This Old VW Press Photo Of An Ambulance Reminds Me Of A Famous Work Of Art: Cold Start

You know a mental feeling that I like a lot? That exciting little spark that happens when something really reminds you of something else. It’s sort of like a misfire, because the thing that you’ve seen that inspired this analogous recollection clearly isn’t that thing, but the connection that is drawn between them is undeniable, and often that connection leads to other fun brain things like laughter or creativity or a whole new idea spawned by the linking of these two disconnected things. This sensation happened to me when I saw the image above, an old Volkswagen press photo of a Type 2 Ambulance with a “disaster trailer.” This image immediately made me think of a 1969 installation by the German artist Joseph Beuys called The Pack. Let’s take a look!

You may be familiar with this work; I’ll be honest, I don’t have much sense of how well known a lot of these things are? But, I think it’s safe to say that this is the most famous installation that includes a VW Bus, felt, fat, and flashlights of all time.

To save you some scrolling, here’s that old ’50s-era press photo again:

It’s worth noting that most Type 2s of this era were what’s known as Barn Door buses, where the engine lid was huge (like a barn door) and there was no upper hatch; the Ambulance version introduced that hatch, though in this case it folded down instead of up. Still, this was a huge improvement to the Bus, for loading stuff purposes.

Okay, now, here’s a picture of Beuys’ The Pack:

You can see how it feels the same, right? There’s a clear visual kinship here, and looking at that Ambulance shot, the recognition was immediate.

The Pack is an interesting work; it consists of that beat-up old bus and 20 little sledges, each with a roll of felt, a lump of fat, and a flashlight. The sledges appear to be making their way out of the bus and going off to explore or rescue people or something like that. You see, Beuys put those items on the sledges because he felt they were what was needed for survival: the felt for warmth, the fat for sustenance and energy (ew), and the flashlight for finding your way around.

The story behind it has to do with Beuys being in a plane crash over Crimea during WWII, and how local nomadic Tartars rescued him, covering him in fat and felt to keep him alive and safe. I’m not exactly sure how true this story is generally thought to be, but I do know that fat and felt show up in Beuys’ work over and over, so something about those materials made a pretty big impact on him.

I saw this piece at the Tate Modern in London a number of years ago, and I found it to be oddly powerful. You get the sense that, to Beuys, these packs really do mean survival, and them crawling out of that van and spreading out has a strange feeling of hopeful, rugged determination. These little sledges, which seem strangely alive, are fanning out into inhospitable territory, looking for people in trouble, wrapping them in felt, feeding them fat, then turning on their little lights to take you back to the safety of that old van. It’s a good piece.

Oh, this is also important – the bus seems to have an interesting taillight detail:

VW buses didn’t get reverse lamps as standard until 1967, but there were aftermarket options available, and I think that’s what we’re looking at here, a Bosch or Hella or some similar kind of accessory reverse light, mounted into the engine lid there. I think it works well here; you may want a nice bright light back there to make it easier for those sledges to find the van as they return with their bundled-up rescuees.

And they said my Art History degree wouldn’t be useful! Fools!