Arbeit Macht Frei 1973

Film on DVD (still)
18'47"
This work takes its title from the terrible irony of the motto above the gates of the Auschwitz concentration camp, 'Work Makes Free'. The artist's performance constructs a complex political and social metaphor about freedom. Paul Overy wrote: 'the artist has turned his body into an object; virtually emptying it of its humanity...[yet] the effect, after the gruelling performance is over, is to make one aware of the humanity of the body, which the film seems superficially to deny.'

Exhibited at Zoo art fair with England & Co 2009.