Christian Boros (born 1964) is a German advertising agency founder and art collector, who owns an art gallery in a former bunker in Berlin.
Christian Boros | |
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| Born | Christian Boros 1964 (age 59–60) Zabrze, Poland |
| Nationality | German |
| Alma mater | University of Wuppertal |
| Known for | advertising agency founder and art collector |
| Spouse | Karen Lohmann |
Early life
editChristian Boros was born in Zabrze, Poland in 1964.[1] His family moved from Poland to Cologne, West Germany, in order to escape communism.[2] Boros earned a degree in communication design from the University of Wuppertal, Germany. He wrote his thesis on the aesthetic of the evil characters in James Bond.[2][1]
Career
editBoros founded an eponymous advertising agency in Wuppertal.[3] Boros has appeared in the ARTnews list of the top 200 collectors since 2006.[4]
In 2003, Boros and his wife purchased a former Second World War bomb shelter, the Reichsbahnbunker in Mitte, Berlin. The bunker was converted by Casper Mueller Kneer, who are responsible for White Cube in London. In 2008, Boros opened his gallery in the bunker.[3][5] The gallery space of 30,000 square feet (2,800 m2) was designed by Realarchitektur, including the rooftop residential penthouse, and contained pieces that Boros had been collecting for over 30 years.[4][6] The collection includes numerous works by Danh Vo, Elizabeth Peyton, Wolfgang Tillmans, Ai Weiwei, Thomas Ruff, Klara Lidén, Anselm Reyle, Tobias Rehberger and Olafur Eliasson.[4][6][7] Entrance to the gallery is by guided tour only.[7]
Boros' bunker was built in 1943 by the architect Karl Bonatz on the orders of Adolf Hitler.[3] After the Second World War, the bunker was used as a fruit warehouse, before later becoming a fetish nightclub,[8] with a reputation for being the "most hardcore club in the world," featuring techno music and frequent sadomasochism (S&M) nights,[3] or "raves and sex parties" according to ARTnews.[4]
Boros bought a building which was home to a children dancing school for twenty years. After the purchase, there was a controversy about doubling of the rental fee in 2009 and alleged speculation.[9] As a result, the dancing school had to leave the building in 2019.[10]
Personal life
editBoros is married to Karen Lohmann, and they live in Berlin, in a 550 sq metre (5920 sq feet) penthouse flat above their gallery.[4][2][11]
References
edit- ^ a b "Christian Boros". CREATIVE NRW. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
- ^ a b c Wagstyl, Stefan (6 July 2017). "Christian Boros, the art collector who lives in a Nazi-era bunker". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2022-04-28. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
- ^ a b c d Tzortzis, Andreas (12 June 2007). "In a Berlin war bunker, Christian Boros creates a showcase for art". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2022-04-28. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
- ^ a b c d e "Karen and Christian Boros -". ARTnews. 10 September 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
- ^ Bucknell, Alice (9 January 2018). "This Nazi-Era Bunker Is Now a Thriving Art Gallery". Architectural Digest. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
- ^ a b Woeller, Marcus (2 May 2017). "Manche Kunstwerke passen besser in den Bunker". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 12 March 2018.
- ^ a b "The Bunker Experience: Berlin's Boros Collection". The Huffington Post. 27 October 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
- ^ Pines, Giulia (7 September 2017). "The re-purposed Boros Bunker represents Berlin's persistent spirit of reinvention". The Independent. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
- ^ "Investor droht Tanzschule mit Räumung Herr Boros, diese Miete stinkt uns!". Berliner Kurier. 6 June 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
- ^ "Keine Kiez-Tanzschule mehr im Haus des Kindes". Der Tagesspiegel. 6 June 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
- ^ "Christian Boros & Karen Lohmann / Power 100 / ArtReview". artreview.com. Retrieved 5 March 2018.