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Sophie Calle

28 juin 2007
02m 25s
Ref. 00364

Information

Summary :

On the occasion of the exhibit that she's presenting in Venice's Biennial, a conversation with artist Sophie Calle. She made her personal life the central theme of her work, and discusses herself while staging her life through installations that mix pictures, videos, texts and objects.

Media type :
Vidéo
Broadcast date :
28 juin 2007
Source :
FR3 (Collection: 19 20. Edition nationale )
Personnalité(s) :
Sophie Calle / Marie Berrurier / Emmanuel Perrotin / Robert Garcia
Themes :
Places :

Context

A human life possesses enough emotions, strong ordinary, to be a complete work of art itself: this is the principal at the heart of Sophie Calle's artistic production, who, since the end of the 1970s, transformed her life and her intimacy into works of art shown throughout the world.

In 1981, this French artist, born in 1953, chose to be filmed by a private detective (La Filature). In 1983 she wrote the portraits of people whose names appeared in a found address book (Le Carnet d'Addresses). In 2002, she set up a bedroom on top of the Eiffel Tower, talking to the visitors (Chambre avec vue)... Sophie Calle uses any kind of format (video, photography, text, performance...) to show less of the author than of the subject of her works... and finally manages to reach universal values. If the exhibition Prenez soin de vous presented at the Venice biennial in June 2007 (and again at the French National library the following year) was inspired by a difficult emotional breakup for the artist, the experience of this pain is first seen through the regard of 107 different women, selected for their professional profile, to make up the event. In this way the subject becomes multiple and the personal life of Sophie Calle is seen offered to the public as a laboratory for reflection on daily life and intimacy.

Through the success of Sophie Calle, the subjectivity of the artist has been imposed as the undeniable theme of contemporary art, in phase with the evolution of contemporary society, abound with images and pushing back the boundaries of public and private.

Claire Sécail

Transcription

Journalist
Conversation, now, with one of the French artists that has had the greatest impact on contemporary art during the last 30 years. Sophie Calle is currently exhibiting at Venice's prestigious Biennial, exhibiting in the literal sense of the word, since, more often than not, she's displaying instances from her life. Her portrait with Marie Berrurier and Jean-Christophe Duclos.
Sophie Calle
The man that I love has left me. And so I started to talk about the break-up or, rather, how it occured because I thought to myself that if I talked about it until I was sick of it, if I repeated it non-stop, I would exhaust it.
Marie Berrurier
She portrays her life on film. This woman has some bizarre sides to her, without a doubt. Labeled a contemporary artist with narrative tendencies, Sophie Calle is especially and completely unclassifiable.
(Musique)
Marie Berrurier
A few years ago, this woman who was followed by a detective, that was her already. And then, remember 3 years ago, in the middle of a sleepless night, she receives visitors in her bed at the very top of the Eiffel Tower. And the viewer becomes a voyeur.
Robert Garcia
Sophie has an incredible life.
Emmanuel Perrotin
It's obvious that if we line up all of her projects one after another, we get the impression that she's a character out of a book. She welcomes us into her intimacy. This intimacy, it's her work, it's her raw material.
Marie Berrurier
Sometimes, like here in Paris, Sophie Calle phones passersby.
Sophie Calle
I committed myself to calling about 5 times a week for 3 years.
Marie Berrurier
Not very long ago, we saw Sophie Calle in Venice. A guest of the Biennial, she exhibited another break-up letter there. This time, it was 107 very different women that helped her answer.
Sophie Calle
Break-up letters are never fun to receive. They're always unpleasant. So it was a way to turn the tables a bit, to my advantage.
Robert Garcia
Often, in contemporary art, there are artists that are incomprehensible for people who are new to it. So I think that Sophie Calle is truly a... she's more than an artist, she's an actress, she's an author, who has a message to deliver.
Marie Berrurier
And here she is back at home, in her house/studio in Malakoff. Sophie Calle is taking a break. In this friendly bestiary, she's already cooking up her next performance.
(Musique)