Photos by Andrew Dopilko
Amidst one of the most central and fanciest area of the Berlin City lies a bunker of the WWII times. No, it’s not secret or hidden underground; one can stroll down it everyday while going to work. However you will not find dark and misty enigmas inside the building or something extraordinary of a kind ) — the edifice is a shelter for the modern art of Berlin.
The enormous building which could barely fit in the architecture ensemble of the Berlin-Mitte district used to be a bunker. Having 120 rooms on five floors it serves as a gallery for a modern art and installations that one can visit.
However, the place has not always been an art gallery. Indeed, it was designed to shelter 3000 Reichsbahn train passengers by Nazis in 1943. After Soviet army overtook the city it was used as a prisoner-of-war camp. From 1949 it was used to store textiles and from 1957, as storage for dry and tropical fruit. It even used to be one of the most progressive clubs at the beginning of 90-s, with a hard trance and house music, but due to some complaints from the neighbors it was shut down in 1995.
In 2003 the premises were purchased by collector of art Christian Boros. He converted the building into a 3,000 m2 exhibition space and built a glass-walled penthouse atop. The admittance is 12 EUR and a person should sign up in advance. We were lucky as 3 persons for a German tour never showed up, but nevertheless we could not understand the guide and perceive that much of complexity and meaning of installations. There are also tours available in English.
We would like to share our photos from the exhibition, but unfortunately we are unable to explain the deep (oh it’s really perplexed) meaning of this installations.
The art bunker is a great place for real artists and admirers of contemporary art. We did regret indeed being unable to understang the meaning of all objects as the tour was in German, but if you feel inspiration to see something rare and different, feel free to explore the place.