Spies never sleep: Espionage-inspired artworks

The artworks in the exhibition "We never sleep" at the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt are inspired by the mysterious work of secret agents.

Image: Noam Toram; Photo: Per Tingleff

Deutschland Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt Ausstellung We Never Sleep

Newsprint camouflage

Everyone knows the cliché of the spy casually observing a target while pretending to read the newspaper. The Canadian artist Rodney Graham uses the classic motif in the form of a light box ad. He played the role of the alleged spy.

Rodney Graham, Newspaper Man, man on a bench reading a newspaper (The Netherlands)

Control tower, 20 miles away

Global surveillance needs infrastructure. US activist and photo artist Trevor Paglen specializes in taking photos of secret military bases in remote or restricted areas from several kilometers away. At the Schirn museum, he presents "telephotography" motifs as well as a list of names and codes of secret military programs.

Image: Courtesy Trevor Paglen, Metro Pictures, New York, Altman Siegel, San Francisco

Control Tower, blurry photo of a control tower and other buildings in the distance (Courtesy Trevor Paglen, Metro Pictures, New York, Altman Siegel, San Francisco)

Critical of the regime

"I'm not holding my breath" — that's what East German artist Cornelia Schleime called her 1982 performance, a critical view of the GDR's surveillance state. After German reunification, she had access to the files the Ministry of State Security, or Stasi, kept on her. Her wry response: "Here's to continued good cooperation."

Image: Bernd Hiepe

Cornelia Schleime with a clear plastic bag over her head (Bernd Hiepe)

Reminder of the Barschal scandal

In 1987, the conservative premier of Germany's northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, Uwe Barschel, resigned after leaks that his office had spied on the Social Democratic rival in the state election. Shortly afterwards, Barschel was found dead in the bathtub of a Geneva hotel, a scene Thomas Demand reconstructed for photographic works.

Image: Thomas Demand, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020

Thomas Demand, Bathroom, a bathtub filled with water, the shower curtain drawn halfway (Thomas Demand, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020)

Modified data streams

Simon Denny, an artist from New Zealand, is looking for the interface of design, technology and language in the communication of secret services. First presented at the 2015 Venice Biennale, this installation was part of the "Secret Powers" project. It shows a map of the world: New Zealand is at the center and data streams to the US and Australia.

Image: Courtesy of the artist, Galerie Buchholz and PetzelGallery, photo: Nick Ash

Simon Denny, Modded Server-Rack Display with David Darchicourt
Commissioned Map of Aotearoa New Zealand: a cage with flags and a map. (Courtesy of the artist, Galerie Buchholz and PetzelGallery, photo: Nick Ash)

Snippets from secret talks

The investigative conceptual artist Jill Magid got in touch with secret agents for her "Spy Project." She was not allowed to record the conversations, so she took notes by hand and later used some of the key words in neon light installations. The Dutch secret service later censored and confiscated parts of her work.

Image: Courtesy Jill Magid and LABOR, Mexico City

Jill Magid, I Can Burn Your Face: Miranda IV/ bright white words on a red background (Courtesy Jill Magid and LABOR, Mexico City)

Conspiratorial handover

Noam Toran's seven-minute film "If We Never Meet Again" shows two men meeting on a lonely country road from different angles. The Mexican artist employs typical camera angles from spy films — close-ups, wide-angles and views from above — that are intended to shift the viewers perspective on classic espionage scenes.