The 2024 summer of football will see the first ever cooperation between the Kunstmuseum Gelsenkirchen and the football museum of FC Schalke 04. At the invitation of the Kunstmuseum, artist Peter Piller (*1968) combines exhibits from both museums, his own photographs and other objects related to local club football to produce a richly layered exhibition experience. Most of these exhibits are shown in this publication. The rest of the picture series shows objects and photos from other lenders as well as my own photos taken during my stays in Gelsenkirchen earlier this year and supplemented by finds from the FC Schalke 04 image archive. There are also photos by Yves Eigenrauch that he took during his time as an active Schalke 04 player.

Peter Piller's extensive research in Gelsenkirchen took the artist and football aficionado amongst other places inside the Schalke Museum and to the “Schalke Mile”, a road in the city’s district of the same name devoted to local football traditions. Key elements of the project derive from encounters with celebrated stars of FC Schalke 04, as well as with people who live out their passion for Schalke in private, far from the media hype and commercial glare of the football world. Drawing on his own material and collected memorabilia, Peter Piller’s exhibition tells a personal and, at times, bizarre history of the club and fan culture generated by football in the Ruhr region.