The Unusual Gallery
Sometimes the most unusual buildings or spaces are transformed into the most intriguing gallery spaces, creating compelling and creative spaces as interesting as the works they house. These quirky galleries prove that art doesn’t always have to be represented in classical buildings, monumental modern buildings designed by famous architects, or sterile and completely white cubes. From public restrooms and crypts to churches and police stations, explore some of the world’s most unconventional art galleries.
Bauer’s Public Toilet.
A former public restroom in Brunswick Park, Camberwell, United Kingdom, based on the many meanings of the word “gazebo,” is now a haven for feminist art and literature. Based in both a former women’s restroom and the park’s old caretaker’s hut (now a café), The Bower hosts events and exhibitions by women artists and writers on feminist issues and current social and political themes. It is one of London’s smallest art galleries, at only fifteen square meters, although it has been known to expand exhibitions into the surrounding park with installations, projections and sculptures.
Art on the Move.
“Art on the Go” in Chicago was created in 2008 by a group of students from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to provide an opportunity to enjoy public art. For the benefit of art lovers and artists, the subway cars are free to select artists, allowing them to creatively pursue their ideas and impact a wide audience. Since 2008, Art on Track has become the world’s largest traveling art gallery, occupying six cars on the Chicago Transit Authority’s moving subway train.
Crypt Gallery
The Crypt Gallery in London has lived many lives and experienced many iterations. First established in 1822 as the crypt of St. Pancras Parish Church, the space was used for burials until a cease-and-desist order in May 1855. The crypt was later used as a bomb shelter during both world wars. However, it wasn’t until 2002 that the space became an unusual gallery for contemporary artists of the 21st century to exhibit their work. Still the final resting place of 557 people, The Crypt Gallery prides itself on its contemplative atmosphere, housing artworks that provoke, question and soothe.
König Gallery Berlin
“There aren’t many examples of brutalism in Germany, and this one is iconic. Here it is considered a very important building… But it has been in terrible condition both inside and out because, despite how it looks, its surfaces are very sensitive to the environment.”
The Boros Collection
Also in Berlin is Sammlung Boros, a large private gallery owned by Christian Boros, a German media entrepreneur and passionate art collector. The space, open by appointment only, presents contemporary art by foreign artists from 1990 to the present on more than 3,000 square meters. Built in 1943 by the Nazi regime, the Boros Bunker was created as a bomb shelter with two-meter walls and a formidable presence. After the fall of Nazi Germany and Berlin in 1945 by the Soviet Red Army, the place was used as a prisoner-of-war camp and then as a fabric and tropical fruit warehouse. In the 1990s it became an iconic Berlin nightclub, a place of debauched counterculture until the repression in 1996, which left the site deserted.
House of the Polish Printing House
Exhibition view of the Dom Słowia Polskiego printing house
Dom Słowa Polskiego, which literally means “House of the Polish Word,” was once the largest printing house in the country. Founded in 1948 on a five-hectare site in Warsaw, Poland, it was the largest printing house in the entire communist eastern bloc. Throughout the 1970s, the print shop produced some 27 million books, 510 million newspapers, and 195 magazines a year. By 2007, the state-owned print shop was privatized and became a joint-stock company that no longer played a significant role in the market. The massive space is now abandoned and serves multiple cultural purposes, serving as an art gallery, an electronic music venue and temporary workshops.