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Sophie Calle

    October 9, 1953

    Sophie Calle is a French artist whose work is distinguished by its use of arbitrary constraints, evoking the 1960s French literary movement Oulipo. Her creations frequently depict human vulnerability, exploring themes of identity and intimacy. She is recognized for her detective-like pursuit of strangers to investigate their private lives, often complementing her photographic work with panels of her own writing.

    Sophie Calle: Blind
    The Elevator Resides in 501
    Appointment
    Sophie Calle: True Stories
    Sophie Calle - Double Game
    True Stories
    • 2022

      The Elevator Resides in 501

      • 392 pages
      • 14 hours of reading

      The book delves into Sophie Calle's immersive exploration of the abandoned Hôtel du Palais d'Orsay between 1978 and 1981, where she inhabited room 501 and documented its decay through photography. Over five years, she collected various artifacts that revealed stories of the past. Decades later, she revisits the site during lockdown, armed with a flashlight, to uncover its history and the remnants of its former life. This work reconstructs her archive, intertwining personal memories with the broader narrative of a forgotten space, evoking a sense of nostalgia and connection to history.

      The Elevator Resides in 501
    • 2018

      Published for the first time in 1994 and regularly re-edited and enhanced, True Stories returns again this year with six unpublished narratives related in Sophie Calle's familiar precise sober prose and photography. By turns serious, hilarious, dramatic or cruel, these real-life tales represent a form of work in progress recounting fragments of her life. One of the 21st century's foremost artists, Calle here offers up her own story - childhood, marriage, sex, death - with brilliant humour, insight and pleasure.

      Sophie Calle: True Stories
    • 2016

      Sophie Calle: Innenansichten einer ungewöhnlichen Künstlerin Die unkonventionelle Kunst von Sophie Calle hat schon immer überrascht und mitunter für Irritationen gesorgt. In ihren Aktionen, Fotos und Installationen geht die Künstlerin schonungslos mit ihrer eigenen Privatsphäre um. Selbst das Ende einer Beziehung verarbeitete sie in einer Kunstaktion: Statt sich der Trauer hinzugeben, bat die Künstlerin 107 Frauen mit unterschiedlichsten Berufen, den Abschiedsbrief ihres ehemaligen Lebensgefährten zu interpretieren. Eine Psychoanalystin erstellte ein Profil des Verfassers, eine Lektorin entlarvte seine sprachlichen Ungenauigkeiten, eine Sängerin übertrug die Worte in Gesang, eine Ballerina in Tanz usw. Dieses Werk – betitelt nach dem letzten Gruß des Briefes „Prenez soin de vous“ („Passen Sie auf sich auf“) – ist eine der zahlreichen Arbeiten Sophie Calles aus dem letzten Jahrzehnt, die in dem vorliegenden Band And so Forth versammelt sind. Wie ihre Arbeiten, ist auch das vorliegende Buch exemplarisch für die ungewöhnliche Kunst der Französin: Sophie Calle hat es mitgestaltet und zu einem einzigartigen bibliophilen Gesamtkunstwerk gemacht. Ausstattung: Mit Papierwechsel und verschiedenen Beschnitten

      And so forth
    • 2012

      Sophie Calle: Blind

      • 256 pages
      • 9 hours of reading

      The book creates a dialogue between the experiences of multiple generations of blind individuals and accompanying photographs inspired by their testimonies. It explores themes of absence, the interplay between loss of sight and the enhancement of other senses, and the concepts of visibility and invisibility. Through this unique approach, it invites readers to reflect deeply on perception and the human experience.

      Sophie Calle: Blind
    • 2010

      True Stories

      • 111 pages
      • 4 hours of reading
      4.7(102)Add rating

      This expanded edition of Calle's 1994 classic features four new tales. First published in French in 1994, quickly acclaimed as a photobook classic and since republished and enhanced, 'True Stories' returns for the fifth time, gathering a series of short autobiographical texts and photos by acclaimed French artist Sophie Calle, this time with four new tales. Calle's projects have frequently drawn on episodes from her own life, but this book--part visual memoir, part meditation on the resonances of photographs and belongings--is as close as she has come to producing an autobiography, albeit one highly poetical and fragmentary, as is characteristic of her work. The tales--never longer than a page -- are by turns lighthearted, humorous, serious, dramatic or cruel. Each is accompanied by an image; each offers a fragment of life. The slim, portable volume is divided into sections: the first is composed of various reflections on objects such as a shoe, a postcard or "the breasts"; the second, "The Husband," of recollections of episodes from Calle's first marriage; and the third gathers a variety of autobiographical recollections. Calle herself is the author, narrator and protagonist of her stories and photography; her words are somber, chosen precisely and carefully. -- publisher's statement

      True Stories
    • 2008

      Appointment

      • 155 pages
      • 6 hours of reading
      4.3(99)Add rating

      In February 1998, I was invited to create an exhibition entitled Appointment at a house at 20 Maresfield Gardens, London, where Dr Freud lived and died. After having a vision of my wedding dress laid across Freud’s couch, I immediately accepted. I chose to display relics of my own life amongst the interior of Sigmund’s home’ – Sophie Calle. A unique and beautifully produced assembly of Calle’s own texts and personal objects juxtaposed with objects from Sigmund Freud’s personal collection, still kept in his Hampstead house, Appointment features fragments from the artist’s own fascinating life story, characteristic texts that reveal intimate secrets and unravel some of Calle’s childhood memories as well as her adult relationships. In February 1998, I was invited to create an exhibition entitled Appointment at a house at 20 Maresfield Gardens, London, where Dr Freud lived and died. After having a vision of my wedding dress laid across Freud’s couch, I immediately accepted. I chose to display relics of my own life amongst the interior of Sigmund’s home’ – Sophie Calle. Calle’s references to certain mementoes and the emotionally charged events with which they are associated have many parallels to Freud’s own psychoanalytic theories and his passion for collecting.

      Appointment
    • 2007
    • 2005

      Sophie Calle - Double Game

      • 296 pages
      • 11 hours of reading
      4.7(13)Add rating

      Double Game, published by Violette Editions in 1999, was French author Sophie Calle’s first important book published in English, and it received international praise for its idea, text, and extraordinary design. The original edition has been out of print since its release. The new edition has been published to go along with the 2007 Venice Biennale, a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. Double Game contains exactly the same content as the original as well as the same design, including the signature ribbon around its middle, but in a smaller hardback format. Double Game, published by Violette Editions in 1999, was French author Sophie Calle’s first important book published in English, and it received international praise for its idea, text, and extraordinary design. The original edition has been out of print since its release. Double Game starts with a fictional character named Maria, who originally appeared in Paul Auster’s novel Leviathan. Most of the character’s “works” are based on Calle’s works, which are examined in the first section of the book. The second section follows a series of Calle’s narrative and abstract works in text and images that were adapted by Maria in Leviathan. Double Game, published by Violette Editions in 1999, was French author Sophie Calle’s first important book published in English, and it received international praise for its idea, text, and extraordinary design. The original edition has been out of print since its release. The last section involves dialogue from Auster, taking Calle as his subject, and offers “Personal Instructions for SC on How to Improve Life in New York City (Because She Asked…),” called the Gotham Handbook.

      Sophie Calle - Double Game