The maritime world is a man’s world – at least until now! Things are changing and today more women than ever are sailing the seas. In order to celebrate women working on, at and with the seas, secret agency founded the Women of the Seven Seas in 2020, asking: Is there a feminism of the seas?
In 2023, the Women of the Seven Seas called out to the Shefarers of Ipswich: Female sailors, women working at the port or on ships, swimmers, environmental activists, female boat builders, women living on boats, and so on, inviting them to all join forces, share their stories and dream of a better future on and for the seas.
During SPILL festival, secret agency set up headquaters for the Shefarers of Ipswich on Barge Victoria on the water front, hosting a series of events: > more
Freiburg dreams. You dream. We dream. Everybody dreams. Everybody dreams - alone. Every night. Countless simultaneous dreams. Most are forgotten or never told. But this time, the dreams will not fall into oblivion, no: they will come true, if only for this film: Traumfabrik.
Traumfabrik, 2022
Maritime patriarchy is no joke. It is a history of war, colonialism and exploitation of people and natural resources. Is there - finally - a feminist movement about to appear at sea to unite against all that? The answer is: not yet. But maybe soon.
Women of the Seven Seas: Lecture Performance, 2022
The patriarchal history of the sea is shaped by war, colonialism and exploitation. Hamburg port, too, stands in that tradition, and institutions such as HPA, Eurogate, Hapag Lloyd and many boat clubs are still male-dominated. Slowly, however, there is some movement:
First Shefarers Parade, 2021
We are bringing performances to your home. Not by stream, but in a box. Live into your living room. All art venues are closed for this season and you are longing for unexpected encounters?
unboxing unboxing, 2020
Women of the Seven Seas is a global group of female artists, researchers, activists and seafarers working with, at and around the sea and on questions of maritime life. The group has been initiated by geheimagentur and has one question in common:
Women of the Seven Seas, 2019 - 2023
Hamburg Port is governed by Hamburg Port Authority - not always for the best: Cruise ship boom and smart port logistics, but no space for an alternative development of the port.
Free Port Baakenhöft, 2017
„Today we suffer from sea blindness“, the chief of the British navy says, and he is right: it is the same London, New York, Hong Kong, Hamburg: the ports have mutated to security zones devoid of people. For centuries, life in Hamburg was shaped by seafaring.
Access Points, 2017
Performance on MS Stubnitz, Premiere 9. November 2017.
Travelogues from journeys exploring the possibility of a different port: As Hamburg Port Hydrarchy (HPH), secret agency set out to conceptualize and initiate port development beyond container trade and cruise ship romanticism.
Ports, 2016
The end of history was yesterday: we are building a new city. Regardless of who we are, where we are from and for how long we want to stay - we are all citizens of the new city.
September 2016.
Curated by secret agency.
With:
Actopolis: We are building a new city, 2016
In his Essay upon Projects from 1697, Daniel Defoe proclaims the Projecting Age:
Call and Response, 2015
The city has received a text message from industry: „I like you, but I have thought about us again. It doesn’t work out. I wish you all the best.“
A lecture musical about the break-up of city and industry.
Texts, lyrics, stage direction, stage design: secret agency
Music:
Sweat Shop, 2015
Welcome to the port, welcome to the other side, welcome to where it all begins, where shore leave and seafaring combine into new forms of existence and mobility, welcome to the terminal.
In June 2015, the Hamburg Senate opened the city's third cruise ship terminal.
Ein Kreuzfahrtterminal, 2015
In September 2014 artists, activists, researchers, and participants from all over Europe and beyond gathered in Hamburg for an assembly of assemblies. Sharing experiences from real-democracy-movements and artistic experimentation they wanted to explore new ways of coming together:
The Art of Being Many, 2014
Eleven years of making projects, eleven years in half-deserted pedestrian areas, eleven years of bad pay, eleven years of too little sleep. It’s time to stage a classic.
Essay upon Projects, 2014
It is spring, the flowers are blooming, and in the former Babcock training workshop the machines are starting again: the Factory has opened. Lampshades, wash bags, beer and vinyl records are being produced:
Factory, 2014
„Ladies and Gentlemen, we betted against each other. We won, we lost. And often the wager was a kind of insurance against the propable. And very often we did not even need this insurance. Ladies and Gentlemen, we made it into the evening news. We went on protests together.
Das Wettbüro: Alles oder alles. geheimagentur vs. Oberhausen, 2013
A Lincoln Town Car, converted into a stretch limousine in California and abandoned in Dubai during the financial crisis.
For Foreign Affairs, artist Joshua Sofaer and secret agency brought this limousine to Berlin to turn it into an improbability drive.
Berlin, 2013.
The Improbability Drive, 2013
The Cardiff Giant! The Falling Man! The Human Autoscooter! The dancing Walrus! Performance art, showmanship, spectacle:
Actions // Attractions, 2013
Not only Oberhausen is bankrupt. There is never enough money. Can’t we change that? Wouldn’t it be nice to have control over money? Can’t we print our own? Yes, we can. Geheimagentur, Theater Oberhausen and a whole network of Partners founded their own bank: the Schwarzbank.
Schwarzbank – Kohle für alle!, 2012
Slavery, crusades, pirates - when we were children, all this seemed to be in the past. Now, the first piracy trial in 400 years takes place in Hamburg. How is this possible?
Parlez - echte Piraten!, 2011
A Crash-Course in the Theory and Practice of Migration
Have you always dreamt of living somewhere else? Are you only passing through anyways? Have you had enough of Germany? Was your last holiday much too short? Or would you simply like to know how that works: to migrate?
Have you always dreamt of living somewhere else? Are you only passing through anyways? Have you had enough of Germany? Was your last holiday much too short? Or would you simply like to know how that works: to migrate?
Get Away!, 2010
Masterpieces – a steal!
The Southern Chinese city of Dafen calls itself a “culture industry model base”. Right now tens of thousands of copy artists are copying European masterpieces. They remain anonymous, work collectively and produce something that is at the same time art and non-art.
The Southern Chinese city of Dafen calls itself a “culture industry model base”. Right now tens of thousands of copy artists are copying European masterpieces. They remain anonymous, work collectively and produce something that is at the same time art and non-art.
The Most Wanted Works of Art, 2010
“Book your next escape on britishairways.com!” – Holidays are an attempt to escape: we want out! Out of dire economic circumstances, out of work, out of the scarcification of money, time, life: we are economic refugees. But as soon as we’re out, we land right back inside:
The Get-Away-Gala, 2009
The Wonders of Bochum, 2005
Bank of Burning Money, 2005