30 Years Anniversary Exhibition

Rita Ackermann (*1968 Budapest), Francis Alÿs (*1959 Antwerpen), Maja Bajevic (*1967 Sarajevo), Hernan Bas (*1978 Miami), Armin Boehm (*1972 Aachen), Marc Bauer (*1975 Genf), Monica Bonvicini (*1965 Venedig), Balthasar Burkhard (*1944 Bern), Vlassis Caniaris (*1928 Athen, † 2011 ibid.), Los Carpinteros (Dagoberto Rodríguez *1969, Marco Castillo *1971, Kuba), John Coplans (*1920 London, † 2003 New York), Andriu Deplazes (*1993 Zürich), Willie Doherty (*1959 Derry), Olafur Eliasson (*1967 Kopenhagen), Valérie Favre (*1959 Evilard), Marc-Antoine Fehr (*1953 Zürich), Fernanda Gomes (*1960 Rio de Janeiro), Leiko Ikemura (*1951 Tsu City), Bruno Jakob (*1954 Schweiz), Raffi Kalenderian (*1981 Los Angeles), Tobias Kaspar (*1984 Basel), Clay Ketter (*1961 Brunswick), Suzanne Lafont (*1949 Nîmes), Zilla Leutenegger (*1968 Zürich), Hanna Liden (*1976 Stockholm), Jorge Macchi (*1963 Buenos Aires), Teresa Margolles (*1963 Culiacán), Fabian Marti (*1979 Fribourg), Kenrick McFarlane (*1990 Chicago), João Modé (*1961 Resende), Claudia & Julia Müller (Claudia Müller *1964, Julia Müller *1965, Schweiz), Adrian Paci (*1969 Shkoder), Bernd Ribbeck (*1974 Köln), Dagoberto Rodriguez (*1969 Kuba), Michal Rovner (*1957 Ramat Gan), Paul Mpagi Sepuya (*1982 San Bernardino), Shirana Shahbazi (*1974 Tehran), Santiago Sierra (*1966 Madrid), Melanie Smith (*1965 Poole), Javier Téllez, (*1969 Valencia), Tercerunquinto (Gabriel Cazares Salas *1978, Julio Castro Carreón *1976, Rolando Flores Tovar *1975, Monterrey), Andro Wekua (*1977 Sochumi), Uwe Wittwer (*1954 Zürich), Artur Zmijewski (*1966 Warschau)

Sep. 3 – Oct. 14

Opening: Friday, September 2, 6 – 8 pm

Rämistrasse 33, Zurich

Galerie Peter Kilchmann is pleased to celebrate its 30th anniversary with a wide-ranging exhibition and an accompanying publication. The 30 Years Anniversary Exhibition brings together 48 artists who have all helped shape the gallery's history in their own way and at one point in time. The exhibition will occupy all spaces in the gallery on Rämistrasse and present over 70 artworks spanning three decades.

In 1992, Peter Kilchmann opened his first gallery space in the former Schoeller-Hardturm factory in the west of Zurich. A small group of galleries had ventured into this neighborhood, which at the time had little of its current hip appeal and was considered a purely industrial district. It was a move driven by curiosity and a pioneering spirit that helped to advance the contemporary art scene in Zurich. A programmatic focus at the beginning was particularly on the media of photography and video art, which at the time were still little established and rarely shown in galleries.

The first four years of the gallery, which I would describe as a warm-up phase, began in small premises at Hardturmstrasse 127 in the west of Zurich - which at that time was hardly perceived a part of the city and had not yet been gentrified. With the move into the Löwenbräu area in 1996, my gallery came of age. In these exciting 14 years, between 1996 and 2010, the gallery developed into an internationally operating, successful enterprise. With the move to Zahnradstrasse 21, into the Diagonal building next to the Prime Tower, and the opening of further premises at Rämistrasse 33 in January 2021, the gallery became increasingly larger. Each new step was connected with curiosity and euphoria and always also with a certain risk. Today, I realize with joy that this path of the gallery was the right one. For me, the focus is always on positioning an artistic work as successfully as possible. With the opening of premises in October in Paris at 13, rue des Arquebusiers in the Marais, I look forward to opening another chapter in the history of the gallery. (Peter Kilchmann)

In the beginning, Peter Kilchmann exhibited mainly artists of his generation and has since strived to pave the way for a young generation of aspiring artists. Over the past three decades, the gallery has developed a strong program representing artists from Europe, Latin America and the United States. Most of the gallery's artists take a conceptual approach with socio-political and poetic themes and today cover all areas of artistic expression, including painting, video, film, photography, installation, and sculpture. The anniversary exhibition will highlight this variety of individual approaches of each artist and bring together their paths and perceptions. For what all artists have in common is the firm position with which they know how to transmit their point of view and get the viewer to engage with the respective object.

The exhibition and the corresponding publication are also meant to be an occasion to celebrate with the artists, collectors, institutions and visitors the many collaborations, projects and friendships that the gallery has experienced over the years. For it is these special people and experiences that have helped shape and accompany the gallery's journey over the past 30 years.

For further information please contact Fabio Pink: fabio@peterkilchmann.com