Also visit Exboot

I am open on sat-sun 1pm – 6pm and 2/3/4th fri 12pm - 5pm.

  • What I have now

    Qama:Re

    Gijs van Poecke

    2 March - 24 March

    Gijs van Poecke sees his artistry as the modern interpretation of the Shaman. To him it was the totem that was the starting point of sculpture. He draws a connection between a mythological image (pain...

  • What I'll have

    Schommelschip by Sietske Zandbergen and Guus Holtman

    6 April - 28 May

    Schommelschip” in the Exbunker is a collaboration between two students from the HKU Fine Arts: Sietske Zandbergen and Guus Holtman. Sietske (2002), a fourth-year student, creates ceramic sculptu...

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I have news

I am EXbunker

I am a unique type, with scales where the sun goes down, the sun that never reaches my inside. My skin is reinforced concrete, thicker than a human’s height. I am unblemished, indestructible for as long as time allows me to be. However, I am modestly hidden under ivy, in the shade of an old pine, at the Western edge of the Wilhelminapark.

My shyness comes from shame, I bear a taint. I was built by an enemy of this city. I was a base for violent commandos, protection against Allied bomb raids. The fact that no daylight reaches me perfectly symbolises the circumstances in which I arose.

But time took this beautiful city by her inevitable hand, away from the darkness. I became a depot, an exorbitantly strong shed for cables, equipment and old vehicles. Most people forgot about me. I lay in the dark, handed over to nature. An atonement which lasted for decades, and one that I willingly made. Until, seventy years after my resurrection, four artists, sons of the city, knocked on my steel door. They found my isolation to be cowardice. They talked to me. Real atonement is doing something in return for the city, they said. You have served the darkness, but could now be a refuge for its beauty. Me, for beauty? The idea! Now, the idea was as follows: filling me with new, remarkable art every month. Installations, photos, poetry, sculptures, paintings, films and performances. Works that have the X-Factor. A finger on the pulse of contemporary art. Non-profit, simply because everything good deserves attention.

Slowly, my conviction established itself in the cracks of my metres-thick skin: this is my new fate. On one condition: do not call me a bunker anymore. No more will I hide what cannot bear the light of day. Instead, I will show what has to be seen. I am no hiding place anymore, but a place of refuge. I carry the shadows of the past, but am no longer bound by it.

I am the EXbunker

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I EXbunker

History

In the Wilhelminapark in Utrecht stands a bombproof (ständiger) commandobunker of the type 668, suitable for 6 people. The bunker has been build in 1943, during the last bunker building program. The bunker stands in a remarkable part of the park, and is being used as a exposition space nowadays. The building has a monumental status.

At the west side of the Wilhelminapark, at about the height of the junction with the “Burgermeester Reigerstraat”, is a bunker made out of reinforced concrete. The walls are evenly finished, with the exception of the western wall. This wall is equipped with a scaly layer of cement. The access to the bunker is at the west side, directly accessible from the street. The bunker has been executed as standard type 501, 688 or 682. A final determination of the design can only be established after research and a detailed measuring. There is only one known shelter of the type 682 in the Netherlands. Both other types are also fairly rare.

Value proposition

  • Historical meaning: this bunker has presumably been build as a commandobunker for the sector south east, build according to a little used design.
  • Situating: At the border of the Wilhelminapark.
  • Finish: the front is equipped with a scaly layer of cement, possibly as camouflage.
  • Integrality: the construction is completely integrant.
  • Rarity: the shelter has build according to a fairly little used design, and is rare or even unique.

Monument

The bunker has been added by the municipality to the monument list, because of it’s rare construction and its recognisability.

This is what my exhibition interior looks like

ANBI

Would you like to help me..

as a volunteer?

You would like to welcome my visitors and guard my art as a volunteer? The artists who exhibit with me are often present during opening hours. But unfortunately they are not always available, and I’d like to be open the exhibition for an extra day, namely on Friday from noon to 5pm.

Will you help me for a compensation of €20 per afternoon in the EXbunker?

as a donator?

You can donate money that you still have laying around in an old drawer. Send me an e-mail, and I’ll respond with joy. Every donation is tax-deductible.

The information necessary for ANBI about Exbunker can be found in this document.

ANBI

They are already helping me

Daan Bramer

Doenja Abel

Raafat Ballan

Puk Leering

Casper de Jong

Tessa Hendriks

Roel Weerdenburg

Lonneke van der Loos

Luus van Veelen

They have already helped me

Gemeente Utrecht

Gemeente Utrecht

Granted me subsidy

Liberta

Liberta

Hosts my website

Fabricant

Fabricant

Helps with odd jobs

Daniel Baeten

Hedde Meima