“New Ways of Doing Nothing,” a group exhibition that took place at Kunsthalle Wien in 2014, devoted itself to artistic production that opposes activity and instead gives an affirmative slant to forms of doing nothing or refraining—a major influence being the titular character of Hermann Melville’s “Bartleby the Scriviner: A Story of Wall Street.”

The phenomenon of the year 2012 refers to eschatological beliefs predicting transformative events on December 21, 2012. By now not only spiritual seekers have the conviction that something has to change. Still, there are different interpretations of the meaning of that specific date.

What makes crime stories fascinating is that the divisions between the criminal, the victims, and the audience are constantly blurred: we are all potential victims and could perhaps become criminals ourselves.