This vast work, which includes 100 framed aluminum and glass panels each approximately 55 x 32 inches, is among the most ambitious of Beuys' career and is in many ways autobiographical. An assembly of 264 photographs, the panels in part document Beuys' life including key "actions," concerts, sculptures, objects, and more personal events. The installation incorporates stacks of wax blocks, copper and iron plates, and an oil can-all artifacts used in Beuys' action Vitex Agnus Castus, which was performed at the time of the first installafion of Arena at Lucio A,melio's "Modem Art Agency" in Naples in 1972.

As the title indicates, this work was intended to be seen in an "arena"-like environment. The original configuration for Arena was derived from the Pantheon; its images of the past represent the relics of a struggle in the "arena" of life.