Basics plus, university place all photos by the author for hyperallergic in april 1981, a detective followed the french artist sophie calle through the streets of paris for one day. Sophie calle is a contemporary french conceptual artist known for her explorations of personal relationships and chance events. She then began contacting the peoplein essence, following him through the map of his family, friends, lovers, and acquaintances. Sophie calle had accidently found a telephone number diary on the street which she used for her work. Sophie calle published the photographs within the diarylike report of her observations, in the book entitled ecrit sur limage. The hotel, room 12 1983 sophie calle french using the look and language of the forensic report, calle presents evidence of her quixotic pursuits of the ineffable and evanescent. Calle turns the viewer or reader into an accomplice of her voyeurism filling them, too, with the urge to move unobserved through anothers private sphere.
Sophie calle was born on october 9, 1953, in paris, france. There were one or two assistants, a publicist, and sophie calle, one of the bestknown french artists of her generation, dressed in a blue and green smock over a tight black shirt, black tights, and flats. Sophie calles voyeuristic portraits of hotel rooms youtube. When a boyfriend dumped her by email, french artist sophie calle asked 100 women to read it and became the star of the venice biennale, reports angelique chrisafis.
She may be a an excellent stalker, but in her pursuit of strangers, calle presents a. In her work, she has attempted to metaphorically seduce her. Over the course of her 38yearlong career, sophie calle has established herself as one of frances most celebrated conceptual artists. Calles practice has also been focused on the notion of capturing the conceptual production of absence and presence.
She called some people from the book and derived an imaginative sketch of the diarys owner on the basis of what people said about him. Sophie calles voyeuristic fascination with the lives of others inspired the hotel, a project she executed in the early 1980s while working as a. Sophie calle has 50 books on goodreads with 8121 ratings. Having found a lost address book on the street in paris, calle copied the pages before returning it anonymously to its owner. Mas tu vue, exhibition catalogue, centre georges pompidou, paris 2003, reproduced pp. Sophie calle s voyeuristic fascination with the lives of others inspired the hotel, a project she executed in the early 1980s while posing as a chambermaid at a hotel in venice, italy. In this series calle combines factual documentation with personal responses to the hotel guests whose lives she glimpsed through voyeuristic examination of their belongings. She then embarked on a search to come to know this stranger by contacting listed individualsin essence, following him through the map. Is it just a coincidence that this fantastical catalogue of french artist sophie calle s projects over the years ever so slightly resembles, in its intimate size 23. The work of conceptual artist sophie calle embraces numerous media. Her oncologist father, robert calle, was a renowned art collector and former director of the nimes carre dart, a contemporary art museum. Variously described as a conceptual artist, a photographer, a movie director, and even a detective, she has developed a practice that is instantly recognizable for its distinct narrative elements and frequent combination of images with text.
Mar 07, 2009 sophie calles art mixes image and text to provoke the kind of intense emotional response usually inspired by epic literature or film. Jun 18, 2016 basics plus, university place all photos by the author for hyperallergic in april 1981, a detective followed the french artist sophie calle through the streets of paris for one day. Here began calle s obsession with attaining an intimacy with people while maintaining a cool distance. She proceeds to call through the address book and ask each person to meet with her, explaining the address book but refusing to reveal the owners identity unless they meet with her in person.
Oct 08, 2012 sophie calles the address book, an excerpt. Originally published in french as an artists book in 1980 and reissued in 2015 by siglio press in english, suite venitienne epitomizes sophie calles idiosyncratic, documentarystyle text and photography in an eloquent blend of fact and fiction. Apr 10, 2017 over the course of her 38yearlong career, sophie calle has established herself as one of frances most celebrated conceptual artists. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Nov 26, 2018 sophie calle s voyeuristic fascination with the lives of others inspired the hotel, a project she executed in the early 1980s while working as a chambermaid at a hotel in venice, italy. Lhotel french edition french paperback 1984 by sophie calle author. Actors, singers, musicians, composers, dancers, a clown, a performace artist, a magician, a rifle shooter, puppets, and a parrot interpret the. Sep 23, 2009 from following a stranger to venice to burying her mothers jewellery at the north pole, sophie calle is frances foremost artist of the unexpected wed 23 sep 2009 16. Published in 1984, sophie calle s l hotel is a perfect book. Paris, france, 1953 uses the mediums of photography, video, film, books, text, and performance to pursue her sociological and autobiographical investigations. Find an indepth biography, exhibitions, original artworks for sale, the latest news, and sold auction prices. Her most extraordinary works address rather ordinary human tendencies, from the morbid curiosity informing lhomme au carnet the address book, 1983 to the amorous betrayal of douleur exquise exquisite pain, 19842003, but calle knows how to up the. Sophie calle was born into an intellectual and creative household in 1953 paris, where she experienced an unconventional childhood. In 1983, journalist sophie calle found a personal address book lost on a paris street.
Perhaps her most contentious work, address book 1983 was inspired by an address book. The book presents calles bestknown works, including the blind, no sex last night, the hotel, the address book and a woman vanishes, as well as lesser known and earlier projects that. Published on nov 26, 2018 sophie calles voyeuristic fascination with the lives of others inspired the hotel, a project she executed in the early 1980s while working as a chambermaid at a hotel. A controversial figure as well as one of frances leading conceptual artists, sophie calle explores her own psychological and emotional terrain in multimedia works, probing ideas of control, freedom, gender, intimacy, and distance in human relationships. Sep 03, 2008 when a boyfriend brokeup with her by email, french artist sophie calle asked 107 women to read the letter and to analyse it according to their professional interest. This comprehensive retrospective of sophie calle not only celebrates the breadth of her iconoclastic work but also leads to a deeper understanding of her unique artistic vision. She then interviewed the people listed within and published the results in the french daily liberation. Her highly autobiographical, multidisciplinary work combines the confessional and the cerebral, and is typified by the imposition of often bizarre rules and schemes upon her everyday existence.
In suite venitienne, sophie calles first artists bookand the crucible of her inimitable and provocative fusion of investigatory methods, fictional constructs, the plundering of real life and the artful composition of selfshe notates, in diaristic, timestamped entries, her surveillance of henri b. Using the look and language of the forensic report, calle presents evidence of her quixotic pursuits of the ineffable and. Sophie calle s voyeuristic fascination with the lives of others inspired the hotel, a project she executed in the early 1980s while working as a chambermaid at a hotel in venice, italy. Sep 30, 2012 discover book depositorys huge selection of sophie calle books online. Calle also has a piece in which she called the people listed within an address book she found in the street, interviewing them about the owner of the book. Often controversial, calle s projects explore issues of voyeurism, intimacy, and identity. When i entered the luxurious suite at the lowell hotel, the women were setting up.
Education born into a family of an oncologist who was a celebrated art collector and a center stage mother, sophie calle was raised into an uncommon atmosphere. Sophie calle s work exists on the borders of photography and conceptual art. Address book, 1983 was among the first projects to gain public criticism and controversy. Born in paris, calle traveled for seven years after completing her studies. The hotel, the address book and a woman vanishes, as well as lesser known and. When she returned to paris in 1979, she began a series of projects to familiarize herself with the people of the city, through which she hoped to construct identities by offering documentary proof in the form of photographs. Having found a lost address book on the street in paris, artist sophie calle copied the pages before returning it anonymously to its owner. In 1981, calle took a job as a chambermaid at a venice hotel and secretly photographed the rooms in the absence of the guests.
Critics of calle s work often describe it as mere snooping. Suite venitienne printed on japanese paper with a diecut cover and printed edges, this beautifully produced artists book was designed in collaboration with sophie calle and documents in images and diaristic texts her dreamlike surveillance of henri b. Her work frequently depicts human vulnerability, and examines identity and intimacy. Sophie calle is a french artist who has exhibited extensively throughout the world since the late 1970s. Calle\s controversial artist\s book is the result of three weeks. In the early nineteeneighties, the french artist sophie calle, who is known. Calle s descriptions of the hotel rooms and their contents combine factual documentation along with her personal response to the people whose lives she glimpsed by examining their belongings.
Apr 23, 2015 suite venitienne by sophie calle images and text ed and provided courtesy of the artist. Calle photographs obsessed with intimate lives the tech. Sophie calle is frances most celebrated conceptual artist. In the address book, the french artist sophie calle found an address book on a paris street, photocopied its pages, and returned it to its owner. Her work is rarely aesthetic in the pictorial sense, but stems from her curiosity. Untitled 1980 this exercise appears in the 2014 version of the foundations in photography manual, and does not appear in the 2017 version enoch, r. Tribune, and a book, the moon and sixpence, by w somerset maugham, with a marker at page.
Sophie calle, the hotel, room 47, 1981 french artist sophie calle is well known for a body of work, from her installation work and photographic work. Jun 15, 2007 when a boyfriend dumped her by email, french artist sophie calle asked 100 women to read it and became the star of the venice biennale, reports angelique chrisafis. Sophie calles the address book, an excerpt the new yorker. Sophie calle is getting ready to publish one of her early controversial works, the address book, in book form in english for the first time, with art book imprint siglio press. Sophie calles work is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum it is intimate and emotional, it quietly asks you to hold it, almost always as a book, and experience it at your own pace. Sophie calle, mastu vue sophie calle, christine macel. Sophie calles hotel series calle, fotografia, hoteles. Sophie calle born 9 october 1953 is a french writer, photographer, installation artist, and conceptual artist. From following a stranger to venice to burying her mothers jewellery at the north pole, sophie calle is frances foremost artist of the unexpected wed. See available photographs, prints and multiples, and sculpture for sale and learn about the artist. Sophie calles controversial address book will be published. Sep 30, 2012 the address book, a key and controversial work in sophie calle s oeuvre, lies at the epicenter of many layers of reality and fiction.
L hotel livre v fermeture et bascule vers 9782330128906 by calle sophie and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. With this information she created a portrait of a man she had never met, publishing information in a newspaper accompanied by photographs of the mans favorite activities. She returned the book to its owner, but not before copying the contents. At times she is uninterested of the family in room 47 calle states i am already bored. Her work realised in photography and film, writing, performances and installations is simultaneously.
This commodity does not happen to be bronze or marble, however, but information, the elusive stuff that circulates constantly between consciousness, document and cyberspace. Now, the address book, a key and controversial work in calles oeuvre, is being published for the first time in its entirety in english as a beautiful trade edition artists book, designed in collaboration with the artist. Room 28 1981 the candid, impromptu style of the shots immediately puts the audience in a position of infringement on anothers privacy, and because of the lack of direct human emotion or expression in the photo, its ambiguous as to how welcome such an intrusion is. A handsome example in dust jacket of the uncommon 1984 first edition in french bearing the discreet ownership blindstamp of a. Her work often incorporates elements of voyeurism, surveillance, and personal narrative to explore the nature of love, intimacy, violence and death. A survey, calle explores issues relating to intrusion into peoples personal lives. As gil pasternak observes, in the first six decades of the twentieth century, photographic scholars were primarily interested in highbrow artistic. She then published a collection of photographs and writings in her book. When a boyfriend brokeup with her by email, french artist sophie calle asked 107 women to read the letter and to analyse it according to their professional interest. Sophie calles voyeuristic fascination with the lives of others inspired the hotel, a project she executed in the early 1980s while posing as a chambermaid at a hotel in venice, italy. Calle s work is distinguished by its use of arbitrary sets of constraints, and evokes the french literary movement of the 1960s known as oulipo. L hotel calle turns the viewer or reader into an accomplice of her voyeurism filling them, too, with the urge to move unobserved through anothers private sphere. Sophie calle found an address book on the street in paris.