Goodbye,Stalin«A specter is haunting Europe – the specter of…?»
The exhibition The Only Possible Story presents the frist results of the publication-project Goodbye, Stalin. The project combines photographic and cultural-theoretical approaches. We began our work by critically analysing the motifs of two iconic late-Stalinist Paintings. This was followed by photo-reportages (conducted in Ukraine, Poland, France, and Germany) and contemporary re-enactments of the motifs.

This has resulted in an archive of various collected materials, which will be organised as a book-publication in the coming year. Artists and researchers are taking part in the publication, offering interpretations and deconstructions of the selected motifs and materials from the perspectives of various research fields.

The exhibition operates as an open research laboratory, presenting photographs, texts, and archival materials. It explores the political and cultural localisation of the artworks, spanning from the late Stalinist-period to the present day.

How and in which terms can the art of the Stalinist-period be described? What cultural and aesthetic dominants defined Stalinism, and how did they influence and translate into other social spheres? And what ghosts of the past do these dominants resurrect (if they ever disappeared)?

The project is conceptualised by Anastasiia Batishcheva in collaboration with Julia Rybalka and Paul Stadler.




Bayerische Akademie der 
Schönen Künste 
Max-Joseph-Platz 3
80539 Munich 



Opening hours  
Mon–Fri 11:00 - 16:00

Exhibition period is from 10.12.2024 - 31.1.2025
with winter break from 21.12.2024 - 6.1.2025





Program: 

  • Tuesday, 10.12.2024    at  19:00      Vernissage:

    Artist talk with Anastasiia Batishcheva, Julia Rybalka and Paul Stadler. Moderated by Ulrich Pohlmann

  • Friday, 13.12.2024    at  14:00   Workshop

    Lectures by: 

  • 14:00  Anke Hennig: «Understanding Stalinism: Abolition (Papernyj) or Realisation (Groys) of the Avant-garde»
  • 14:30
    Paul Stadler: «‹Finally War!› – The Mobilisation of Art as Art of Mobilisation»
  • 15:00
    Ekaterina Nikitina und Nikita Sazonov: 
    «The Substance: Care, Maintenance 
    and Transformation of Species»