Bella Ciao – Storytelling about anti-fascist resistance 


In the summer of 2024, studio mut.und.anmut explored how we can tell the story of resistance against National Socialism and fascism today. The aim was to challenge established narratives, to tolerate contradictions and to find our own language – in words and images – that is capable of having a political impact today. At university, in places familiar to us, perhaps even within our own families.

The project centred on three workshops: ‘What happened here?’ invited students from across the Visual Communication department to design posters that convey the acts of resistance by both forgotten and well-known figures in the fight against Nazism. ‘How to walter’, in collaboration with students from Paris, Zagreb and Sarajevo, sought a symbol behind which we can rally today against anti-democratic movements. Together with students from the Illustration class at the Berlin University of the Arts, we searched – with an eye to the 2025 federal election – for ‘metaphors of the political in nature’. 

What was going on here?
During a five-day workshop in Sauen, we researched biographies and sites of resistance against Nazism – with a particular focus on the role played by visual communication. We began our search in our own neighbourhoods: in the districts and streets where we live today. We are distilling what we discovered. Using powerful images and just a few words, we arrived at striking messages that give a sense of what resistance actually entailed. 

How to Walter?
‘Who is Walter?’ is a European research project exploring resistance against Nazism. In May, it invited students from Zagreb, Paris, Sarajevo and us to a joint workshop in Sarajevo. The aim was to design a symbol under which people today can rally in resistance against authoritarian or far-right movements. In Bosnia, Croatia, France and Germany. A new symbol – without drawing on established political iconography. One that works whether it’s huge or tiny. In the streets. And online. By day and by night. Colourful or monochrome. Animated in film, drawn on paper, painted on walls, embroidered onto a jacket. A symbol that we whisper as a pair. And shout out in our thousands. – The result was two symbols – stars formed from five hands – representing solidarity, trust and unity.
In search of political metaphors in nature. Together with the students from the Illustration class at the University of the Arts, we travelled to Brandenburg. Cherries hung from the trees. And on the lampposts were the candidates for the European and local elections. The state election in Brandenburg will take place when the leaves turn brown. We set off across country, searching for political metaphors in nature, gave ourselves animal names, looked for ticks and played pranks on each other. This is how we prepared for the federal election – to ensure that parliament doesn’t turn into a pigsty.