Things that inspire us: The work of Sophie Calle
We have always been struck by the installation and presentation of Sophie Calle’s work. Beyond the artwork itself, the structure she deploys to tell a story is extremely enjoyable. It reveals the care for her audience’s personal engagement. Here is a very short introduction to a few of her pieces that inspire us the most:
Gotham Handbook – documents social interactions around a specific place in NYC.
Suite Vénitienne – is the documentation of the artist following total strangers in the street. Calle is documenting and annotating her pictures with their actions and behaviours
Sleepers – is a collection of pictures of people sleeping. Sophie Calle took one photograph per hour for 8 days of an invited guest, sleeping in her bed. Twenty-eight people succeeded one another for eight-hour documented sleep-shifts.
Why we like it:
• The sequence in Suite Vénitienne depicts her investigation into unsuspecting individuals. It works exactly like a storyboard.
• She mixes photography, text and written notes within the frame. She uses her experience, as an author would, to deploy a narrative.
• She works across media and combines text, images and annotations.
