Image: Villa Zanders, Bergisch Gladbach
The Kunstmuseum Villa Zanders in Bergisch Gladbach is presenting ‘Am Rande des Vulkans. Blut als Material in der Kunst bei Peter Gilles’, an exhibition examining the use of blood in performance, painting and objects. Running from 11 July through 31 October 2026, the exhibition places the work of German artist Peter Gilles (1953–2017) in dialogue with works by Joseph Beuys, Felix Droese, Jenny Holzer, Birgit Kahle, Hermann Nitsch and Anna Sudermann.
According to the museum, blood has been used as an artistic material since the early 1960s. Its use in performances, images and objects initially provoked shock and, in some cases, attracted the attention of the justice system. The exhibition considers the material’s continuing expressive force while focusing on the different artistic strategies that have developed around it.
Gilles is at the centre of the presentation. The artist’s body imprints made with his own blood, together with his drawings, are described by the museum primarily as self-portraits. They document forms of self-assertion and artistic production in extreme situations, including work made at the edge of an active volcano, under oxygen deprivation and amid intense inner tensions. Gilles referred to these works as “fragments for clarifying his identity.”
The exhibition’s title refers to one of the conditions associated with Gilles’s practice. Works listed by the museum include ‘Il Mago’ (1995), made with blood and charcoal on paper, and ‘Ohne Titel (Echse)’ (2004), made with blood and charcoal on canvas. Another work, ‘Ohne Titel (Vulkan)’, uses earth and charcoal on paper, while an undated canvas from the early 1990s is identified as using blood. The museum presents these works alongside examples that extend the subject beyond one artist, including approaches involving animal blood.
Villa Zanders connects the exhibition’s questions about self-assertion and identity with what it calls present-day periods of crisis and change. The institution’s broader programme combines contemporary art with its collection focus, ‘Kunst aus Papier’, and its public programme includes exhibitions, guided tours and workshops. In this presentation, the museum is using a concentrated exhibition format to trace how a materially direct substance can function across painting, drawing, performance and object-based work.
A substantial monograph on Peter Gilles’s work will be presented to the public in conjunction with the exhibition, published by Verlag Kettler. The exhibition’s curator, Prof. Dr. Hartmut Kraft, will lead two 60-minute tours at the museum, on 6 September and 31 October 2026, both at 11.30am. Kraft is described in the museum’s programme as having been closely connected to Gilles through their friendship. The Kunstmuseum Villa Zanders is located at Konrad-Adenauer-Platz 8 in Bergisch Gladbach.
