Article 12
Commission for the AIVD, the Dutch Secret Service


In 2005 the offices of the AIVD were to renovated and relocated. Under Dutch law, a percentage of the project's total budget had to be used to commission a new artwork for the building. The organization used this as an opportunity to improve upon their public persona, or in their own words, 'to provide the AIVD with a human face'. The commission was granted to Jill Magid. Over the last three years Magid conducted numerous interviews with employees of the AIVD. These conversations took place in bars and non-descript public places. The purpose of these meetings was for Magid to collect personal data of the employee and to use this information to find the organization's face. The results of the interviews are the newly produced works of Article 12. Each piece reveals specific characteristics of the participating AIVD agents but never disclose their identities entirely.

Some of the work will be on permanent display in the new AIVD building.

Article 12 concerns the protection of personal data of those employed by the AIVD.

Installation at Stroom of Article 12, 2008

Photos by Rob Kollaard
The Kosinski Quotes 2007 | The Shepherds, bronze cast 2008
The Shepherds 2008. Edition for the Deputy Director of the AIVD, permanent installation AIVD Building
The Kosinski Quotes, silkscreen series of 9, 2007
I Can Burn Your Face, title piece, neon. 2008
I Can Burn Your Face, Series of 18 spies, installation room of 6 spies. 2008
I Can Burn Your Face, detail of Miranda V, 2008
Article 12 Archive #2485536/01 2005-8

Guide to Works in Article 12

The Kosinski Quotes
Series of 9 Silkscreens, four color print, 44"x27 1/4", 2007
Cockpit, a novel by Jerzy Kosinski, functioned as my guide on how to be a hummingbird, a spy so deep undercover that even the other spies are unaware of his existence. Hummingbirds take on various 'public' roles in society, including that of an artist. The quotes were scanned from the book. The color system is based on the AIVD's practice of highlighting text in yellow to be censored, mixed with my personal system of marking.

The Shepherds Bronze and resin editions, 12" l x 10"w x 9" h. 2008
"We hate the CIA."
"Why?"
"Because they're cowboys."
"If they are cowboys, what are you?"
"We're the shepherds".
I commissioned cowboy-artist Chris Schiller in Colorado to sculpt The Shepherds, based on my designs. The Bribe edition, cast in bronze, is permanently installed in the AIVD Deputy Head's office, in a vitrine showcasing gifts given to the organization by other international services. The Gift edition, in resin, is valued below the limit, set by the AIVD, when a gift becomes a bribe.

I Can Burn Your Face
Title piece and 18 Burning Spies. 7mm Neon, transformers and wires. 2008
'To burn a face' is the phrase used within the AIVD meaning to expose a source's identity. I wrote descriptions of each agent I interviewed in my notebooks ¯18 in total¯and then used these descriptions to burn them. The neon words are lifted directly from my notebooks, and are in my handwriting.

The Directives Varies on Installation. 2008
The directives, addressed to the AIVD, are my request for training. In them, I employ terms and phrases I picked up from the agents with whom I met. I first sent this list to Vincent IV, who agreed to train me privately.

18 Spies Series of 18 letterpress prints. 11" x17". 2008

Archive #2485536/01 Official AIVD archive box with my vetting number, all my original notebooks from this assignment, my copy of Cockpit, DATA infomercial, Gift version of the Shepherds. 2005-8
The AIVD requires a complete washout of an agent's files when he leaves the service. With the completion of my assignment, I am relinquishing to the AIVD all of my original notebooks. My archive will be on permanent display in the organization's new building.

DATA 6 min Pal DVD, 2005
I was asked to create an infomercial to be shown on the AIVD's Intranet. Its goal was to incite interest amongst AIVD agents to schedule a meeting with me and give me their personal data.