Sophie Calle

Since the late 1970’s she has been active as a photographer, combining text, image and conceptual installations. Her work amounts to a systematic laying bare of reality, whether it be her own or other people's, with a limited portion left to chance. Absence of others is a central theme in her work. However Calle’s own existence plays an important role in her works. The documentary manner in which she presents her work suggests a high degree of factualness.

Calle grapples with modes of perception and identification by portraying life in all its diversity, handing over all the problems and questions to the viewer – and thereby, closing the loop, back to life itself – to find the answers. Her works are distinguished by the directness of her formal approach, her narrative skill, the conceptual enrichment they undergo over the course of their creation, and their power to draw in the observer with all his or her abilities and experiences. The uncertainty expressed in her works is what makes them so compelling.

“She uses photography in unique ways – no one else works with photography / text in this outstandingly original way – and she is a constant source of inspiration to younger generations of conceptually working artists.” Hasselblad Foundation, 2011

Sophie Calle gained an international reputation through participating extensively for nearly thirty years in major solo and group exhibitions and Biennials. She was invited to be the official representative of France at the 2007 Venice Biennial. Her project for "Venice Prenez soin de vous" was later exhibited again at the Bibliothèque National de France Richelieu, Paris, France (2008), at the Museum of Modern Art of Bahia, Salvador and SESC Pompeia, São Paulo, both Brazil (2009).

Calle's art has been exhibited at all over the world, such as: "Take Care of Yourself" at the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Monterrey, Mexico (2014), "Last Seen" at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA, USA (2013), "For the Last and First Time" at the Hara Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2013), "Take Care of Yourself" at the Stavanger Kunstmuseum, Starvanger, at the Lillehammer Kunstmuseum, Lillehammer, Norway (both 2013) as well as at the Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Helsinki, Finland (2012).

Calle participated at the Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai, China (2012) and in the same year exhibited "Historias de pared" at the Museo de Arte Moderno, Medellin, Mexico.

Further solo exhibitions were "Earth: Art of changing World" at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK (2009) and "Souci" at the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bruxelles, Belgium (2009), "Talking to Strangers" at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2009), travelling to the De Pont Foundation, Tilburg, Netherlands (2010) and to the Louisiana, Humblebaek, Denmark (2010).

A mid-career survey exhibition was showcased at the Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany (2005), at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland (2004), at the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany (2004) and the Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2003). In 2010 Sophie Calle received the Hasselblad Award.