We Never Sleep Exhibition Catalogue Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt

Espionage is linked to obtaining rare secrets or confidential information without the permission of the beholder. In times of digital communication, private individuals have the capacity to reveal hidden governmental secrets or whistle-blowers can fight their government’s spying on their own citizens. This book is dedicated to the fascination of espionage as source of current artistic inspiration. International artists address the topic from a contemporary perspective with their works touching aspects of espionage such as surveillance, paranoia, threat, camouflage, cryptography, manipu­lation, cold-blood, and betrayal. The book presents a multitude of artistic strategies as well as unexpected objects and touches the "golden age" of espionage during the Cold War, as well as the context of media super-exposure.

Jelena Martinovic is a Swiss scholar, writer, and educator living in London. Katharina Dohm is curator at the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. Joerg Heiser is an art critic, university lecturer, curator, and musician. Cristina Ricupero is an independent curator and art critic based in Paris. Noam Toran, born 1975 in Las Cruces, New Merico, lives and works in Rotterdam. In addition to his work as founder of the Berlin-based publishing house ciconia ciconia, Wladimir Velminski heads the research area History and Theory of Media Regimes in Eastern Europe at the Bauhaus-Universita¨t Weimar. Marina Otero Verzier is an architect based in Rotterdam.