During this thesis multichromophoric systems in solution and assembled on solid surfaces, as well as chromophores bound to DNA have been investigated by a great variety of optical spectroscopic methods, steady-state and time-resolved from the femtosecond to the nanosecond time regimes. While some of the investigated systems are of interest for solar cells, others are interesting as NIR emitters in biological systems with the peculiarity to show chiral selectivity owing to their chemical structure. The close proximity of the chromophores substantially influences the behavior of these compounds after light excitation - on the one hand it enables electron and energy transfer between the molecules designed for solar cell application, on the other hand it alters the photophysics of the NIR emitters after aggregation or DNA binding.