Michael Gülzow. The Gate to Unreality

In Michael Gülzow's video installation, which is built around a new three-channel video work, as well as in the trailer he designed for Diagonale '26, the protagonists can not only travel through time, but also effortlessly switch between newscasts, science fiction scenery, and ‘alternative facts’. Through the clever montage of found footage and self-filmed material, the artist dissolves the boundaries between reality and fiction and engages them in a multi-layered and humorous dialogue. He critically examines the tension between contemporary image production (with its rapidly developing technological possibilities) and the media construction of truth (with its frightening strategies of seduction and deception). Through the obvious use of editing and montage in glitch and retro aesthetics, he creates no illusions, but rather reveals the mechanisms of media manipulation and deconstructs post-factual narratives through the self-empowerment of the protagonists.