A Secret Service

A Secret Service: Art, Compulsion, Concealment examines the work of 16 international modern and contemporary artists whose practices centre on the construction of private worlds or focus on the exposure of hidden facts. The book makes specific reference to Kurt Schwitters, whose seminal work, the Merzbau , remains one of the confounding riddles of contemporary art. Including essays by artist and curator, Richard Grayson, specialist in outsider art Roger Cardinal, and Hayward Exhibitions Curator Clare Carolin, A Secret Service explores the spaces between psychological compulsion and philosophical expression, and maps the strange and awesome possibilities of the human imagination. Artists featured include: Sophie Calle, Roberto Cuoghi, Henry Darger, Gedewon, Susan Hiller, Tehching Hsieh, Joachim Koester, Kataryzna Josefowicz, Paul Etienne Lincoln, Mark Lombardi, Mike Nelson, Kurt Schwitters, Speculative Archive, Jeffery Vallance and Oskar Voll.