The solo exhibition of artist and filmmaker Juliane Jaschnow (*1989), Anstiftung zur Vorspiegelung wahrer Tatsachen, explores the power of visual narratives and the instrumentalization of images and collective memory in the context of contemporary Russia. The presentation combines elements from her earlier works Rekapitulieren (2019–2021) and «mit freundlichem Beifall» (2023/2024) with Jaschnow’s newly developed installation Anstiftung zur Vorspiegelung wahrer Tatsachen (2025).
In her audiovisual installations, Jaschnow probes the media narratives through which Russia stages its global role and legitimizes its political actions. Her work engages with processes of (re)construction and (re)enactment, distorted images, replicas, backdrops, and the translation of historical symbols into present-day contexts. She deconstructs these strategies by materializing image-objects, reframing media content and its ideological charge, and condensing them into expansive spatial environments.
At the heart of Rekapitulieren is a full-scale replica of the Berlin Reichstag, built by the Russian Ministry of Defence in the military-patriotic theme park “Patriot Park” near Moscow. In the spring of 2017, hundreds of extras restaged the iconic moment of Russian war commemoration—the storming of the Reichstag in May 1945 and the raising of the Soviet flag atop the building. This reenactment serves as the starting point for Jaschnow’s investigation into German-Russian memory culture. Encompassing a video installation alongside objects and printed materials, the work examines collective images of history and remembrance, their role in shaping identity, and the function of patriotic education.
The multi-part work «mit freundlichem Beifall» addresses the persistence of propagandistic stagings in Russia and the mechanisms of disinformation and deception. It explores the media spaces, forms, and theatrical settings of political representation—such as the redesigned curtains in the Kremlin’s ceremonial hall, where foreign heads of state are received for televised appearances. The work also reflects on a 1993 newspaper article in which Vladimir Putin voiced support for a “military dictatorship in the Chilean model” for Russia.
In her latest work, Anstiftung zur Vorspiegelung wahrer Tatsachen, Jaschnow turns to the growing sacralization of Russian state power. She investigates the role of Orthodox Christianity and shamanism in ideologically legitimizing the “special military operation” in Ukraine, and how these elements feed into a religious-nationalist narrative of sacrifice and heroism for Russia. Her research also considers supernatural practices as individual coping mechanisms in times of collective insecurity and wartime reality. Drawing from an extensive archive of visual material from Russian media, Jaschnow assembles a multi-part installation of props, mirrored objects, teleprompters, and video works. At its core is a specially constructed optical illusion chamber—a photo-multigraph—in which she confronts the intertwined concepts of truth, lies, deception, and illusion.
