Never Ending Stories: The Loop in Art, Film, Architecture, Music, Literature and Cultural History

The loop is omnipresent - whether in music and video art, or hotel lobbies and living rooms, where flickering flames or aquariums with ceaselessly darting fish run continually on monitors. At the same time, the self-contained circuit, the endless loop, has been a theme in the fields of cultural history, alchemy, religion, and philosophy since classical antiquity, at the latest.

With Never Ending Stories, the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg presents the first extensive examination of the loop phenomenon in art, film, architecture, music, literature, and cultural history, taking a comprehensive interdisciplinary look at the subject as regards time and place as well as form and content.


This is the extensive scholarly catalogue from the exhibition. Edited by Ralf Beil, this catagogue will shed light on this multifaceted theme, examining it from the aspects of science, literature, and creativity. Featuring thirteen essays, numerous original sources, and more than three hundred illustrations, this catalogue is a foundational work that revolves persistently around its theme, constantly opening up new and surprising perspectives and insights.