Film installation by Harald Hund

Location: Ioakimion Girls High School

15.11.2024 – 30.11.2024

17 km builds on architectural remnants of the Nazi era and draws a parallel to the recent right-wing populism in Austria, which, as in other countries, paved the way for authoritarian tendencies. Conservatives aligned themselves with right-wing parties and included xenophobia in their program. Just as the ruins of the Nazi era – forgotten by the public – have outlasted time, Nazi ideology persisted and continued to be cultivated in parties, fraternities and gymnastics clubs, only to rise again like the undead in the form of current right-wing populism. The parallels between the past and the present are pointed out using grotesque means and choreography.

The 28-minute film was shot at locations in Upper and Lower Austria, which have architectural ruins from the Nazi era. The work poses the question of the extent to which right-wing ideology has taken root not only in the landscape, but also in people’s minds. Both federal states are now governed by a right-wing populist coalition of the ÖVP and FPÖ.

Recently, authoritarian tendencies have increased in many countries around the world. One small central European country is no exception, although this development has been halted at the national level for now with a new government, which was formed in 2019. Four years after the Ibiza scandal, however, an extreme right-wing party is once again leading in the polls and even won the national elections in 2024.

One wonders what is wrong with the population’s political short-term memory when xenophobic slogans directed against immigrants and refugees have become entrenched in everyday discourse and become part of everyday speech. Forgotten are the corruption and self-enrichment of the former ruling, right-wing conservative coalition, which ran rampant in the shadow of the supposedly righteous fight against illegal migration. For years, journalists have stressed the parallels between the early 20th and 21st centuries. Have people learned nothing?

Harald Hund is an Austrian Artist and filmmaker. He has participated in many exhibitions and numerous international short film festivals.

He studied NEW MEDIA at the Academy of Fine Arts and at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and was a founding member of the Open Class Vienna.