Jasmin Werner: Apparat Kleptokrat

Jasmin Werner’s new work explores personal and political histories through the lens of place. Her Filipino heritage and the gallery’s location in Switzerland frame a reflection on the Marcos regime, the massive theft of public funds, and Switzerland’s controversial role in storing and eventually returning that wealth.

The installation links these histories with a mix of photography and sculpture. Werner uses photographic backdrops that merge Swiss and Filipino imagery, nodding to Imelda Marcos’s love of monumental architecture. The sculptures resemble traditional Swiss wooden souvenirs, but instead of farmers and animals, they depict the 1986 airlift of the Marcos family: figures, luggage, and jets.

These works, handcrafted in Southeast Asia, challenge ideas of authenticity and identity. A Filipino-made Swiss toy or a Filipino portrayed as one reveals how cultures shape and reflect each other. History repeats, but it is also constructed and circulated like souvenirs.

Werner’s pieces suggest that what appears local often points outward. The past is never distant, and souvenirs become reminders of global entanglements that still shape the present.