“Show Your Wound” by Joseph Beuys 1974-75.

Two old mortuary dissection tables are standing in the corner of the room. Above the tables there are some kinds of old lights made from steel. They seem to take the light, not to give it; below the tables are double sets of containers filled with fat, as if bodily fluids had drained into them. Every container has a gauze-wrapped test-tube with thrush’s scull. One the side wall there is a glbum box with two War-age newspapers, they are still in their mailing envelopes, unopened.

On the other wall — a pair of rusty and dirty digger tools. And on the wall near tables — two black boards that resemle window’s silhouette. On one of them there is a writing Zeige deine Wunde (Show Your Wound on German).

Log in to see images!

I probably can tell you about the symbolism of this work: There are already no bodies on the tables; life has gone with all the fat that gathered in containers as if under gravity effect. Soul left through gauze, only some bones left. The newspapers were not read. And you can feel it all. This is easy to explain, what is nearly impossible to describe is the feeling of mourning and fear that is in the air of this room, so real, that you can almost touch it.

This photo cannot provide the feeling of uber-realism at all. This room is about individual illness and physical injury and collective grief; it shows unresolved personality conflict (notice the doubles) and reflects his country’s recent political history.

It’s a call for an action to ‘show your wound’ but it’s deeply personal and timeless.