GILLIAN McIVER

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Selected places used for site-responsive projects:

Kühlhaus am Gleisdreieck, Luckenwalderstr. 3, Berlin Kreuzberg.
This Coldstorage building was built in 1889 as one of the first 2 coldstorages of Germany modelled on its British counterpart. One of the two buldings was destroyed during the capture of Berlin by the allied forces. Both buildings served as the foodstorage and market for the Berlin public and was owned by the company Linde, now Linde AG till the end of WW2. Ever since then the building remains more or less unused, apart from occasional usage as a storage space.[curator Julian Ronnefeldt]

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Harland and Wolff, Belfast - former HQ building.
The former HQ of the world's largest shipyard remains impressive set in the now-wasteland of Queen's Island since shipbuilding has declined. The Drawing Offices are remarkable Neo-classical structures flooded with natural light, overlooking the slipways where the ships, including Titanic, were built. [curated by Gillian McIver and Peter Mutschler for the Urban Clearance series PS2 Belfast]

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St Pancras Chambers, former Midland Grand Hotel, London
This is a former grand hotel built at the height of the railway boom as a show[piece of the British Empire. Built in 1873 by Sir Gilbert Giles Scott in extreme High Victorian Gothic style, the hotel closed in 1935 and has become derelict. There are currently plans to turn it into a luxury Marriott hotel for the opening of the high-speed Channel Tunnel rail link. As co-curator of this project, the challenge was to work within the restrictions of a property that was both Grade A listed, yet falling apart. [curated by Gillian McIver]

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The Residence and The Storehouse, Kronstadt
Kronstadt is an island located in the Gulf of Finland off the coast of St Petersburg, Russia. The town of Kronstadt was founded by Peter the Great as a naval base to protect the city. Today the area has fallen into decay though the town and naval base survive. Many building from the 17th century to the early 20th century stand empty and rotting. [curated by Gillian McIver]

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The Sihlpapierfabrik, Zurich
This was a large paper factory in the working-class south suburbs of Zurich. It has been empty for more than a decade and was the site of the 2003 Dada Festival. Derelict, the site had many items of disused machinery, bolts of paper and objects lying around. [curator: Mark Divo]

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16A Wilhelminenhof Strasse, Oberschoeneweide, Berlin
This is one of a block of abandoned semi-derliect flats and shops at a central crossroads in this southeastern industrial district. 16A was a former butcher shop, and has a strange subterranean area used for meat storage. [curator:Leo Koenigsberg]

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The Battery Factory, Schoeneweide, Berlin
This late 19th century structure was part of the huge AEG complex designed by Behrens for the southeastern industrial suburb of Schoeneweide. The factory has a deep bunker/basement. [curator:Leo Koenigsberg, Michiel Brand]

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The Strassenbahn Depot and environs, Weimar
This former tram depot is located in an interesting part of the town, counter pointed by two relics of an earlier era: the huge Gauforum a nazi then stasi administrative block, and a derelict psychiatric hospital. As a whole, then, the site makes an interesting triumvirate of structures that engender a consideration of issues of history, culture and community.
[curator: Felix Sattler]

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Former power-generating plant, Nizhny Novgorod, banks of Oka river, Russia
The overgrown derelict structures that exist here, in full view of the thriving city yet completely isolated, form a significant part of the city's history. [curator: Evgeny Strelkov]

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The Old Colosseum Theatre, London
The Colosseum was one of several very large theatres built in the last 19th century in order to provide mass entertainment. It presented musical extravaganzas and circus acts for the population of Dalston, Hackney and Hoxton. At the turn to the 29th century it became on the London's two movie houses. It was closed for good in 1945, and fell into decay. It was used for storage in the ensuing decades, until given over for use as an art space. In 1998 it was subject to a forced purchase for renovation by Hackney Council but has been left derelict. [a Luna Nera-curated project]

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The House of Detention, Clerkenwell, London
This underground prison was built in the 17th century as a remad prison and housed soe of England's most notorious felons. The underground chambers are constructed out of the natural limestone hollows under Mount Pleasant in Clerkenwel. The original prison aboveground structure burnt down in the early 20th century and the prison proper closed at the end of the 19th. Until 1998 it operated as a kind of museum, though the poor and tacky exhibits could not vie with the fascinating structure itself. An attempt was made to turn this dismal catacomb into a trendy restaurant but needless to say, no planning permission was given. It is now closed and ther has been talk of filling the whole structure with sand, as happened to most of the rest of the limestone caves underneath Mount Pleasant.
[a Luna Nera-curated project]

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The former Natwest Bank, Old St at Great Eastern St, London
Just before it opened as alternative gallery / pub "the Foundry" (now sadly closed) this 1950's bank building on the edge of the City of London had been closed for some time when I was there, but retained its vaults and lift shaft. [a Luna Nera-curated project]

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here is the Foundry right after it closed, corner of Old St and Great Eastern St.

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