X-RAY - The Power of Roentgen Vision

The discovery of X-rays was a scientific and technological sensation. At the time, it was the most spectacular result of an ongoing quest, pursued around 1900, to uncover that which remains invisible to the human eye. This is an idea that has continued to inspire artists to this day – the belief that individual (or, indeed,supra-individual) identity is only revealed beneath the surface.

On show in the atmospheric Blower Hall, this fascinating exhibition presents a wide variety of X-ray systems, ranging from the Pedoscope shoe fitter to X-ray satellite technology, as well as an exploration of the creative uses of X-rays in art, advertising, fashion and cinema– Catwalk meets X-ray chapel.

X-RAY is the first ever exhibition dedicated to the phenomenon of X-rays and the wide-ranging cultural significance of X-ray vision.

The Saarland Ministry of Economic Affairs is significantly supporting this ambitious exhibition as a cultural flagship project for the Saarland.

X-RAY is the first exhibition ever to comprehensively dedicate itself to the phenomenon of X-rays and the numerous cultural and artistic aspects of the X-ray vision. Based on the wide spectrum of X-ray technology – from the very first X-ray image to historic X-ray devices in medicine and the natural sciences, and up to the latest X-ray satellite in space research – the exhibition particularly highlights the creative interplay of the X-ray gaze in art and cultural history, politics, nature, literature and architecture, music, fashion, and cinema.

On November 8, 2025, it will be exactly 130 years since Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen first consciously perceived X-rays in his Würzburg laboratory as a previously unknown phenomenon. Only a few weeks later, this groundbreaking discovery spread like wildfire around the globe, inspiring not only scientists but also visual artists, musicians, filmmakers, and cartoonists.

This fascination remains unbroken to this day, as demonstrated by the X-RAY experience parcours: In the industrial cathedral of the Blower Hall, it unites an X-ray chapel by Wim Delvoye as well as a transparent brick labyrinth by Cris Bierrenbach, a catwalk featuring X-ray fashion, and a cinema for X-RAY films. Across 18 chapters, a striking panorama of modernity and the present unfolds: Here, Marie Curie encounters Claude Cahun, Frida Kahlo, Isa Genzken, and Iris van Herpen; John Heartfield meets Edvard Munch, Mies van der Rohe, Thomas Mann, and William Wegman. X-RAY makes the invisible visible – turning art and science into a tangible experience.

“X-rays permeate our modernity and present in an utterly unique way: Thanks to them we experience medicine, politics, history, art, and nature differently – even concepts like gender roles are redefined. We literally glimpse at otherwise hidden layers of ourselves and our environment – from the molecules and codes of our bodies, t