The Boros Collection is a Private art collection which possesses a very special exhibition space in Berlin, an overground bunker built during the WWII which, since then, has been used as a fruit storage (in particular bananas that at the time were a tropical and exotic luxury in the city) and, during the 90s, as one of the hardest techno venues in Europe – “The Bunker”. In 2008, after a massive renovation of the building, the Boros Collection opened its first show, opening its doors to the public. Visits to the exhibitions are organised through guided tours (booking is required) and every four years the exhibition is renewed, showcasing new artists and new works, many of those are site-specific.

When I arrived at the Bunker, the entrance was hard to find. In fact, there is neither a sign nor plate on any of the black doors demarking the imponent concrete building. Eventually, I entered the building through the only door which seemed not to be locked and, from there, I wandered to a second door, again with no signs! After pulling this second door, I finally found the way to the reception. Now, everything looks like a standard exhibition venue with white walls and staff wearing black suits. For safety reasons, when the tour starts, you are not allowed to move around the space freely and you ought to stay with the group. The Bunker has 5 levels and, between 2016 and 2017, was renewed again to welcome the current display running until 2021. The exhibits include paintings, sculptures, installations, and video works. The only work which produces a sound (or better a noise) is a black train station departure board whose vanes flip randomly without showing any letter or number by the Belgian artist Kris Martin. Apart from this piece, which we encounter at the very beginning of our tour, no other sound is present within the show.

Each level is divided symmetrically into a squared plan, while, the crisscrossing stairs have been kept as they were made initially. These are mostly lit by a weak red beam which leads to a sensation of danger recalling evacuation procedures during emergencies. All around, everything is made of concrete with no windows and no exit indications. Thus, you find yourself in a mazy hive feeling lost for the whole duration of the visit. A kind of unsettling yet claustrophobic experience.

As it is happening for various museums around the world – such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao (Spain) and the Hanoi Museum in Hanoi (Vietnam), just to mention a couple – here the exhibition venue is much more intriguing and compelling than the exhibition itself. Indeed, while the Bunker has been converted into an exhibition venue, it also serves the function of hyper-safe storage for the artworks. Thus, a display yet a storage where the public encounters the exhibits seating or hanging within the space in a condition which mixes private (storage) and public (exhibition) leaving the visitors with a sense of inadequacy. This feeling is further reinforced by the fact that the exhibition venue was originally conceived as an armoured place… a bunker indeed which, in this case, has been converted into a place to protect objects rather than people.

In its peculiar and uncomfortable way, the Boros Collection is providing the public with an intense experience of the artworks on show.