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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Sophie Calle, Douleur exquise : le récit de l’intime comme objet de la démarche artistique

subject

description

Throughout her work, Sophie Calle has never ceased staging herself. Traces and testimonies of her life became the basis of her work that presents itself as a memoir of her existence. In Exquisite Pain, which can be read as a therapeutic move because its aim was to soothe the pain of the end of a love affair, Calle sets up an aesthetics of archives through multiple indications of place and time present in the visual documents as well as in written texts. The artist thus ensures the veracity of the facts exhibited before the spectators, who are voluntarily induced into wondering about how much fiction and seduction are present. This work also allows Calle to bring in the voice of other anonymous persons who take turns to answer the question: “When was the day I suffered the most?” thus creating an inter-subjective and polyphonic narrative.