The Feuerle Collection is the first art institution in the world to present the Chinese Incense Culture which is located in a former telecommunications bunker in Berlin and was renovated by the British architect John Pawson in 2016.
The Feuerle Collection juxtaposes international contemporary artists such as Cristina Iglesias, Anish Kapoor and Zeng Fenzhi, among others with Imperial Chinese furniture and Southeast Asian art. The museum encourages a conversation between different time periods and cultures, offering an alternative perception of the antique, which creates a new perspective on the artworks and leads viewers through a synesthetic experience.
Visitors are urged to leave their mobile phones at the entrance, before being ushered into the building’s bowels and plunged into darkness. Haunting music – composed by artist John Cage – reverberates around a ‘Sound Room’, heightening your senses and drawing your attention to the bunker’s depth.
Feuerle tasked John Pawson with converting the building and giving its potent atmosphere a positive charge. ‘I wanted the visitor to be seduced by an experience, something very different to what you’ll get in a conventional gallery space,’ he says.
