Biennial of Contemporary Art Association (Bunker ARK Object D-0)

Location:
Biennial of Contemporary Art Association
Ferhadija 13
71000 Sarajevo
Bosnia and Herzegovina

The bunker is located outside of the town Konjic.

Contact:
Edo Hozic
bhbijenale[at]gmail.com

Opening Hours:
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays
10 am, 12 am, 2 pm

Saturdays and Sundays
10 am and 12 am

Visits on another day should be requested by email at least 4 days ahead.

www.bijenale.ba

Description: 

The massive underground structure, the Atomic War Command – ARK, was built during the Cold War period (1953-1979) to shelter Yugoslavia's leadership cadre, headed by President Josip Broz Tito. The existence of the bunker was unknown to the public until the days of the Bosnian war (1992-1995) when military units sought to destroy it. Today the ARK has all the characteristics of a failed Cold War ideological and military investment, but its curious presence may inspire us to employ it as a symbolical „time machine“ for traveling as much into the past as into the future.

Today this atomic shelter in Konjic is a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a place where world artists protect this huge military facility from destruction with their art works through the Project Biennial of Contemporary Art D-0 ARK Underground. What started as a biennial event developed into an art exhibition as the works stay on permanent display from all editions. The aim is to transform the atomic shelter into a hybrid military and contemporary art museum, unique in the world.

The Association Biennial of Contemporary Art is a Non-Governmental-Organization (NGO) based in Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) which was founded in November 2009. It is a value based NGO with a mission to promote solidarity, peace and reconciliation in the war torn region. The Project Biennial approaches the idea of a "biennial" only as a process.

Project Biennial of Contemporary Art D-0 ARK Underground has been recognized as a promoter of regional cultural values since its beginnings. The Council of Europe has proclaimed it as Cultural Event of Europe for 2011. In 2013 and 2015, the project was organized under the patronage of UNESCO. It has become a symbol of the power of culture to build bridges between people and to be a place of dialogue and openness. Since 2014, the Project Biennial D-0 ARK Underground is a full member of the World Association Biennial - Biennial International Association.

Cold War Interests: 

The Project Biennial of Contemporary Art D-0 ARK Underground primarily associates itself with the period of the Cold War, in which the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) had a very specific role. It was a time of fear of a nuclear disaster, but also a time of utopian ideas about world peace. The project therefore offers mainly three different kinds of activities:

| Biennial art exhibition

With the presentation of top quality art works by international artists, the Association creates crucial prerequisites for the protection of the ARK Object D-0 of special importance for the cultural and historical heritage and the international promotion of Bosnia and Herzegovina at a highest level. The art works carried out on the spot (and site) are included in the hidden features of this unique area and its history as the ARK serves as a virtual and real-world space for considering what has happened after the end of World War II. There are 125 artworks, produced by 102 artists from 32 countries on permanent display in the art exhibition after three editions of the Project Biennial D-0 ARK Underground in the Atomic War Command.

| Seminars on the Cold War

Several seminars accompany the Biennials which often refer to Cold War topics. In 2011, during the initial year of the project, there was a seminar about "State and Security" in the Cold War which was organized by the Centre for Cultural Decontamination from Belgrade and was held in Sarajevo, Belgrade, Konjic and Mostar. The fourth edition of the Project Biennial (coming in 2017) will present the third Seminar about the Cold War on the subject: "Mass media and culture as a key field distribution ideology". This series of seminars and accompanying actions focused on the Cold War do not simply view the Cold War as a period marking the second half of the twentieth century, but as a paradigm of the present and future in the "production" of politics, culture, imagination and history.

| Development of hybrid military art museum

The Project Biennial D-0 ARK Underground will work continuously for the gradual transformation of this military facility into a hybrid military-artistic space with the help of art historians and artists, in cooperation with the local community and the governments of the neighboring countries. Through art and culture, the project raises questions on a wide range of subjects related to our cultural heritage and creates a path for discovering cultural continuity and identity. It is particularly focused on the visitation of students of art, architecture and philosophical studies to our region. Visits and tours through the art exhibition are possible throughout the year.