Sophie Calle At the Whitechapel gallery
The French equivalent to Tracey Emin, Sophie Calle (France’s best-known living conceptual artist), has her first British retrospective at the Whitechapel gallery in east London. The exhibition takes place from 13 October 2009 to 3 January 2010 and explores her fascination with the boundaries between our private and public lives.
Coincidently, in 2007 both Emin and Calle were chosen by their respective countries to represent them in the Venice Biennale, however it was Sophie Calle who triumphed there, when she filled the French pavilion with her a praised exhibition entitled, ‘Prenez soin de vous’.
The idea came about when a boyfriend dumped her by email, to which Calle then asked 107 women professionals to read it and interpret it. She photographed them reading it and invited them to analyse it, according to their job.
The ex’s grammar and syntax were torn apart by a copy editor, his manners were dismissed by an etiquette consultant and his lines pored over by Talmudic scholars. He has been re-ordered by a crossword-setter, evaluated by a judge, shot up by a markswoman, second-guessed by a chess player and performed by actress Jeanne Moreau. A forensic psychiatrist decided he was a ‘twisted manipulator’.
The exhibition at the Whitechapel entitled ‘Talking to Strangers’ features the work ‘Prenez Soin de Vous’ which has been translated into English for the first time. This piece, along with other major works from the 1980s up until the present, shows how Calle works as she documents social interactions and reports on encounters and situations that she sets in motion.
For more information, visit www.whitechapelgallery.org
