Trenta denari
/thirty pieces of silver
Germany, Austria, Italy, 2021
2nd of May - 10th of June
Performative walk
40 days
How does collective memory originate? What purposes does it serve and what processes does it use?
Inspired and based on the stories of denunciation that were cause to 2/3 of Italian Jewish deportations and countless partisans' arrests, tortures, murders during the Italian Social Republic (1943-1945), this work attempts a re-contextualisation of events that have been long extruded from the historical narration, feeding a narrative that celebrates the heroism of a popular insurrection against nazi-fascist brutality. An ideological selection that was functional to the challenges of the civil war and the subsequent reconstruction. A mantra that has long prevented Italians to come to terms with the darkest pages of their history. A social shaping which effects are still tangible in the present days and currently direct political choices.
When the generation of witnesses has almost completely passed away, it is duty of the new ones to decide what stays behind them. And this can only be done according to a vision of the future.
The future we aspire to mirrors itself in the past we preserve in the present.
During 40 days performative walk between the former concentration camps of Buchenwald and Fossoli, wearing a mask with her features on the back of the head, this questioning has become the theoretical basis of a praxis of complexity, of a collectively performed memory enacted through and with the countless encounters.
916 km recorded
25,4 km/day average
36 locations
3 countries
4 concentration camps
17kg departure/7kg arrival
3°-32° temperature during walking
2 pairs of shoes
1500+ documentation files
too many encounters to recount
Texts
Buchenwald - Sunrise on the 2.05.2022
Fossoli - Sunset on the 10.06.2022
The work has been realised with the kind support of
Fossoli Foundation/Museo Monumento al Deportato; Stadt Dachau; Sparkasse Mittelthüringen (through Stadt Weimar and Freundeskreis der Bauhaus Universität Weimar e.V.); Bauhaus-Universität Weimar - Frauenförderfonds
Logistical support has been offered by following
Institutions
Plankstetten Abbey (DE); Oase Steinerskirchen (DE); Max-Mannheimer-Studienzentrum (DE); Schwaz Franciscan Monastery (AT); Taxipalais Kunsthalle (AT); Brixen/Bressanone Priests’ Seminary (IT); ANPI Alto Adige Südtirol (IT); Mart Museum (IT); ANPI Verona (IT); ANPI Mantova (IT); ANPI San Benedetto Po (IT)
Public administrations
Stadtilm-Dienstedt (DE); Neuhaus am Rennweg (DE); Steinach (DE); Schnekenlohe (DE); Hollfeld-Krögelstein (DE); Kirchesittenbach (DE); Hersbruck (DE); Berg bei Neumarkt (DE); Stammham (DE); Munich (DE); Linden-Dietramszell (DE); Achenkirch (AT); Sterzing/Vipiteno (IT); Klausen/Chiusa (IT); Neumarkt/Egna (IT); Brentino Belluno (IT)