Commissioned by SCULPTURE BY THE SEA, Bondi, 2022, Australia.
Materials: A real estate ‘FOR SALE' sign, bunker doors, transparent fabric, and virtual elements accessed via the website link
Concept
This surreal narrative stage-set delves into the anxieties and insecurities of the Anthropocene age, reflecting the evolving symptoms of fear and dispossession as humanity grapples with our planet's volatile trajectory.
Description
This interactive work engages viewers through their imagination, inviting them to recreate the luxurious subterranean property within their mind's eye using on-site clues. The 'FOR SALE' sign provides property details, including a cross-section and images of this imaginary security bunker buried deep below the iconic Bondi beachside location. The fictitious bunker entrance and emergency exits are disguised behind rusty maintenance panels attached to the stormwater towers, temporarily highlighted by shiny transparent fabric jackets. A QR code link to the website of the fictional subterranean property consultant, ‘Bunker Down’, offers additional details about the property including floor plans, visuals, a walk-through video and a description of its key security features. It also provides insights into the growing movement of survivalists and doomsday ‘preppers', whose apocalyptic anxieties are fuelled by perceived threats of cataclysmic social and climate changes.
This conceptually multi-layered intervention continues my long-term research into community displacement and the value of home. Recently focussing on the social and environmental impacts of excessive urban development and resource mining. Combined with my long-term fascination for decommissioned underground structures: Cold War and WW2 bunkers air raid shelters, train tunnels, mines and quarries.
Project Website Link: https://www.bunkerdown.info
Walk-through Video: https://youtu.be/0JcJ6wLd6Fc?si=gXiv3Zb6hq2PxXK6
Project Outcome
Surprisingly, many visitors believed in the bunker's existence despite clear explanations that it was an art intervention for the Sculpture By The Sea exhibition. Visitors were observed discussing and, at times, arguing about the authenticity of the supposed underground property below, raising important questions about our communities' gullibility and susceptibility to misinformation, conspiracy theories, and the viral spread of misleading narratives.
Bunker Down Subterranean Property Consultant has created several underground projects, including a secure Seed Bank in Eden Gardens, Sydney, another underground luxury family residency below Fort Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand. Currently researching and excavating a historic tunnel network in Nykarleby, Finland.
