A TIMELINE - BERLIN’S ART BUNKER.

If only concrete could talk! What stories would the walls, floors and ceilings of this bunker tell us? Built by the Nazis using forced labour, a warehouse for Cuban fruit, Techno parties and sex fairs, finally a home for Art. 

History
1941: Planning of the “Friedrichstrasse Imperial Railway Bunker” by Karl Bonatz under supervision of Albert Speer, “General Building Inspector for the Reich Capital”.
1942: Construction of the bunker as an air-raid shelter for the civilian population, built by forced labourers.
1945: Bunker occupied by the Red Army and used for prisoners of war.
1949: Use as textile warehouse.
1957: Converted into warehouse for imported tropical fruit from Cuba, managed by state-owned company “Fruit Vegetables Potatoes”. Known locally as the “banana bunker”.
1990: After German Reunification, the building becomes the property of the federal government.
1992: Techno music and fetish parties mean that the bunker gains a reputation as the hardest club in the world.
1994: Deutsches Theater stages Simon Donald’s Lebenstoff (“Stuff of Life”) on the bunker’s fourth floor.

1995: “Sexperimenta”, a giant erotic trade fair.
1995: The New Year’s party “The Last Days of Saigon” is banned but nevertheless takes place. The authorities close the bunker.
1996: Art exhibition Files featuring Olafur Eliasson, Daniel Pflumm, Ugo Rondinone and others.
2001: Nippon Development Corporation GmbH acquires the bunker.
2003: Christian Boros purchases the bunker to convert it to house his collection.
2007: Completion of the renovations and first public showing of installations.
2008-2012: Collection #1, first exhibition of works from the collection attracting 120,000 visitors in over 7,500 tours.
2012-2016: Boros Collection #2, second exhibition of works from the collection attracting 200,000 visitors in over 9,000 tours. 


In the Bunker artworks from the Boros Collection are exhibited.

Artists shown in the present exhibition Boros Collection / Bunker #3:
Martin Boyce, Andreas Eriksson, Guan Xiao, He Xiangyu, Uwe Henneken, Yngve Holen, Sergej Jensen, Daniel Josefsohn, Friedrich Kunath, Michel Majerus, Fabian Marti, Kris Martin, Justin Matherly, Paulo Nazareth, Peter Piller, Katja Novitskova, Pamela Rosenkranz, Avery Singer, Johannes Wohnseifer

Artists featured in the second show Boros Collection / Bunker #2:
Ai Weiwei, Awst & Walther, Dirk Bell, Cosima von Bonin, Marieta Chirulescu, Thea Djordjadze, Olafur Eliasson, Alicja Kwade, Klara Lidén, Florian Meisenberg, Roman Ondák, Stephen G. Rhodes, Thomas Ruff, Michael Sailstorfer, Tomás Saraceno, Thomas Scheibitz, Wolfgang Tillmans, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Danh Vo, Cerith Wyn Evans und Thomas Zipp.

Artists featured in the first show: Boros Collection / Bunker #1:
Michael Beutler, John Bock, Olafur Eliasson, Elmgreen & Dragset, Kitty Kraus, Robert Kusmirowski, Mark Leckey, Manuela Leinhoß, Sarah Lucas, Kris Martin, Henrik Olesen, Manfred Pernice, Daniel Pflumm, Tobias Rehberger, Anselm Reyle, Bojan Sarcevic, Santiago Sierra, Florian Slotowa, Monika Sosnowska, Katja Strunz und Rirkrit Tiravanija.

www.sammlung-boros.de
Credits: NOSHE and Wolfgang Stahr 
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