Artist's Statement

How are you? Notes from the cellar

Serhat Ertuna, a Kurdish artist, was born in Turkey in 1981. During his asylum procedure, Serhat Ertuna was housed for nine months in an underground nuclear shelter in the region of Bern. Ten years later, a few short visits to this now-closed place form the theme of "how are you?"

The facts are simple and can be verified:
An underground atomic shelter in the middle of Switzerland,
Asylum seekers, exclusively men, are housed there for several months in 2012,
The motion of a communal political party is concerned about the disorder and insecurity.
We are in 2022! What has remained of these months underground? A feeling of unease at times? Sometimes a vague shortness of breath? Maybe a few isolated nightmares?
„wie geht es dir?” was written in big black letters on a yellow wall of the bunker! „How are you?“ I was doing so well that years later I can hardly decipher and picture that life down there! The bunker has been closed!
I am fine.

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