In the publication The Surveyor, artist Fabian Reimann establishes connections between espionage, art, and multiple identities. Reimann takes the English art historian Anthony Frederick Blunt, who was publicly exposed as a Soviet spy in a speech by Margaret Thatcher in the House of Commons in 1979, as his starting point. Blunt’s exposure as a representative of the establishment came as a serious shock to the British upper class, as it confirmed every paranoia of the Cold War era: The book The Surveyor ties in with an installation of the same name by Fabian Reimann. In the publication, the artist reports on the interrelationships of the media in the research processes of his work. For example, Reimann explains what the Manhattan Project on the development of the atomic bomb has to do with the English royal family, and what it has to do with Blunt’s person. In addition to the artist himself, authors such as Denise van de Beek are represented in the publication with an essay on the mechanisms of modification and manipulation of images before and during the time of copy/paste. The art historian Stephanie Tasch discusses the life, work and reputation of Anthony Blunt.
Fabian Reimann (*1975 in Bremerhaven, lives in Leipzig), studied cultural and art sciences as well as German language and literature at the University of Bremen and graphic design, book art, fine arts at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig as well as textual sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Reimann is co-editor of the literary magazine Krachkultur, editor of freeman’s journal, co-founder of the producers’ gallery AMERIKA, Berlin and the project Kaufhaus Joske, Leipzig. Fabian Reimann is the 2011 award winner of the Kunstverein Hannover.
The book is published by Spector Books at a retail price of 25 Euros.