The art of Jannis Kounellis is characterized by a very poetic core. Even if the materials appear dark and heavy, the effect they created is highly subtle. In the present work he uses iron and cloth, a heavy black wool coat, to be more precisely. A variety of associations are evoked by these two very contrasting materials. In the spirit of Arte Povera, of which he is a representative, he works with a few but concise means. The contrast between the soft, woolly, warming fabric and the cold, inflexible steel is a dialectic structure of effects. At the same time, the vanished person is fixed to the wall like in a picture. Kounellis presses the coat between two heavy iron plates, he takes the space away from it and at the same time gives it back as a presentation. Collective memories are created with the greatest impact. The work was exhibited in 2009 as part of the exhibition "Jannis Kounellis a Bergamo" at Galleria Fumagalli, Bergamo. With the spatial installation there, Kounellis was proposed for the Vatican pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011. Ultimately, however, the Vatican only took part in the important show with other artists as of the 55th Biennale in 2013. [EH]