I started photographing the people I followed. It came really without thinking. I had a diary and started to record who I followed and where they went. I printed the photos in a basement I shared with another girl, Gloria Friedman.”Calle, Sophie.

“I used to talk to women at the market and one of them came over to sleep in my bed. She was married to an art critic and he visited my house and then invited me to exhibit at the Biennale des Jeunes. Suddenly, I found myself showing at the Museum of Modern Art. My work became art the day it was shown on the wall.”Calle, Sophie.

“I'm not obsessive, but I am rigorous. If I have decided that there is this rule or that rule then I am very committed. I don't get bored. I think I have an ability because I believe in the construction of the idea. If it's a good idea then it's exciting. I am interested on how it will stand on the wall.”Calle, Sophie.

“For 'The Hotel' I spent one year to find the hotel, I spent three months going through the text and writing it, I spent three months going through the photographs and I spent one day deciding it would be this size and this frame...it's the last thought in the process.”Calle, Sophie.

“For each room there was a photograph of the bed undone, of other objects in the room, and a description day by day of what I found there.”Calle, Sophie.

“These works had involved me so much in the act of following that I wanted, in a certain way, to reverse these relationships. So I asked my mother to hire a private detective to follow me, without him knowing that I had arranged it, and to provide photographic evidence of my existence.”Calle, Sophie.

So here’s a questionnaire for you. When did you last die? What gets you out of bed in the morning? What became of your childhood dreams? What sets you apart from everyone else? What is missing from your life? Do you think that everyone can be an artist? Where do you come from? Do you find your lot an enviable one? What have you given up? What do you do with your money? What household task gives you the most trouble? What are your favourite pleasures? What would you like to receive for your birthday? Cite three living artists whom you detest. What do you stick up for? What are you capable of refusing? What is the most fragile part of your body? What has love made you capable of doing? What do other people reproach you for? What does art do for you? Write your epitaph. In what form would you like to return?”Calle, Sophie.

“The rules of the game are always very strict. In Take Care of Yourself I asked the participants to answer professionally, to analyze a breakup letter that I had received from a man. The parameters were fixed. For example, I wanted the grammarian to speak about grammar—I wanted to play with the dryness of professional vocabulary. I didn’t want the women expressing sentiment for me. Except maybe my mother . . .”Calle, Sophie and Louise Neri (Interviewer). "Sophie CALLE." in: Interview Magazine. No Date.

“First I asked two girlfriends, one of whom happens to be a journalist, the other a writer. And that’s how I got the idea. I told them, “Speak from where you are.” I began to think about the more obvious jobs whose work it is to analyze words—the psychoanalyst, the corrector—then I tried to specialize: the philosopher, who then gave me the philologist, who in turn gave me the moral philosopher, and so on. Each one said, “Did you think about this person or that person?” After a while, the process became more distant from me: I found a crossword writer because she works with words, a markswoman because she works with targets, and so on. Initially I wanted only one actress and one singer, just as I had chosen only one psychoanalyst. I ended up with 33 actresses, singers, and dancers, from Camille to Nathalie Dessay to Sussan Deyhim.”Calle, Sophie and Louise Neri (Interviewer). "Sophie CALLE." in: Interview Magazine. No Date.

So any one version is never “true,” it just works better than another. But I can say that it did happen. True? No. It happened.”Calle, Sophie and Louise Neri (Interviewer). "Sophie CALLE." in: Interview Magazine. No Date.

“It’s true that when I speak in public, everyone asks me about life and I always have to bring them back to the fact that it’s a work of art. The difference with many of my works is the fact that they are also my life. They happened. This is what sets me apart and makes people strongly like or dislike what I do. It is also why I have a public beyond the art world. I don’t care about truth; I care about art and style and writing and occupying the wall. For me, my writing style is very linked to the fact that it is a work of art on the wall. I had to find a way to write in concise, effective phrases that people standing or walking into a room could read.”Calle, Sophie and Louise Neri (Interviewer). "Sophie CALLE." in: Interview Magazine. No Date.

“Art is a way of taking distance. The pathological or therapeutic aspects exist, but just as catalysts.”Calle, Sophie and Louise Neri (Interviewer). "Sophie CALLE." in: Interview Magazine. No Date.“I made the film of my mother’s death really because of Robert Storr. He invited me to show in the Italian Pavilion at the same time that I was occupying the French Pavilion. Initially, for the French Pavilion, I had the idea to work on absence, perhaps because of the nostalgia ofVenice—about missing persons, missing things . . .”Calle, Sophie and Louise Neri (Interviewer). "Sophie CALLE." in: Interview Magazine. No Date.

Rob knew I had filmed my mother’s death and he suggested—and then insisted—that I deal with the subject. I didn’t feel ready to watch the 80 hours of film that I had taken of her dying, but then I remembered the 11 minutes between her life and her death during which I was really wondering where she was. Once I accepted to do it, I had to put the footage on my screen to find the passage and edit it. So it became a kind of background while I lived and worked . . . And then it became a work—I was able to take distance with it.”Calle, Sophie and Louise Neri (Interviewer). "Sophie CALLE." in: Interview Magazine. No Date.

“Yes, in its aftermath, you are taken in a maelstrom of technical decisions. During the filming, I had to face particular issues regarding my mother’s pleasure. My mother was quite special; she was an exhibitionist, and she wanted it to happen. Initially it was pragmatic—it was not at all an artistic

gesture. I was living my mother’s death, not trying to imagine it for a project. I was depressed. I was afraid. I was very involved. Consciously, I wanted to catch her last word. Later, once I had decided this, I realized that it was a way to take distance from it. Somewhere in the back of my mind I was probably thinking about what I could do with it—also, that my mother would love it. She always complained that I never did something about her, that I didn’t think she was a good subject. When I asked her to participate in Take Care of Yourself, she absolutely wanted to be part of it. And I dedicated the project to her.”Calle, Sophie and Louise Neri (Interviewer). "Sophie CALLE." in: Interview Magazine. No Date.

“At one moment I thought to work with a psychiatrist on memory problems, but I never did it. In theory, I could be tempted to work with anybody if the idea is good.”Calle, Sophie and Louise Neri (Interviewer). "Sophie CALLE." in: Interview Magazine. No Date.

“In my work I do things that I would never do in my life. In normal life I am much more discreet. I am not intrusive. I don't investigate my friends' lives. But if it's a project then it's different.”Calle, Sophie and Hannah Duguid (Interviewer). "Up Close and (too) Personal: a Sophie Calle Retrospective." in: The Independent. October 26, 2009.

“I had never received a love letter, so I asked him to send me one. He wrote me the most real love letter, it was so incredibly invented that I almost believed it...”Calle, Sophie and Hannah Duguid (Interviewer). "Up Close and (too) Personal: a Sophie Calle Retrospective." in: The Independent. October 26, 2009.

“He was very angry. And I did feel bad about it, yes. I was disappointed. All his friends were willing to speak to me about this man. They were all sure that he would love the project. I liked the man, I liked his books, his restaurants, his friends. I started to be in love with him. I thought we would fall into each other's arms and live a love story. I didn't see it coming. So I felt very guilty, although my commitment to a project is stronger than my sense of guilt.”Calle, Sophie and Hannah Duguid (Interviewer). "Up Close and (too) Personal: a Sophie Calle Retrospective." in: The Independent. October 26, 2009.

“I was very feminist, but then a girlfriend who was a prostitute suggested I do it to make money. I decided not to become a prostitute. I thought it would be dangerous for my relations with men in the future.”Calle, Sophie and Stuart Jeffries (Interviewer). “Sophie Calle: stalker, stripper, sleeper, spy." in: Guardian. September 23, 2009.

“I asked myself, 'Am I refusing just because other feminists would oppose me?' And I realised I feared being psychologically destroyed by the look of others. But why did I think it OK to be a nude model for artists? ... To me they were pathetic, and I looked at them with a look of contempt. I had made a style of this contempt and they were paralysed.”Calle, Sophie and Stuart Jeffries (Interviewer). "Sophie Calle: stalker, stripper, sleeper, spy." in: Guardian. September 23, 2009.

“In my studio there is a stuffed giraffe that I bought when my mother died, to replace her. Her name is Monique too, and she looks at me from on high with sadness and irony, just like my mother did. So in a way it is the image of my mother that keeps me company.”Calle, Sophie. "Sophie Calle." in: Frieze. Vol. 124, June-August 2009. (English).

“Why is it so easy to talk about my mother’s death and go absolutely blank when asked about a work of art that matters, or its title? I guess because I never ask myself that kind of question.”Calle, Sophie. "Sophie Calle." in: Frieze. Vol. 124, June-August 2009. (English).

“I should have been a secret agent: if I were secret enough no one would ask me what music I listen to, what books I read, or what art is for. I don’t like to answer questions. At the opening of the show, ‘Dislocations’, at New York’s MoMA in 1991, I was introduced for the first time to Louise Bourgeois. She told me, drily: ‘If you have any questions for me, ask my son.’ Out of irritation, I said: ‘I don’t have anything to ask you’. To which she replied: ‘Aren’t you the one who asks questions?’ Indeed.”Calle, Sophie. "Sophie Calle." in: Frieze. Vol. 124, June-August 2009. (English).

“I was not doing this with a purpose. I first did it because I truly didn't know how to answer. And not knowing how to answer it let me to that idea. But it was a natural path.”Calle, Sophie and Adrian Searle (Interviewer). "Podcast: an Interview with Sophie Calle." in: The Guardian. June 15, 2007.

“The subject is banal, you know, everybody has received a break-up letter or love letter, or whatever. This is why also I ask women to respond on a professional aspect and not as women having received a letter. Obviously both things mixed at some point but I wanted them to insert with their own vocabulary and not only as betrayed woman or bitter woman or whatever. And I think it's not the case, they all played the game.”Calle, Sophie and Adrian Searle (Interviewer). "Podcast: an Interview with Sophie Calle." in: The Guardian. June 15, 2007.

“Actresses and singers, I did it because of Venice. Initially it was mainly intellectual, writers. Then I realized that in Venice, the public being International, I would have trouble with language and I needed to do something more easy to understand so it was actresses, singers, with outtakes like dancers but always being in the same rule which is woman used to interpret in all senses.”Calle, Sophie and Adrian Searle (Interviewer). "Podcast: an Interview with Sophie Calle." in: The Guardian. June 15, 2007.

“This necessity at the same time was not betraying the idea.”Calle, Sophie and Adrian Searle (Interviewer). "Podcast: an Interview with Sophie Calle." in: The Guardian. June 15, 2007.

“I need an ally, a partner ... but if I had not found a good ally I would have done by myself. But the rule of the game in the French Pavilion is that you, the artist choose a curator, so that's the rules of the game I just played.”Calle, Sophie

and Adrian Searle (Interviewer). "Podcast: an Interview with Sophie Calle." in: The Guardian. June 15, 2007.

“I need the artist critic more than anything else.”Calle, Sophie and Adrian Searle (Interviewer). "Podcast: an Interview with Sophie Calle." in: The Guardian. June 15, 2007.

Sophie Calle: Prenez soin de vous at DHC/ART Foundation

During my mini vacation in Montreal to visit my sister and Dylan, we went down to the DHC/ART Foundation to see Sophie Calle's monumental installation Prenez soin de vous/Take care of yourself. Originally presented at the 2007 Venice Biennale, the piece is a sprawling, exhibition-sized installation of 107 women's interpretations of a breakup email Calle received from her lover (well, it's actually 104 women, plus two puppets and a cockatoo). Giving a hard copy of the letter to women chosen for their training, skill or talent, Calle asked musicians, dancers, singers, psychiatrists, elementary school students, criminologists and dozens of other professionals to interpret, dissect or act out the cryptic letter.

The original breakup email, in French

The premise is totally Calle in its self-obsession bordering on narcissism, and in many ways it even formally and structurally resembles her piece Exquisite Pain, which appeared most recently in Toronto at The Power Plant's "Auto Emotion" group exhibition last summer.

Sophie Calle, Exquisite Pain, 2001 [detail]

But whereas some people I spoke to were turned off by Exquisite Pain's self-referentiality, by involving so many diverse women and prioritizing their training or profession above their personal interpretations (for the most part), Prenez soin de vous seems to side-step that landmine and to offer a more distanced meditation on love, heartbreak and revenge while still keeping a classic Sophie Calle twist. It helps that the original breakup email is so painfully awkward and pretentious, making it almost impossible to identify or sympathize with its author.

That said, among the 107 interpretations there are some that work better

than others, especially as visual artworks. Some of the more text-focused interpretations seemed to offer more for the viewer, especially the 2nd grader's book report on what she took from the letter, a professional crossword-writer's creation, an SMS language translator's adaptation of the letter into a text-message friendly version and an editor's marked up version of errors and repetition in the original.

Sophie Calle, Prenez soin de vous, 2007 [detail]

I also found the large-format photos of each woman reading the letter a bit hokey and unnecessary, as though it forced the viewer to play what

quickly became a very tiring game of "match the name/profession on the interpretation to the portrait" that seemed to be included in order to mix up the very text-heavy installation with some brief shots of colourful and graphic representation. Cait pointed out, though, that without these portraits, the viewer would be left at sea amongst an incredible number of interpretations and that the photos did provide a nice anchor and personal entry point for what were sometimes almost impenetrable documents.

Sophie Calle, Prenez soin de vous, 2007 [detail]

I was sort of hoping that some of the video works would offer more insight to the process that went into Calle's selection of the women and their relationship to one another during the interpretations. But instead, they mostly focused on actors, dancers, and musicians' interpretations of the letter which, while interesting, still left me asking questions. Were the women Calle chose personal acquaintances, or did she find them through recommendations and professional references? Why, for instance, are almost all the women white and middle class? How much direction were they given in how to execute and present their interpretation? Did Calle edit any of their responses? Did any of them refuse to participate?

The closest I got to answers to any of these queries was in a video with a family counsellor, who meets with Calle (the only time she appears in the show, to my knowledge) in one chair and a hard copy of the letter in another. The audio track that accompanies it allows you to hear the counsellor asking Calle for clarification about some of the vaguer references in the letter, and to hear about Calle's personal reaction to the letter and some of the context of its delivery. While, at times, this window into Calle's own experiences makes her seem less heroic and occasionally even whiny, the video manages to complicate the rest of the installation and to question Calle's involvement in, and response to, the breakup.

I came away from the show, as I do from all Calle pieces, unsure of what I thought of it. I am still in awe of its scale and complexity, and in awe of DHC's coup in acquiring it for exhibition, but continue to be troubled by some of its political implications. Which is maybe the point in the first place

cela fait un moment que je veux vous écrire et répondre a votre dernier mail. en même temps il me semblait préférable de vous parler et de dire ce que j'ai à vous dire de vive voix. Mais du moins cela sera-t-il écrit

comme vous l'avez vu, l'allais mal tous ces derniers temps. comme si je ne me retrouvais plus dans ma propre existence. une sorte d'angoisse terrible, contre laquelle je ne peux pas grand-chose, sinon aller de l'avant pour tenter de la prendre de vitesse, comme j'ai toujours fait. Lorsque nous nous sommes rencontrés, vous aviez posé une condition: ne pas devenir la "quatrième". j'ai tenu cet engagement : cela fait des mois que j'ai cessé de voir les "autres", ne trouvant évidemment aucun moyen de les voir sans faire de vous l'une d'elles.

je croyais que cela suffirait, je croyais que vous aimer et que votre amour suffiraient pour que l'angoisse qui me pousse toujours à aller voir ailleurs et m'empêche à jamais d'être tranquille et sans doute simplement heureux et "généreux" se calmerait à votre contact et dans la certitude que l'amour que vous me portez était le plus bénéfique pour moi, le plus bénéfique que j'ai jamais connu, vous le savez. J'ai cru que l'écriture serait un remède, mon "intranquillité" s'y dissolvant pour vous retrouver. Mais non. C'est même devenu encore pire, je ne peux même pas vous dire dans quel état je me sens en moi.même. Alors, cette semaine, j'ai commencé à rappeler les "autres". Et je sais ce que cela veut dire pour moi et dans quel cycle cela va m'entraîner.Je ne vous ai jamais menti et ce n'est pas aujourd'hui que je vais commencer.Il y avait une autre règle que vous aviez posée au début de notre histoire: le jour où nous cesserions d'être amants, me voir ne serait plus envisageable pour vous. vous savez comme cette contrainte ne peut que me paraître désastreuse, injuste (alors que vous voyez toujours B., R.,...)et compréhensible (évidemment...); ainsi je ne pourrais jamais devenir votre ami,mais aujourd'hui vous pouvez mesurer l'importance de ma décision au fait que je sois

prêt à me plier à votre volonté, alors que ne plus vous voir ni vous parler ni saisir votre regard sur les choses et les êtres et votre douceur sur moi me manqueront infiniment.Quoi qu'il arrive, sachez que je ne cesserai de vous aimer de cette manière qui fut la mienne dès que je vous ai connue et qui se prolongera en moi et, je le sais, ne mourra pas.Mais aujourd'hui, ce serait la pire des mascarades que de maintenir une situation que vous savez aussi bien que moi devenue irrémédiable au regard même de cet amour que je vous porte et de celui que vous me portez et qui me'oblige encore à cette franchise envers vous, comme dernier gage de ce qui fut entre nous et restera uniquej'aurais aimé que les choses tournent autrementprenez soin de vous

ha sido un tiempo desde que me quieres escribir y responder a su correo. al mismo tiempo me pareció la mejor manera de hablar y decir lo que tengo que decir verbalmente. Pero al menos se que por escrito

como has visto, todo estaba saliendo mal últimamente. como si yo me encontraba más en mi propia existencia. una especie de terrible ansiedad, contra la que no puedo más, si no se procede a tratar de adelantar, como siempre he hecho. Cuando nos conocimos, me pediste una condición no se convierta en el "cuarto". Hice este compromiso: que han pasado meses desde que dejé de ver al "otro", obviamente no encontrar ninguna manera de ver que te hacen uno de ellos.

Pensé que sería, pensé que el amor y tu amor es suficiente para que la ansiedad que siempre me empuja a ir a otra parte y me mantenga siempre a estar en silencio y, probablemente, justa y feliz "generosa" se calmaría su contacto y en la certeza de que el amor que tienes me fue el más beneficioso para mí, el más beneficioso que he conocido, ya sabes. Pensé que la escritura sería una cura, mi "Inquietud" disolver a encontrar. Pero no. Incluso ha empeorado, ni siquiera puedo decir en qué estado me siento moi.même. Así que esta semana empecé a recordar los "otros". Y sé lo que significa para mí y lo que el ciclo que va a funcionar. Nunca he mentido y lo que no es hoy que voy a empezar. Había otra regla que había pedido al principio de nuestra historia: el día en que dejaría de ser amantes, veo más posible para usted. que sepa cómo esta restricción no se puede me parece que desastrosamente mal (aunque usted todavía ve B., R. ,...) y comprensible (évidemment. ..), así que nunca podría ser tu amigo pero ahora se puede medir la importancia de mi decisión porque estoy listo para plegarse a su voluntad, de modo que ya no ver o hablar con usted o aprovechar sus ojos en las cosas y los seres y su dulzura sobre mí Voy a extrañar mucho. Pase lo que pase, sé que nunca dejará de amarte de esta manera lo que era mío tan pronto como me han conocido y que me dure y sé que nunca morirá. Pero hoy, ¿cuál sería el peor de los disfraces que se mantenga una situación que usted sabe tan bien como puedo ser irrecuperable, incluso de acuerdo con este amor que te tengo y que me llevan, y, sin embargo este me'oblige franco con usted, como una última muestra de lo que había entre nosotros y seguirá siendo única Ojalá las cosas fueron diferentes

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