Marc Bauer

Overview

Galerie Peter Kilchmann is pleased to present Side by Side, a new solo exhibition by Swiss artist Marc Bauer. Bringing together new works on paper and canvas, wall paintings, and a specially commissioned soundtrack, the exhibition explores friendship, intimacy, desire, and queer life through a dialogue between historical archives and contemporary experience.

Closely connected to Bauer’s current solo presentation Fear Rage Desire, Still Standing at Kunstmuseum Basel, Side by Side draws on archival material from Der Kreis—the influential Zurich-based magazine and cultural association that played a central role in the international movement for homosexual emancipation—as well as literary references and personal imagery. Through these sources, Bauer examines how experiences of friendship, community, and belonging are shaped across time.

Throughout the different rooms, portraits, scenes of friendship, intimate studies of hands, and references to queer club culture appear alongside archival and literary material. New wall paintings created in collaboration with Samuel Obst and a soundtrack developed by Berlin-based artists Sin Maldita (Tim Roth) and Philipp Hülsenbeck extend the show beyond the frame of the drawing, creating an immersive environment that reflects on the social and cultural spaces in which queer identities have been formed and expressed.

The exhibition is on view through July 24, 2026.