The exhibition Bunkers-Barbaric, Mystical, Bored illustrates research and experiments on the theme of bunkers as an architectural artefact and a source of artistic inspiration.
The quotation from The Tin Drum by Günter Grass was a starting point in terms of the question of why and in what way these military objects became a place for artistic actions. Günter Grass used a story about Bebra's front-line theatre at the Atlantic Wall as the main argument in the discussion about modern art. That discussion aroused a desire to follow this path from the artist's perspective. This, the most famous novel by Günter Grass, was published in 1958.
Three artists were invited to participate in this exhibition and in their works they continue the discussion started by Virilio on the existence of military space and its meaning for modern society in a more or less literal sense. All the artists used the theme of bunkers and put it through their own artistic processing. And even though everybody decided on the same means of expression – photography – the result of the work differed significantly. Apart from the shared motive of bunkers, the artists were united by the fact that they all chose Germany as the place of their temporary residence, the country of origin of the architects of those bunkers.
