Jana Müller’s new artist book, Falscher Hase / Mock Rabbit opens by shedding light on criminal investigations in the former German Demo-cratic Republic (GDR), offering an artistic exploration of historical narratives and personal reflections and a contemporary journey to crime scenes on both sides of the world.
Making use of her extensive online archive at http://falscherhase.jana-mueller.de, Müller delves into artistic discussions surrounding crime. At the core of the research is Müller’s 86-year-old father, a former police detective with first-hand experience in murder cases and espionage within socialist Germany. Despite the official denial of crime in the GDR, Müller’s father shares insights from his past.
Falscher Hase / Mock Rabbit places conversations between the artist and her father - accompanied by photographic documentation and textu-al fragments from Müller’s childhood memories -  alongside historical documents sourced from various archives. A detailed glossary elucidates key terms and provides historical context on the administration of crime in the GDR.
The visual narrative unfolds through a selection of images, ranging from archival evidence and familial artefacts to crime scene photo-graphs. Of particular significance is the exploration of the infamous “crossword puzzle case”, a murder that transfixed Halle/Neustadt in the 1980s, prompting Müller’s journey through Saxony-Anhalt (D). Müller later expands the scope of her research overall, including a trip to Christchurch (NZ) in search of evidence of other crimes.
Photo theorist Mira Anneli Naß contributes an analysis, examining par-allels in media representations of crimes throughout the history of the two German states, compared with Müller’s photo-forensic-artistic approach. Taking reference from the stacked files within which Müller conducted her research, the book’s format makes use of papers of vary-ing colours and sizes, precisely bound to reflect different categories of text. The open cover invites readers into Müller’s immersive world, while a large-format postcard provides a record of her exhibited im-age-based installation. Central to the narrative is the ritual of Müller’s father cooking meat-loaf during her visits, symbolising both familial warmth and the com-plexities of his character, ultimately lending Falscher Hase its title.

Text: Mira Anneli Naß
Language: EN/GE
Graphic Design: Daniela Weirich
Format: 23,3 x 33 cm
Pages: 72
Binding: Swiss binding
Print run: 400 copies
Printer: Druckhaus Sportflieger Berlin
Puplisher: Verlag: Monroe Books, 2024