The Perfect Crime: Concerning the Murder of Reality

If you flick through German television programmes, it almost seems impossible not to end up watching a crime series. In 2015 alone, ARD and ZDF (main German public broadcasters) broadcasted four and a half thousand crime episodes - on average, each of these episodes contains at least one murder or manslaughter offence. The crime statistics of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) display 565 cases of completed murder and manslaughter offences throughout the same time period.

In our work, we make reference to a wide variety of criminal investigation methods, such as crime scene photography, portraits of alleged criminals and current 3D scanning techniques.
In doing so, we enter the field of tension between fiction and reality, speculation and authenticity and negotiate contemporary discourses of the documentary and the fundamental question of the promise of reality in photographic images.

This work has resulted in a book, we are planning to publish together with the Swedish publishing house "Kult Books". The crowdfunding is intended to finance this very publication.

The project was shortlisted for the C/O Berlin Talent Award in 2023 and received bronze at the German Photo Book Award. An extract of the project was published in ZEITMagazin and exhibited at the Biennale de l'Image Tangible in Paris.

The artistic work is complemented by two essays. In their text "Crime Narratives as Narratives of Order", Aldo Legnaro and Andrea Kretschmann look at the ambivalent role of crime series in German society from a sociological perspective. In her text "Image traces: Forensic Media and the Documentary Gaze", Karen Fromm creates a link between the documentary image and its use in the context of forensic police work.

The book has a total of 216 pages and a format of 28x15.6cm. It will be printed at the Berlin-based printing house Sportflieger. The cover is coated with a thermochromatic varnish that becomes transparent when being exposed to body heat. Therefore, fingerprints on the book cover become visible for a short time period before disappearing again.

Have a look at our crowdfunding video to find out more!

The Perfect Crime: Concerning the Murder of Reality, English/German, 216 pages, 28 x 15.6 cm, Swiss bound, cover with thermochromatic ink, offset printed, thread stitched, edition of 1000, published by Kult Books, ISBN: 978-91-987607-2-9

The aim of the work is to raise awareness of the effect of crime series on our sense of security and our perception of general crime and police work. It is our objective to make people aware and critically scrutinise their own assumptions and ideas concerning this matter. In addition, the broader question is being raised, to what extent these fictional narratives of order create the basis for an ever-expanding police security structure, for instance in the field of surveillance and predictive policing.

We would also like to provide an artistic, visual introduction into discussions, led within various media theory discourses, such as on the interaction between fiction and reality and the impact of images on our perception of reality.

The book addresses sociological, media-theoretical and criminological aspects on various levels and creates a link between the discourses by means of an artistic examination. It therefore targets a broad spectrum of people from a wide range of backgrounds.

Supporting the publication of the book will allow us to make the covered topics accessible to a wider public and thus raise awareness of the impact of fictional representations on our perception of reality.

For instance, 300 copies of the book will be available for free at Swedish libraries all across the country. Furthermore, we'd have the chance to address audiences beyond our own sphere of influence at a low-threshold level through cooperation with various bookshops.

In addition to the book, you have the chance to receive many other thank-you gifts, such as a poster, a signed print, or the special edition, consisting of a slipcase that has been treated with luminescent paint so that it glows in the dark - an idea, based on police work with black light, in order to trace bodily fluids at crime scenes.

Feel free to share the crowdfunding with other interested people!
To make sharing easier, you can find a small press and social media bundle via the following link:

In total, €15,900 are needed to be able to publish the book in its current form. €9,000 have already been provided through a grant from the Swedish Arts Council.
If successful, 100% of the money will be used to finance this publication.

This includes the production costs of the book, such as printing and binding, the design, the introductory text and its translation as well as font licences, colour proofs and the fees for the crowdfunding itself.

The books and thank you gifts purchased via the crowdfunding will most likely be delivered in January of 2024.