Textbook Agitprop

By Gary Zottoli

Medium: Video

“This video collage reproduces the tension and tumult that haunts the history of anti-capitalist political movements. A visual assault of textures, pixels, and animations imitates the sensory overload that surrounds early rebellions against capital. Mimicking the fascist co-option of socialist political movements in the mid-20th century, a mirage of Mussolini intervenes to suppress the left-wing momentum. The video ends with a reminder to prepare for reactionary counter-attack. The collage layers original texture assets, public-domain videos, digital and hand-drawn animation, and restored illustrations pulled from Italian-language socialist press over a clip of Frank Zappa’s “9/8 Objects.””