Across the screen flickers the The Victory Monument in South Tyrol’s capital Bozen, which was inaugurated in 1928 during the reign of the fascist regime in Italy. As a demonstration of fascist rule The Victory Monument was erected to celebrate Italy’s self-proclaimed victory and the triumph over the Brenner border, while at the same time manifesting superiority over the German-speaking population, which by now had become rendered a minority and the target of the regime’s Italianization. Wondering how to critically question its testimony, filmmaker Lorenz Zenleser approaches the fascist landmark. First through existing digital reproductions of the building and finally with the a Double 8 camera - reflecting on how historiography is inscribed into material objects. Public digital imagery is met by intimate black and white recordings. Silhouettes of marble columns, metal inscriptions, soldier’s heads. “But suddenly the image started to glitch. The camera revolted.”
And while the monument remains mostly untouched in the city center of Bozen, on film its image is continuously fragmented and distorted.