Silvia Hesse-Böcker

Silvia Hesse-Böcker organizes the KAKTuS exhibitions at Lüdinghausen Castle

Art is her great passion. Painting herself - "I didn't think I was good enough," says Silvia Hesse-Böcker about herself. "I prefer to work hard for artists."

This is exactly what she has been doing for the KAKTuS cultural forum for over ten years now. She organizes the exhibitions in Lüdinghausen Castle, together with Dietmar Wittekind, Christiane Heckelmann and Radu Stefanescu. "We are a group that works well together," says Silvia Hesse-Böcker. Everyone has their own task; she herself is responsible for the conception of the exhibitions.

When the KAKTuS Kulturforum was founded 25 years ago, "the sun rose for her", she recalls. She had already worked on large exhibitions at the Landesmuseum during her art studies in Münster. "I wanted to get involved in the cultural sector, so KAKTuS came at just the right time." Since then, she has been involved in a wide variety of roles, including ten years on the KAKTuS board together with Dr. Hans Wolfgang Schneider. When she was asked more than ten years ago whether she would like to take over the organization of the art exhibitions at Burg Lüdinghausen as the successor to Dr. Gerta Bauer, Dr. Hermann Josef Bauer and Bernard Lorenz, she agreed after a short period of consideration.

"I regularly visit galleries and the art academies in Münster, Düsseldorf and Berlin and look for young artists who we can give a little help to get started," says the 69-year-old. She is also on the lookout for established artists who would like to show their work in Lüdinghausen. "We also get a lot of inquiries from artists because we have such great premises," says Silvia Hesse-Böcker. "The light and the atmosphere in the Renaissance wing attract the artists."

She has now designed over 42 exhibitions. "Every exhibition is handmade and not bought in from agencies," explains the art expert. When preparing the exhibitions, she develops a close relationship with the artists, which is very important to her.

2000 visitors

Around 45 pictures can be shown per exhibition. "You have to keep an eye on the sum insured. We can't show any Picassos, you can't pay for that," explains Silvia Hesse-Böcker with a smile. While 400 visitors came to an exhibition in the beginning, today an average of 2000 art lovers visit each KAKTuS exhibition at Burg Lüdinghausen. That's 8000 visitors throughout the year. She is proud of this. "More and more works are also being sold," says Hesse-Böcker. While the large solo exhibitions are reserved for professionally trained artists, hobby artists can also apply for Burg Art.

For the art enthusiast from Lüdinghausen, it is also important to support local artists. "We designed a large Wittkamp exhibition, we showed Josef Wedewer. And this year we are paying tribute to Prof. Herbert Pfeiffer with a retrospective entitled "A life for architecture"," explains Silvia Hesse-Böcker. "We want to show what great people we have in Lüdinghausen."

She can't do without it

The 69-year-old enjoys her work so much that she is far from thinking about stopping. "If my health plays ball, I'd like to carry on for a long time." After all, she has been active in KaKTUS for almost 25 years. She couldn't do without it. Nadine Wenge

Info: The cultural forum KAKTuS was founded in 1995 by citizens of Lüdinghausen and since then has realized numerous projects such as the annual summer festival, the art exhibitions at Lüdinghausen Castle, the JuKS (youth art school) and many readings, concerts, theater performances and cultural festivals. The association's 25th birthday will be celebrated with a big anniversary party in the fall.