Florent Marchet and Sophie Calle tell “True stories” in music

The visual artist, photographer, director and writer, Sophie Calle gave carte blanche to the musician Florent Marchet. The meeting between these two artists and their friendship gave birth to a unique show, created especially for the Printemps de Bourges and performed this Tuesday at the Jacques Cœur theatre. It is inspired by the 7th opus of Sophie Calle’s hit work, Stories true (2021) : microfiction sometimes light and funny, sometimes serious and dramatic, which echo moments of his life, reinvented moments.

Florent Marchet has thus drawn from the texts of his famous True stories. “I’ve been working on it for two and a half months, collecting a body of texts to mirror them with my songs. I also compose on Sophie’s texts that she will be able to sing, that we will sing together“, he explains. This creation gives rise to a hybrid moment, between reading and concert and always with this touch of humor, present in the texts of the visual artist.

A blend of the arts

For the musician, an unconditional fan of the work of Sophie Calle, the creation of the show was a kind of evidence. “It’s kinda the minimum that I owe toœwork of Sophie, which meant a lot to me. I can give him some time because these true stories really nurtured me and showed me directions“, he says.

But for Sophie Calle, reading her own texts and singing are not exercises she is used to. However, it is in these moments that the magic of a creation operates and that we can see that the arts blend together wonderfully. “They are only tools in the end, whether one chooses to write, to sculpt, to paint or to film, it is just the camera which changes place and angle. And then with Sophie, we have the chance to come together on a certain number of themes“, he concludes.

Spring of Bourges. From April 18 to 23, 2023. More information on the event website.