WE NEVER SLEEP

Can you treat your visit to the exhibition as strictly confidential? That is what the exhibition team at the Schirn is asking, for the fascination exerted by espionage is a recurring source of artistic inspiration, and so it is no surprise that numerous international artists address strategies of secrecy in their works. As glamorously as spies are presented in popular culture, so socially explosive is the information they obtain through covert operations. Whereas in the past individuals or states were spied on by national governments, in an age of digital communication citizens make state secrets public, or whistleblowers denounce the spying on the population by their own government. In their works, contemporary artists deal with aspects of espionage such as surveillance, paranoia, threat and camouflage, cryptography, manipulation, cold-bloodedness and betrayal. With a multitude of artistic strategies and astonishing objects, the “golden age” of espionage during the Cold War is made just as visible as the current negotiation of scrutiny by the media.

Artists:
Thomas Demand, Simon Denny, Stan Douglas, Charles and Ray Eames, Forensic Architecture, Rodney Graham, Eva Grubinger, Alfredo Jaar, Gabriel Lester, Metahaven, Trevor Paglen, Cornelia Schleime, Taryn Simon, Noam Toran, Suzanne Treister, Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas and others

Exhibition:
Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, 24/9/2020 – 10/1/2021