History is not made only of advances along front lines; it is composed of pain inscribed on individual bodies and erased from public discourse. This is the central thesis of Elaine Scarry’s seminal book The Body in Pain. As author Sabine Rennefanz reminds us, the only reason war remains acceptable is precisely because the body and its suffering are rendered invisible.
Sven Johne’s exhibition Eternal 20th Century sets out to make that pain visible once again. At its heart is the video installation Hochdruckversuch/Tiefbohrung (High-Pressure Test/Deep Drilling), which began when Johne rediscovered footage he shot 25 years earlier.
The Washed Body and the Traces Left Behind
In the video, a strong, young man stands in a room lined with foil: the artist himself as a teenager, having just passed his military medical inspection in the GDR and now facing the “Join the Army” option. Watching the recording today, Johne recalls the men in his family who dutifully served in the Wehrmacht and later the NVA (National People’s Army), men who, in his words, were always “fellow travellers” of whichever system was in power, acting out of a sense of duty that “in retrospect always turned out to be wrong”.
As the video progresses, the young man’s body is blasted by a powerful water jet. The water strikes like a weapon; skin reddens, the body begins to tremble, breath is cut short. Yet he remains silent, the perfect soldier. This excruciating scene lays bare the violence that slogans such as “To keep peace you must be armed” or “If you want peace, prepare for war” are designed to conceal.
From Hatred of Russians to Empathy
Through the video, Johne unearths the suppressed emotions of the post-war experiences and emotions of the men in his family. He tells how his grandfather was forced to bottle up his hatred of Russians for forty years, only for that hatred, after 1989, to turn almost overnight into pity and empathy once he saw that Russians, too, were living through the same chaos and decay that engulfed East Germans after reunification.
By filming himself naked, the young man has stripped away all individuality, clothing, and ornament. Johne uses this nakedness to confront the viewer with bodily vulnerability, inevitably bringing to mind the young men currently fighting in Ukraine and the dehumanising “meat-grinder” metaphors used to describe their fate.
Technology and Destruction
Johne’s work also touches on today’s debates about compulsory military service and the technology of modern warfare: an era in which defence contractors earn billions, car manufacturers pivot to building tanks, and brilliant minds design drones that kill from a distance, physically separating perpetrator from victim. Against the disembodiment radicalised by technology, Johne insists on the fragility of the body, countering war propaganda with the undeniable reality of physical suffering.
Exhibition Details
Artist: Sven Johne
Title: Eternal 20th Century (featuring the video installation Hochdruckversuch/Tiefbohrung)
Venue: s-p-a-c-e GALLERY
Dates: Continues until 17 January 2026
