Antonello Fresu's 'Der Körper' Exhibition at Palazzo dei Pio, Carpi

Antonello Fresu's exhibition 'Der Körper' at Palazzo dei Pio in Carpi features enlarged reproductions of Adolf Hitler's X-rays and medical exams, exploring the paradoxical nature of radiography as both a revelation of human mortality and a haunting reminder of the Führer's inhumanity. The show, curated by Marco Senaldi, draws on literary and philosophical references—from Thomas Mann's 'The Magic Mountain' to Walter Benjamin's concept of the 'optical unconscious'—to examine how early X-ray technology blurred the lines between science, art, and identity. Senaldi's essay accompanying the exhibition argues that Hitler's radiographs expose an 'anthropological unconscious,' revealing the dictator's skeletal structure as a ghostly residue that persists beyond death. The installation juxtaposes these medical images with the historical context of Nazi propaganda, referencing John Heartfield's 1932 photomontage 'Hitler Superuomo – ingoia oro e sputa schifezze' and Leni Riefenstahl's film 'Olympia' (1936). Fresu's work forces viewers to confront the unsettling duality of the X-ray: it captures both the universal fragility of the human body and the specific horror of Hitler's legacy. The exhibition runs at Palazzo dei Pio in Carpi, Italy, in 2019.