Cyprien Gaillard, 'Dunepark', 2009

Location: Bosjes van Poot, corner of Nieboerweg - Houtrustweg in Scheveningen, The Hague
What: Bunker project in collaboration with the Atlantikwall Museum Scheveningen Foundation
Status: This work is no longer visible

The exhibition Beton Belvedere by French artist Cyprien Gaillard was accompanied by an ambitious public space project. For the site-specific project Dunepark, a World War II bunker buried in a dune overlooking the Scheveningen beach and the neighboring Duindorp was excavated.

This area has been undergoing a major transformation in recent years, with the original population and industry making way for new housing projects. Gaillard's project indirectly comments on this process of "yuppification" and the way outdated architecture is buried or hidden beneath new layers of spatial planning. This work, titled Dunepark—a loose translation of the location where the project takes place—can be seen as the realization of the "Bunker Archeology" concept of French cultural theorist Paul Virilio, as presented in his eponymous book and exhibition from 1975.

For Gaillard, the physical process of excavation is a kind of reverse sculpting. He views this sunken bunker as a "ready-made" sculpture. With the help of heavy machinery and a group of volunteers from the Atlantikwall Museum Scheveningen Foundation, Gaillard excavated this massive object and allowed it to emerge in all its raw glory before covering it up again.