The Need to Know
Michael S. Honegger
€65,00
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“A multi-layered and incredibly creative visual narrative of family secrets, brought to life with exceptional book design.“
Aline Smithson, Lenscratch
Michael Honegger’s father was a spy during the Cold War. Bilingual in German and English, he worked for the U.S. Air Force and sent agents into East Germany and elsewhere behind the Iron Curtain.
The Honeggers lived in West Germany between 1959 and 1963 during the height of the Cold War. None of the family members had any idea about the father’s work life and all questions about it were answered with the same, predictable response, “Do you have the need to know?”, followed by a smile and silence. It was not until long after he retired that he finally shared a few details of his career as a counterintelligence special agent.
This project is an exploration of the meagre details that emerged from those brief conversations and Michael’s curiosity about Cold War espionage and its impact upon his family at the time. His father led two lives that rarely intersected. His family members were often the unwitting participants in indecipherable events that left them with many more questions than answers. Mysterious strangers would show up at their apartment late at night only to depart before dawn without saying a word to anyone other than his father. Peculiar encounters, curious radio transmissions, and unexplained coincidences became the norms of his childhood.
“I now have the need to know more about the secret world my father inhabited and the lives of others with whom he interacted. This project is a photographic re-creation of the intersections and divergences of his secret life and the traditional paternal role he played. Ironically, several the archival photos in the project were actually shot by me and my father on separate trips to West Berlin in the winter of 1961 but were only re-discovered recently. So, it becomes an interesting intersection of the factual and fictional based upon historical research, family archives, my memories, and my imagination.
The project is particularly timely as the issues of the Cold War have evolved and continue to play out on the international stage. The current war in Ukraine is just one example of the evolution of the conflict. The espionage tools of the 1960's look primitive to a degree but they, too, have changed to conform to the current applications and tools used for cyber-warfare and propaganda purposes. The cycle of history continues to unwind in an ever-repetitive pattern.”
Michael S. Honegger
All copies of the book are numbered.
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AWARDS
- Honorable Mention at the 2024 International Photography Awards (Book: Monograph category)
- Shortlisted for the 2024 Arles Prix du Livre award in the Photo-Text category
- Shortlisted for the Athens Photo Festival Pick:24 Book Award
- Shortlisted for the 2024 PHotoESPAÑA Best Photography Book of the Year Award (Creation category)
- Honorable Mention at the 2024 Photographic Publication of the Year award
- Shortlisted for the 2024 FotoBus Library Award
- Listed on the 2023 Lenscratch's Staff Favourite Things list
- Listed on the 2023 What Will You Remember's Favourite Photobooks list
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IN THE PRESS
- DreiDrittel - Der Fotopodcast (in German)
- Spyscape.com (in English)
- l'intervalle.blog (in French)
- Lenscratch.com (in English)
- L'Œil de la Photographie (in French)
- L'Œil de la Photographie (in English)
- AllAboutPhoto.com (in English)
- CollectorDaily.com (in English)
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Photographs: Michael S. Honegger
Essays: Barbara Honegger, Brenton Hamilton, Aline Smithson, and George A. Reisch
Book design: Aneta Kowalczyk
Photo edition: Aneta Kowalczyk
Photo post-processing: Aneta Kowalczyk
Proof reading: Ben Borek
Cover: Hard (clothbound Peyer Baronesse Black + embossing + photograph)
Inside: Munken Pure 120g and 150g, Munken Print Cream 80g, Arctic Volume White 170g
Format: 160x220 mm
Number of pages: 100 + inserts + 10-page-long leporello
Number of photographs: 54
Language version: English
Print run: 800 copies
Printing & binding: Argraf, Warsaw, Poland
Embossing: Marceli Printery, Warsaw, Poland
Publication date: September/October 2023
Publisher: BLOW UP PRESS
ISBN: 978-83-965969-1-8
