Masterclass: Crime Does Pay!

In the framework of the exhibition The Crime Was Almost Perfect – an exhibition linking art and the aesthetics of crime- Witte de With presents a Master Class with Michael Zinganel.

This Master Class investigates the analogies both in the methods of forensics, urban research, and art production, but also of the legal court and the art gallery as places of discourse, negotiation, and contest. Contrary to popular opinion deviant behavior has been a very productive force in society, since it produced both preventive techniques and a set of after the fact investigations. Many of the most known tools for the modern perception of the city have been introduced or at least inspired by the police detectives’ work (and the military complex): photography, cartography, the technique of the interview and strolling around ones runs and beats were police techniques first before they had been appropriated by journalists, urban sociologists, and artists, who co-contributed to the readability of the big city in scientific works, novels, popular newspapers, art, and especially in 20th century film.

Both in the fields of forensics and art clues are collected, arranged, and interpreted. At court the intention of exhibiting clues is to find the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, to prove the guilt of the criminal to successfully sentence him. But also in the art gallery experts of all kinds are attaching significance and meaning to specific works – but in contrary to a trail at court – for posing additional crucial questions, what might lie beyond the seemingly objective truth.