Zeige deine Wunde (Show Your Wound), 1977

Photographic negatives, one with two holes and marked with crosses in brown paint, between a transparent and an opaque glass plate in iron frame, 107 x 79 x 5 cm. Photographs by Ute Klophaus. Edition of 28 + VI, signed and numbered on paper tag attached verso on the piece. Some A.P., signed; + 5 H.C., signed and stamp-numbered on paper tag stamped Hauptstrom and sandwiched between glass plates.

In 1976, Joseph Beuys created the installation Zeige deine Wunde (Show Your Wound) for the Schellmann and Klüser Gallery in Munich. The work consisted of several objects arranged in pairs, grouped around the central element – a pair of mortuary tables. Later, while looking at the exhibition photographs, Beuys came up with the idea of mounting the negatives like “X-ray images” on an opalescent pane of glass for an edition. One film remained black and had two holes in it, reminiscent of an obscura camera – a reference to trauma, diagnosis and the medium of photography itself.