Justinian (Justin) Jampol

Justinian (Justin) Jampol is the founder and current executive director of The Wende Museum of the Cold War, an art museum, historical archive, and educational institution in Culver City, California.

Born in Los Angeles, California, in 1978, Jampol graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a B.A. in History. He attended graduate school at Oxford University, where he received a Master of Philosophy in Russian and East European Studies and a Doctor of Philosophy in Modern History. In addition to his leadership role at The Wende Museum, Jampol is adjunct professor at Claremont Graduate University and a frequent commentator on art as well as East European and Russian design.

At age 24, in 2002, Jampol founded The Wende Museum (“Wende” is a German word that means transition or change) while studying visual culture at Oxford University. Over the next dozen years, the museum became the largest collection of Cold War era artifacts and artwork outside of Europe. In late 2016, the museum will occupy its permanent location: the former United States National Guard Armory building in Culver City.

The Wende has become known for producing large-scale, provocative installations. In 2009, in honor of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Jampol brought ten segments (24 tons) of the original Wall from Germany, and placed them along Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, directly across the street from LACMA. At midnight on November 9, 2009, thousands of Angelenos blocked the street to celebrate the monument, which was painted by notable graffiti artists: Shepard Fairey, RETNA, Heraku, Thierry Noir, and D*Face.

In 2013, Jampol’s contribution to Jeremy Deller’s UK Pavilion at the Venice Biennale sparked controversy by implicating Russian oligarchs in the corrupt process of privatization following the collapse of the USSR. Likewise, Jampol’s New York Times Op-Ed about the political crisis in Ukraine and destruction of Soviet statues sparked a pointed debate.

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