“I make it a ritual”, the strangeness of Sophie Calle exposed in the crypts of the city

To finish beautifullySophie Calle has a sense of title. And of staging. In these corridors oozing with humidity, in the middle of puddles of mud, drops of water coming from the ceiling, against these old moldy stones, she has hung or placed her images on the ground. As she goes deeper into the galleries, the visitor also discovers old objects, dresses hanging or bunches of keys in a disturbing darkness. A theater setting. We recognize the spirit of Sophie Calle, but the place transforms the exhibition into a sanctuary. To finish beautifullyit is one of the events of the Rencontres de la photographie d’Arles, to be seen until September 29, 2024.

The photographs are from the series The blind. A project that dates back to 1986 and that she has continued to extend. The theme: how blind people can tell us about beauty, color, the last image they saw. A series already exhibited until water damage. How can a flood change the course of an exhibition? Sophie Calle explains it to us during one of the rare interviews she has given. She rarely talks to the press about her work, but when she agrees to talk about it, she does so with precision and accuracy. A privileged meeting.

Franceinfo Culture: The crypts, this extraordinary place, both disturbing and fascinating, was it the place you could have imagined to exhibit this series?
Sophie Calle: It’s a fabulous place, a miraculous place, I could never have done this exhibition anywhere else, in any other place. It’s a combination of circumstances. There was a flood in my reserve [lieu de stockage de ses œuvres] a month, two months before my exhibition at the Picasso Museum. One of the projects of this exhibition, the prints of The blind has rotted, attacked by mold. In order To avoid any risk of contamination, it was preferable to destroy the works. And it was too late to reprint the prints, so I staged their absences. I came across a text by Roland Topor that told the story of his old, holey sweater that he could neither give away, because it was too rotten, nor throw away because it had meant too much to him. So he decided to bury it. I had this idea in mind.

Was it at this time that you discovered the crypts of Arles?
The cryptoporticos were at the same time opened by the Rencontres de la photographie and there was an exhibition, and while the humidity was oozing from everywhere, I thought that the exhibited photos would not survive. I spoke about it to Christoph Wiesner, the festival director, who confirmed to me that the mushrooms had attacked the frames. It made me laugh that in Arles, in a place aimed at preserving works, images rather than destroying them, this is happening. So I suggested to him for this edition, The blind, These mold-ridden prints that had meant a lot to me. I couldn’t bring myself to take these images to the dump, it seemed like a grim end, and I told myself that here, they would end their lives.

There is also a curious sign during the flood…
Yes, I noticed that the mold during the flood had only attacked works that spoke of death, as if these works had lost their immunity. The photographs attacked, in addition to the series The blindit was the series of graves, the photo of a bed in which a man had died, my mother’s last words, “don’t worry”, the dried flowers offered by Frank Gerry who sends me a bouquet to each of my exhibitions… All these objects and prints, I therefore give them a second death.

So you added objects in addition to the photographs for this exhibition?
I asked myself what were the things I didn’t want to see survive me, there were my diaries, my mother’s, love letters that I wrote when I was 18 years old quite pathetic and I didn’t imagine anyone reading them. A dress from a wedding that is a bad memory, all the keys that opened the places of my life, but which no longer open anything.

My last flight, because I liked flying when I was little. We shared a pair of shoes with my girlfriend at the time, a single shoe is useless, a torn dress that I could neither wear nor give away, I exhibit objects from my life that are no longer useful.

In addition to this assembly of images and objects, there is a disturbing atmosphere in the place.
I was very afraid that it would look like a flea market, but the exhibition is lit by Éric Soyer, the lighting director of the director Joël Pommerat, I had never done that, to ask someone whose work corresponds to the place. Usually, the photographs and objects are lit more simply.

What will be the future of this exhibition?
It will be the trash can where I will make ashes and with these ashes, I will do something, but these objects are now very harmful to others. I am getting rid of them, because the restorers of the Picasso Museum did not want them, mold being very contagious. I put a small sign in the exhibition: if you were to think of stealing a work, know that it will destroy your interior. For these works, it is their final resting place, but let’s not exaggerate, because I still have the negatives. (Sophie Calle smiles)

Is this burial of works Sophie Calle’s will?
This is not a will, the Picasso Museum was my will, here it is a revenge on something that one cannot control. Everything was destroyed, I lost a lot, but I made an exhibition. It is like when I asked women to analyze the break-up letter of the man who had ended his letter with “take care of yourself” [Exposition à la Biennale de Venise en 2007]it was a way of saying: I am unhappy, it is a bad memory, but I am distancing myself from a painful event and I am doing something about it.

So does this have a particular meaning?
Yes, I make it a ritual, a ceremony and since the photographs are ruined, I called the exhibition To finish beautifullybecause it’s a happier ending than expected. I was KO when I lost those draws, when I was told they were lost, but showing them here is a way of getting back up from the KO, a way of landing on my feet.

Is it the artist who takes control of destiny?
Yes, transform this KO into an exhibition, then make a book [Sophie Calle, Finir en beauté, aux Éditions Actes Sud] In a few weeks, in fact, I’m almost glad that this flood fell on me, it’s a way of getting revenge on a situation.

So you presented your exhibition at the Picasso Museum as a testament. Does that mean that To finish beautifully, here in Arles, is your last exhibition?
Oh no!!! This is not the last, the will, it is a clarification, it is cleaning things up. My father, after writing his will, was lighter. This exhibition is not about my end, about my death, even if the title is ambiguous, the place especially is dramatic, disturbing, very mysterious and very beautiful, but it is not the last.

So you are satisfied with the result?
I came to this exhibition with doubts, not about the idea that I liked. But old moldy photos, old torn clothes, I could doubt. As soon as it was illuminated, I knew it worked.

“Finishing in style” by Sophie Calle. From July 1 to September 29, 2024 (9 a.m. to 7 p.m.) at the Cryptoportiques
Arles City Hall
Republic Square 13200 Arles
Exhibition catalog: “Finishing in Beauty” – Sophie Calle (Actes Sud). 25 euros