Haydeck parking garage, Esplanade 5, or in the underground parking garage at the castle, Esplanade 1a.
accessibility
We want all visitors to be able to enjoy the works of art in the museum — which is why accessibility is so important to us. That is why we have designed our spaces to be accessible to everyone. We offer barrier-free parking spaces, disabled toilets and elevators among other things.
Come by and discover the fascinating world of art with us.
elevators: Passenger elevators are available. The elevators provide access to all exhibition levels.
wheelchairs: are available on request at the information desk. It is of course possible to visit the exhibition rooms with a wheelchair.
Restrooms: The museum has barrier-free toilets.
Parking: Please contact the local supervisor to park in front of the museum with a special pass.
Our exhibitions
A Matter of Perspective
A Matter of Perspective
Alf Lechner would have been 100 years old on 17 April 2025 - an anniversary that provides an opportunity to rediscover his passionate exploration of material and form. We are celebrating his 100th birthday with a diverse programme of exhibitions and events including guided tours, lectures, workshops, concerts and an interactive children's programme. The retrospective sheds light on Alf Lechner's artistic development, focussing on the tense relationship between material and form. The exhibition shows works from all creative periods and illustrates how Lechner's understanding of materiality changed: from a passive material that is subordinate to form to an independent actor in the artistic process.
Archive of
expositions
Welcome to the Lechner Museum archive, where you can browse and discover topics and works of art from past exhibitions.
Discover Lechner
The Lechner Museum
The Lechner Museum is dedicated to the work of steel sculptor Alf Lechner. Since its opening in 2000, the museum has established itself as a place for the examination of art since 1960 and presents internationally renowned artists and young pioneering positions in sophisticated temporary exhibitions. The museum is located in a converted former factory building in the heart of Ingolstadt.
Lechner SCULPTURE PARK
Nowhere else can you experience Alf Lechner's work as monumentally as when visiting the Lechner Sculpture Park in Obereichstätt. This extraordinary open-air museum is located on the 23,000 square meter site of a former Royal Bavarian Ironworks. In the middle of an impressive quarry, the sculpture park with its landscaped terraces and converted halls offers a deep insight into the artist's work.
Only accessible as part of guided tours.
About Alf Lechner
Alf Lechner (1925-2017), born in Munich, is considered one of the most important German steel sculptors. In the more than sixty years of his sculptural work, he created more than 800 sculptural works and over 4500 drawings. With almost 80 sculptures in Germany alone, Alf Lechner is one of the most represented sculptors in public space.
His work is always about the relationship between technology and art, between rationality and emotionality, between reflection and process, between calculation and chance. Alf Lechner founded the Alf Lechner Foundation in 1999, opened the Lechner Museum Ingolstadt in 2000 and lived and worked with his wife Camilla in Obereichtstätt in Bavaria from 2001 until his death in 2017.
The Alf Lechner Foundation
The museum is based on the Alf Lechner Foundation, a non-profit foundation under civil law, which was established in 1999. Its aim to make the life and work of artist Alf Lechner accessible to a broad public and also to make it tangible for future generations. The Foundation is involved in the administration and art studies of his oeuvre, organizes exhibitions and guided tours, and publishes publications. In collaboration with the City of Ingolstadt, she is the owner of the Lechner Museum and is responsible for designing and implementing the exhibition program. The foundation's Obereichstätter site, which is independent of the Ingolstadt Museum, is also home to the Lechner Sculpture Park, the associated exhibition hall and the so-called “paper house”, where you can experience the artist's graphic work.
- Alf Lechner Foundation, Ingolstadt, (ed.) AK 1, Ingolstadt 2000. Alf Lechner. Opening of the Lechner Museum.
- Alf Lechner Foundation, Ingolstadt, (ed.), AK 2. Ingolstadt 2002. Iron Sea - Blue.
- Alf Lechner Foundation, Ingolstadt (ed.) AK 4. edited by Joachim Heusinger von Waldegg.
- Ingolstadt 2004/ 2005. Alf Lechner. Schuler - Lechner.
- Alf Lechner Foundation, Ingolstadt (ed.), AK 5. Ingolstadt 2005. Fire and flame.
- Alf Lechner Foundation, Ingolstadt (ed.), AK 7. Ingolstadt 2006. Bizarre areas.
- Alf Lechner Foundation, Ingolstadt, (ed.), AK 8, edited by Jens Christian Jensen. Ingolstadt 2007. Cuts
- Alf Lechner Foundation, Ingolstadt (ed.), AK 9, Ingolstadt 2008. Starting in Munich..., landing in Munich.
- Alf Lechner Foundation, Ingolstadt (ed.), AK 10. Ingolstadt 2009. Poetry of chance.
- Alf Lechner Foundation (ed.), edited by Angelika Nollert. Ingolstadt, 2010. Alf Lechner. diagonal.
- Alf Lechner. Sculptures 1990-1995. Munich - New York 1995
- Badischer Kunstverein e. V. (ed.), Alf Lechner, AK edited by Jörg Walter Koch and Jürgen Morschel. Karlsruhe 1973.
- Bayer. State Painting Collections (ed.). Munich 1985/National Gallery Berlin SMPK.
- Bayer. State Painting Collections (ed.). Munich 1985/National Gallery Berlin SMPK. Berlin 1986/Museum Palais Liechtenstein Vienna. Vienna 1986. Alf Lechner. New work. Munich 1985/Berlin 1986/Vienna 1986. Brockhaus, Christph (eds.), contributions by Sabine Fehlemann, Renate Heidt Heller, Karl Ruhrberg, Uwe Rüth, Manfred Schneckenburger and Rolf Wedewer.
- Brockhaus, Christph (ed.), contributions by Sabine Fehlemann, Renate Heidt Heller, Karl Ruhrberg, Uwe Rüth, Manfred Schneckenburger and Rolf Wedewer.
- Galerie Defet (ed.), AK. Nuremberg 1971. Joachim Bandau, Franz Bernhard, Werner Knaupp, Alf Lechner, Alf Schuler, A.D. Tranthentroth, (AK). Plastic - objects - pictures - graphics.
- Gallery Eremitage (ed.), AK edited by Honisch, Dieter. Berlin/ Wiesbaden 1991. AlfleChner, sculptures and drawings.
- Galerie Heseler (ed.), AK edited by Roh, Juliane. Munich 1968. Aalf Lechner.
- Galerie im Ganserhaus, Wasserburg, (edited by Arbeitskreis 68, Künstlergemeinschaft), edited by Helmut Friedel. Wasserburg/Inn 1991. Alf Lechner.
- Nebelung Gallery (ed.), AK. Düsseldorf 1969. Aalf Lechner, steel sculptures.
- Galerie Reckermann (ed.). AK. Cologne 1983. Alf Lechner, New Regulations.
- Galerie Stangl (ed.), leaflet. Munich 1971. Alf Lechner, steel sculptures '71.
- Hans-Thoma-Gesellschaft, Reutlingen (ed.), AK edited by Bernd Storz. Reutlingen 1993. Alf Lechner - event sculptures.
- Honisch, Dieter, Institute for Modern Art (ed.), Nuremberg 1990. Alf Lechner, sculptures.
- Institute for International Relations (ed.), AK edited by Honisch, Dieter and Zeller, Ursula.
- Stuttgart 1998. Alf Lechner, drawings and sculpture.
- Kunsthalle Mannheim (ed.), edited by Joachim Heusinger von Waldegg and Alf Lechner. Mannheim 1984, untitled
- Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Schleswig-Holsteinischer Kunstverein, Jensen, Jens-Christian (eds.) , AK edited by Jensen, Jens Christian. Kiel 1978. Alf Lechner, works from 1975 - 1977. Kunstverein Freiburg (ed.), AK. Freiburg /Br. 1977. Alf Lechner.
- Lempertz Contempora (ed.), AK edited by Koch, Jörg Walter. Cologne 1969. Alf Lechner, steel sculptures.
- Museums of the City of Regensburg, Städtische Galerie (ed.), AK edited by Veit Loers. Regensburg 1981/82. Alf Lechner, Measure and Measure.
- Museum Folkwang Essen (ed.), AK edited by Honisch, Dieter. Essen 1975. Alf Lechner, Conjunctions/Cube skeletons 1974/75.
- Museum of Modern Art in the district of Cuxhaven (ed.), Alf Lechner, AK edited by Ulrike Schuck. Cuxhaven - Otterndorf 1996. Alf Lechner. Piano cover drawings.
- Museum St. Wendel, (ed.), AK Texts edited by Lagerwaard, Cornelieke and Holeczek, Bernhard. St. Wendel 1994. Alf Lechner, steel sculptures and drawings 1992 - 1994.
- Philipp Morris GmbH (ed.), AK edited by Jürgen Kolbe and Jürgen Morschel. Dimensions “79, Munich 1979. Plastic works of our time. An exhibition by Philipp Morris GmbH, Munich.
- Piepenbrock Group of Companies (ed.). Osnabrück 1992. Piepenbrock Prize for sculpture 1992.
- Pohl, Claudia, art in urban space, sculpture guide for Karlsruhe. Karlsruhe 2005.Museums of the City of Regensburg (ed.), AK edited by Wolfger Pöhlmann, Regensburg 1981. Measure and Measure.
- Staatsgalerie moderne Kunst/Galerie Stangl (ed.), AK. Munich 1973. Alf Lechner, steel sculptures.
- Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus (ed.), edited by Armin Zweite. Munich 1977.
- Constellations: Lechner, Prager, Schuler, Trantenroth.
- Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Künstlerwerkstätte Lothringer Straße 13, Munich/Kunsthalle zu Kiel (ed.), edited by Zweite, Armin et. al. Munich and Kiel 1990. Alf Lechner, steel sculptures.
- Universitätsbauamt (ed.) Erlangen. Documentation 17/71, University Building Department. Erlangen 1971.
- Munich University Building Office (ed.), extension of the Maximilianeum, Munich 1996.
- Walter König (ed.), Skulptur 4 - 10 Jahre Skulpturenpark Cologne (1997-2007).
- Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum (ed.). Duisburg 1974. Alf Lechner: Steel structures.
