This week we take you on a classified adventure into the world of spy objects. From gadgets to artworks, from spy planes to propaganda films, each reveals a cunning strategy. SPYSCAPE has recruited an extraordinary lineup of artists, designers and historians to bring these intriguing objects to life in our new ‘snackable’ weekly podcast series A History of the World in Spy Objects.
The SPYSCAPE Collection contains hundreds of special objects that illuminate espionage. We’ve compiled 10 of our favorites from Edward Snowden’s Telepresence Robot - allowing him to ‘go places’ outside of Russia - to our handy OSS baseball grenade and 007’s GoldenEye Aston Martin DB5.
Fun without phones. Nine exciting challenge zones. Stretch your mind and body. Bring your friends. It’s time to train like a spy! SPYGAMES is a totally new experience designed with experts from CIA and Special Ops. It's a brain-teasing, adrenaline-pumping thrill to challenge mind and body. SPYGAMES is built for teams. Get your team ready for fun immersive challenges in an amazing experience you’ll want to repeat often.
Washington and Hollywood have an awkward relationship. Since the CIA secretly commissioned the animated classic Animal Farm (1954) with its iconic hand-drawn artworks the G-men have backed movies from Iron Man to The Terminator. Propaganda wears many masks from patriotic lyrics to CIA-funded painting exhibitions. Sometimes it’s so subtle you may not even know that culture is being manipulated as a spy tool.
China is at the center of international intrigue after reports of an attempt to spy on a British diplomat in Beijing using a bugged teapot. The story emerged when a tea set, presented as a gesture of goodwill, crashed to the ground during dishwashing. It’s not clear if the stories are mere whispers in the steam of espionage but it certainly wouldn’t be the first time spies tried to plant an electronic bug in an everyday object.
Gadgets and gizmos are an integral part of espionage thrillers from Tony Stark’s Iron Man Gauntlet to Captain America’s magnetic shield. We’ve rounded up some of the most iconic gizmos from your favorite spy flicks so grab your shoe phone and share these with your friends!
Eavesdropping equipment and bugging devices are an integral part of The Lives of Others, representing the eyes and ears of the oppressive Stasi spies. The movie is as surreal as it is disturbing, with memorable objects including tools to collect the odor of an interrogation subject. Even more unsettling, German police admitted using Stasi 'scent profiling' on G8 activists long after the Cold War had ended.
Long before Q created 007’s Aston Martin DB5 ejector seat, US and British gadget masters were fitting compasses into buttons and hiding cameras in cigarette packs. It all started with an ultra-secretive ‘escape and evasion’ program, set up by British spies in 1939 to help POWs escape from Nazi prisons but production soon spread to the US under a sneaky Fort Hunt spymaster named Robley E. Winfrey.
At SPY HQ you’ll explore hidden worlds, break codes, run surveillance and spot liars - while a system developed with MI6 experts reveals your personal spy role and profile.
