Villa Pellé is a space that curates and presents projects to its visitors, offering something for everyone—not only adults and seniors, but also young people and children. The exhibition concepts are developed through long-term collaboration with many prominent contemporary curators, who also participate in the accompanying program. Throughout its exhibition history to date, this curatorial approach—along with the division of exhibitions between the “Gallery” and “Small Gallery” spaces—has proven to be beneficial. The Gallery focuses on the mediums of drawing, printmaking, and illustration, though it does not wish to be rigid in this selection; therefore, it offers a platform to many other interesting artists whose work overlaps with the medium of illustration. Each year, the exhibition schedule aims to feature one “legend” of illustration, an “alternative” project, and an exhibition showcasing the young to mid-career emerging generation.

The more conservative nature of the exhibition program is related to the building’s spatial limitations, but at the same time, the gallery always strives to transcend the classical concept of installation with regard to each exhibition. It resembles a kunsthalle platform more than a classical gallery concept. At the heart of the concept is collaboration with experts from the creative industries and an emphasis on the phenomenon of illustration as a distinct genre. This narrowly defined professional focus allows the gallery to explore related creative fields in its exhibitions, such as literature, typography, graphic design, animation, and more. These are complemented by individual accompanying programs that, while aligned with the exhibition schedule, offer an unconventional thematic extension in terms of content.

The benefit of this approach is that it provides space for presenting a comprehensive scholarly examination of a given topic or artist and an in-depth analysis thereof, while also emphasizing continuity in the gallery’s activities. In 2019, the focus continues to be on this approach with conceptual overlaps, presenting exceptional figures and their work. Pellé Villa is thus unquestionably a vibrant artistic venue, both welcoming and serene at the same time—a quality made possible by its extraordinary layout as a stately Neo-Renaissance villa with a garden.