This cavernous, concrete bunker-like space, directly connected to Yokohama’s Shin-Takashima Station, is the new home of BankArt 1929, a not-for-profit that has spent the past decade-and-a-half working to reinvent the city’s waterfront as a hub for creativity and the arts. Built as a train bypass, but for decades used as a subterranean warehouse, the 1,000sqm space has been renovated to serve as a flagship multi-purpose venue for the organisation, following the closure of its much-missed BankArt Studio NYK.
Besides the vast main space itself – with an event program encompassing exhibitions, workshops, symposiums and more – BankArt Station has transformed an adjoining underground passageway into a public art space. This disused pedestrian underpass now wows visitors with videos, photos and installations along the entire length of the passageway.