The Perfect Crime:
Concerning the Murder of Reality

GER | 2021-2022

Germany is a crime fiction country.
If wanted, fictional murder and man-
slaughter can be witnessed many times
a day throughout the main television
networks. There are more than 238
crime series available on Germany’s six
largest broadcasting channels. In 2015
alone, more than four and a half thousand
crime episodes were aired on the public-
service television broadcaster ZDF, which
generally include at least one case of
murder or manslaughter. Opposed to that,
565 real cases were stated in the official
crime statistics of the German Federal
Police (BKA) for the same year.

This overrepresentation marks the starting
point of our exploration on possible effects
of crime fiction on our perception and
behaviour. Through different visual levels,
we explore the extent to which supposed
knowledge about police work, potentially
hazardous locations and alleged character-
istics of victims and perpetrators is reinforced
through fictional representations in crime
series. The interaction between fiction and
reality is furthermore examined on the basis
of our own visual production and the promise
of truth in photographic images.

The Perfect Crime:
Concerning the Murder of Reality

GER | 2021-2022

Germany is a crime fiction country.
If wanted, fictional murder and man-
slaughter can be witnessed many times
a day throughout the main television
networks. There are more than 238
crime series available on Germany’s six
largest broadcasting channels. In 2015
alone, more than four and a half thousand
crime episodes were aired on the public-
service television broadcaster ZDF, which
generally include at least one case of
murder or manslaughter. Opposed to that,
565 real cases were stated in the official
crime statistics of the German Federal
Police (BKA) for the same year.

This overrepresentation marks the starting
point of our exploration on possible effects
of crime fiction on our perception and
behaviour. Through different visual levels,
we explore the extent to which supposed
knowledge about police work, potentially
hazardous locations and alleged character-
istics of victims and perpetrators is reinforced
through fictional representations in crime
series. The interaction between fiction and
reality is furthermore examined on the basis
of our own visual production and the promise
of truth in photographic images.