The Bunker at the Centre of the Universe

This week I went to look at some art underground...

n an inconspicuous car park entrance next to a shopping mall on Kingsland Road, an abandoned post-war bunker spreads out underneath Dalston, East London. You didn't know that did you?! This outwardly unidentified space has been empty for years, unusable due to lack of electricity or any other utilities. The Bunker is only yards away from a busy high street but once inside, it is another world altogether – cold, damp, dark and eerie.

Catherine Borra of the nomadic art space collective known as The Centre Of The Universe, has had designs on The Bunker for a while and with the support of the Embassy of Switzerland, has now managed to realise her vision in this venue.

Undeterred by the challenges of the environment, Borra has curated an exhibition that is a response to the space it inhabits, and to the arcane and troubled history it recalls. “I wanted to try to juxtapose something positive with this structure, which is so austere”, explains Borra. “It has this Second World War modernism which is very cold and formal, yet on the other hand its whole reason for existing was to protect people”.


Sheltering within The Bunker’s walls are works from three different artists – Justin Gainan, Jenny Moore-Koslowsky and Pim Conradi. “We chose these artists because of the way they relate their work to their environment," says Borra. “They go beyond simply creating artworks to something which is much more functional."


Moore-Koslowsky and Gainan are both completing MAs in Fine Arts at Goldsmiths, while Conradi is currently artist-in-residence at Area 10 in London. The Bunker is his first public appearance. The inexperience of all three is evident. Although in concept and execution they are very different, there is a common theme of uncertainty around how to position themselves.


Conradi is candid about the fact that what he calls his ‘visionstructures’ are constantly evolving as he analyses “the relationship between human life and the biosphere”. In what you could call the 'main room’ of the bunker, Conradi’s timber dome dominates. It looks geodesic but in fact none of the supporting struts are straight lines – every part of the dome is curved in a sort of rebellious two-fingers to the convention of construction and also to The Bunker itself with all its linear right angles.


This confrontational spirit is carried through into the rest of the exhibits. Gainan’s minimalist sculptures are sincere and without irony. They are almost accusatory – challenging the onlooker not to take them seriously. Moore-Koslowsky’s work echoes Russian socialist propaganda aesthetics in the register of Rodchenko, yet by removing any reference to political ideology she preserves only the pioneering energy of propagandism and proposes neutrality as a different type of activism.


It’s a brave effort from Borra to create a positive and progressive event in such an inhospitable space. However, ultimately it is the space itself that is the most engaging, eclipsing the artists’ work within. That’s not to say she has been unsuccessful, it is thanks to The Centre of the Universe that this fantastic space has been given the chance to be the centre of attention.


URL to original article on Don't Panic's site here: http://www.dontpaniconline.com/magazine/home/the-bunker