Uncommon Scents: The Opening of the Feuerle Collection’s Incense Room
By Ned Carter Miles
Exterior view of The Feuerle Collection in Berlin. Photo by Def Image. Courtesy The Feuerle Collection.
Désiré Feuerle’s private museum in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin is concerned first and foremost with the senses. Visits to the Feuerle Collection—which are by appointment—begin in the “sound room,” an antechamber in the 6,480-square-meter Second World War telecommunications bunker renovated by British architect John Pawson. After leaving their mobile phones at the entrance, visitors are asked to wait in the dark while listening to a short work by minimalist composer John Cage to “cleanse the palate” and acclimatize to the space’s low light before they proceed to the collection.
