In Achtung!, Mona von Wittlage stages a confrontation between history and vulnerability. The Brandenburg Gate — drawn in graphite, veiled in scaffolding and warning signs — becomes a backdrop of power, control, and division. At its base, a solitary figure painted in blood emerges, fragile and exposed, yet carrying the weight of defiance.

The stark contrast between graphite’s cold precision and blood’s visceral immediacy transforms the image into a dialogue between permanence and ephemerality, monumentality and mortality. The work recalls the language of authority and its warnings — Achtung! — but reclaims it as a human cry: a reminder of fragility amid the structures that seek to endure.

Achtung! unsettles by showing that even in the shadow of history’s monuments, it is the vulnerable body that speaks with the greatest force.