Locating an art collection in an old World War II bunker might seem paradoxical, but, hand in hand with contrast, it offers many readings and endless possibilities. This is how the German collector Désiré Feuerle perceived him when in October 2016 he opened his exhibition of Asian and contemporary works to the public in a Nazi bunker that he bought and rehabilitated in Berlin. This private museum, The Feuerle Collection (so, in English), also holds temporary exhibitions, such as the recently inaugurated When animals become art (When animals become art), by the Japanese artist Leiko Ikemura, who has lived in Berlin for years .
The crocodiles, ducks, rabbits, tigers, and other stuffed animals that make up the display may seem out of place only in appearance and by viewer bias. To the creator, the location of warlike resonances seems very pertinent. “The stuffed animals are soft, childish, and their contrast with this enormous building that refers to a time of violence also offers a kind of consolation,” argues Leiko Ikemura during a visit by this correspondent to the exhibition. Apart from the stuffed animals, which are part of her personal collection, the artist exhibits here her paintings and her sculptures in glass, papier-mâché and ceramics, from this July until January 7 of next year.
The museum that houses his work, founded by Feuerle and the Barcelona art historian Sara Puig, president of the Fundació Joan Miró, chose this old World War II telecommunications bunker as its headquarters seven years ago, in the central Berlin neighborhood of Kreuzberg. The Nazi bunker was rehabilitated for this purpose by the British architect John Pawson, and the result was a spacious space of 7,350 m2 on two levels. Facing this work of military engineering with top quality concrete, the architect Pawson, who likes simplicity, opted for a moderate intervention, based on the new services required by the building. Thus, the walls were cleaned, but it was decided to preserve the traces of rust on the ceilings and pillars.
“When I proposed to Leiko Ikemura to do this exhibition, I immediately realized that placing these innocent animals in a World War II bunker had no implications for her; and also this room with its pillars and the curtains that frame them is really beautiful”, says Désiré Feuerle. Ikemura’s sculptures rest on imposing velvet cushions.
This massive construction was erected in 1942 to house the Nazi war telecommunications system, and the thickness of its walls (2 meters) and its roof (3.5 meters) made it impenetrable to the allies. In post-war Germany it became clear that it was unfeasible to remove existing bunkers across the country; Dynamiting them would have entailed risks for the urban environment, so some were sealed and closed, and others found new uses. In Berlin, collectors Christian and Karen Boros also exhibit contemporary art in another rehabilitated Nazi bunker, in this case outside, in the Mitte district.
The compact concrete block of The Feuerle Collection that we see on the outside leads to the underground area, where the temporary exhibition room is located and, further inside, the collection of pieces assembled by the collector. His approach is to juxtapose ancient Southeast Asian art and Chinese imperial furniture with works by international contemporary artists. Thus, in the museum you can see Khmer sculptures from the 7th to the 13th centuries together with wooden and stone furniture from imperial China, facing works by current artists from various disciplines, such as the Spanish Cristina Iglesias, the Chinese Zeng Fanzhi, the Japanese Nobuyoshi Araki, the British Anish Kapoor and Adam Fuss, and the American James Lee Byars, now deceased.
“The art on display from Feuerle’s permanent collection is solid, in bronze, stone or wood,” says Leiko Ikemura, “and I think my stuffed animals bring innocence and weirdness.” The Japanese sculptor and painter – who also has Swiss nationality and studied art in Seville when she was young – began collecting stuffed animals from the German company Steiff more than twenty years ago, she owns a hundred and maintains that, for her, “they are toys but also they are art and have a kind of soul.”
