Caught in the Dark: Zhang Peili’s “No Network”
By Nooshfar Afnan
Interior stairs of The Bunker leading to six small underground rooms, which house ZHANG PEILI’s experiential installation Unsuitable Place to Stay (2017). Courtesy The Bunker, Beijing.
One of Beijing’s newest art spaces, The Bunker, is in a former air raid shelter, placing visitors in an environment devoid of natural light but rife with an overwhelming, musty odor. Built in 1941, the underground fortification was used by the Japanese commander of northern China during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and is part of a set of historic Western-style buildings from the early 20th century that previously housed the warlord Duan Qirui’s government.
