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This spring will see a former Cold War nuclear bunker in East Yorkshire reopen its doors to the public, featuring an all-new art display.
This will be the third year that the bunker at RAF Holmpton has opened, and for the first time will boast an art gallery 50-feet underground.
The new gallery space will open on 17th March with an exhibition of new works entitled The Flora of War by Hull documentary photographer Lee Karen Stow. The displays will remain on show through to the start of May.
What to expect from The Flora of War exhibition
The gallery space itself is around 17.5 metres long and 27 metres wide. When it was stripped of its analogue computers, the Ministry of Defence also took up the floor - so the space is now accessed by suspended walkways.
The exhibition will include works by nationally known artists including miner-turned-artist Harry Malkin; photographer Eric Boothroyd; loose impressionistic artist Phil Hargeaves; BAFTA-winning documentary maker, photographer and film director Paul Berriff; and Martin Waters, an installation artist.
A second redundant space known as the ‘Upper Room’ will feature displays and exhibitions from prominent local artists and groups.
Group visits to the bunker and exhibition are welcome; more information regarding rates will be revealed shortly.
More about the bunker
In what could be considered as ‘one of the world’s most unusual art galleries’, this former top-secret bunker, which was once used as an emergency headquarters for RAF Command, lies hidden beneath what looks like an ordinary bungalow.
RAF Holmpton was built in the 1950s and was refurbished in the 1980s to form a new Emergency Headquarters for RAF Support Command. In 1991 the Cold War ended and the site was converted into an experimental HQ for the new UK Air CCIS System.
Underground Movement, the organisation behind the forthcoming exhibition, is the product of the owner of the Visit the Bunker attraction, John Swift, who is working hand-in-hand with the chair of East Riding Artists, Larry Malkin, in order to hold a series of art exhibitions this year.
For more information, visit www.visitthebunker.com.
Lead image: White lotus petals, Vietnam. From ‘The Flora of War’ © Lee Karen Stow
