Francesco Tacoli

Vienna, 1996. A mini-DV tape with footage for a student documentary. Alina and Flora interview unreliable witnesses to the appearance of extraterrestrial reptilian creatures. But soon they themselves drift further and further into the narrative: Lizards subjugating humanity through hybridization? Sounds plausible. At some point, the Hofburg is in flames, and reason itself is in ruins. Michael Gülzow's mockumentary hilariously satirizes the media logic and spread of conspiracy ideologies.

Words are loaded with meaning. Certain ones conjure joyful memories and others remind us of less happy times. For Nenda Neururer, the word 'oachkatzlschwoaf' invokes a range of emotions. The German word is very hard to pronounce and is synonymous with the Austrian state of Tyrol where locals tease outsiders by asking them to pronounce it. Despite growing up in Tyrol, Nenda Neururer often felt like an outsider when confronted with this word. But when she moved to London she grew nostalgic for it and it became her little secret. Found in Translation is a series made as part of the In The Mix project, in partnership with BBC Studios TalentWorks, Black Creators Matter and the Barbican.

In the microcosm of a small village, paths and fates cross. A car is burning at the roadside, pigs are dying in their sties and a man is lying on a park bench. Is he dead? Who is to blame, who is responsible and when did the playful mood turn sour?

The longing for (false) comfort in the face of these demands is already addressed in the title of *The Ultimate Question to All Answers* (2019) to then—as a parable with no educational value, narrated by the onboard computer voice of a Flixbus to combat boredom during the ride—deliberately let it peter out into absurdity amidst the offshoots of escapism in modernity (conspiracy theories, esotericism, fixed book prices). The ironic lesson of Gülzow’s work: It is precisely in failure that resistance succeeds today.