Sophie Calle Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Sophie Calle
Sophie Calle in 2015
Born	9 October 1953 (1953-10-09) (age 71) Paris, France
Known for	Conceptual art, installation art

Sophie Calle (left) and Alexandra Cohen

Sophie Calle (born 9 October 1953) is a French artist. She is a writer, photographer, and creates installation art and conceptual art. Her father, Robert Calle, was a collector of modern art.

Sophie Calle's art often uses special rules or challenges. Her work explores feelings and how people see themselves. She is known for acting like a detective. She sometimes follows strangers or looks into their lives. Her photos often come with text that she writes herself.

Since 2005, Calle has taught film and photography. She teaches at the European Graduate School in Switzerland. She has also taught at other universities in the United States.

Her art has been shown in many famous museums. These include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Hermitage Museum in Russia. Her work has also been seen at the Whitechapel Gallery in London.

In 2007, she represented France at the Venice Biennale. This is a very important art show. In 2019, she won the Centenary Medal from the Royal Photographic Society.

Art Projects
Awards
Gallery
See also

Art Projects

Early Works (1979–1981)

In her project Suite Venitienne (1979), Calle followed a man. She had met him at a party in Paris. She followed him all the way to Venice, Italy. She wore a disguise and took photos of him. Her black and white photos came with text about her journey.

Calle's first art project was The Sleepers (Les Dormeurs). For this, she invited people to sleep in her bed. Some were friends, others were strangers. She served them food and took their pictures every hour.

For The Hotel (1981), she worked as a maid in a Venice hotel. This allowed her to explore the rooms. She looked at the things and writings of the guests. She used these to create her art. She said it took her a long time to plan and create this project.

Mid- and Late 1980s

One of Calle's projects caused some talk. It was called Address Book (1983). A French newspaper asked her to publish a series of articles. Calle had found an address book. She copied it and returned it to the owner. Then, she called some of the numbers in the book. She talked to people about the owner. She added photos of his favorite things. This created a picture of a man she had never met. The owner of the book was not happy about this.

Another famous project is The Blind (1986). For this, Calle talked to people who could not see. She asked them to describe what beauty meant to them. She then took photos that showed her idea of their answers. She also took portraits of the people she interviewed.

Calle has also made art from birthday presents. She created special displays for gifts she received over the years. A writer named Grégoire Bouillier wrote about this in his book.

1990s Projects

In 1996, Calle worked in Jerusalem. She asked Israelis and Palestinians to show her public places. These were places that felt special and private to them. This project explored how personal stories connect people to places. This work, called Erouv de Jérusalem, is shown in a museum in Paris.

Calle worked with writer Paul Auster. She asked him to create a made-up character. She then tried to act like this character. She became the model for Maria in Auster’s 1992 book Leviathan. Calle was so interested in this mix of real life and fiction. She then created the artworks that the made-up character made. These included meals with matching colors. This project is in her book Double Game (1999).

Auster later challenged Calle to take care of a public space. Calle decided to improve a telephone booth in Manhattan. She added a notepad, water, cigarettes, flowers, and money. Every day, she cleaned the booth and refilled the items. This continued until the phone company removed them. This project is shown in The Gotham Handbook (1998).

In 1999, Calle created an art piece for the Freud Museum in London. It explored her private wishes. In Room with a View (2002), Calle spent a night in a bed. The bed was placed at the very top of the Eiffel Tower. She invited people to come and read her bedtime stories. This helped her stay awake all night. In the same year, Calle had her first big solo show. It was at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.

Art in the 2000s

"Douleur Exquise" (meaning "exquisite pain") was made in 2003. Calle traveled to Japan. She decided to make the trip long. She went by train through Moscow and Siberia. Then she went through Beijing and Hong Kong. She was supposed to meet someone in New Delhi. But he did not come. She found out he had met someone else.

She took a photo every day until they were supposed to meet. She wrote about how much she looked forward to seeing him. The second part of her book was about the pain of heartbreak. She wrote about the sad memory. On the next page, she asked others to share their worst memories. Over time, her own story became shorter. Her pain slowly went away. Seeing other people's sad memories also made her own pain seem less big.

In 2007, at the Venice Biennale, Calle showed Take Care of Yourself. This art piece was named after the last line of an email. It was an email her ex-boyfriend sent her. Calle asked 107 women to read and interpret the email. These women had different jobs and skills. They included a parrot and a hand puppet. She showed their reactions in the French art space.

Calle explained that she wanted to take her time with the breakup. She wanted to understand it. She asked the women to analyze it, comment on it, dance it, or sing it. This was her way of taking care of herself.

In 2009 and 2010, a large show of her work opened. It included Take Care of Yourself and The Sleepers. This show was at the Whitechapel Gallery in London. Another big show opened in Denmark.

2010s Projects

In 2011, her work True Stories was shown in New Orleans. It was at the historic 1850 House. This house is a museum with old furniture. Calle placed her own personal items there. She added short stories about them. It made it seem like she had just left the house.

In 2012, Calle's The Address Book was fully published for the first time. In 2015, Suite Vénitienne was updated and published again.

2020s Projects

In 2023, Calle's art was shown at the Musée Picasso in Paris. Another big show, "Sophie Calle: Overshare", opened in 2024. It was at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. It will also travel to another museum.

The Minneapolis show included Calle’s project “On the Hunt”. This project used dating ads from a French hunting magazine. The ads were from 1895 to 2019. They showed how men's interests changed over time. Along with the ads, there were pictures of hunted animals and hunting towers.