Sophie Calle. Suite Vénitienne

I was watching Sophie Calle talk in youtube when she was in the US
I found that her life amazing and full of experiences
She is a French woman with an amazing body of work, always acting at the intersection between public, on display and private or intimate.

Her artworks very often involved following and meetings strangers. Such as Suite Vénitienne, a book that resulted from Sophie’s following a man she met at a party.

‘For months I followed strangers in the street. For the pleasure of following them, not because they particularly interested me. I photographed them without their knowledge, took note of their movements, then finally lost sight of them and forgot them.

At the end of January 1980, on the streets of Paris, I followed a man whom I lost sight of a few minutes later in the crowd. That very evening, by chance, he was introduced to me at an opening. During the course of our conversation, he told me he was planning an imminent trip to Venice.’

She left Paris and went to Venice, trying to find this man. After finding out in what hotel did he live, she persuaded a woman who lived opposite to let Sophie photograph the man. She remained in Venice for two weeks.

A year later Sophie returned to Venice for another project. She found a job as a maid and took pictures of the hotel rooms. Then she tried to imagine who were the hotel guests, based on their objects and the way they were left in the hotel room.

I quite enjoy reading it as she records her time following the man

I admire her photographs more:) 
She said that if u follow sb, u dun need to think by yrself. You can follow others' mind and decisions.

我的视觉日记

I discovered this author because she has co-written a book called 
花非花——周国平对话王小慧》with 周国平! (I usually read his blog)
I asked my dad if he can find any of her books in mainland, and my dad found this one and sent it to me:)

She is a talented person, she studied architecture in Shanghai for 10 years, then she studied phD in Germany and then became a photographer, a director, an actress, a writer.

This book records her life in Germany! The people she met, the accidents she met with, the wisdom she developed through her experiences!

I admire her after reading the book. She definitely experienced a lot, she grows and understands wt life is! 

She said, through writing, she can forget the pains in her life! So she kept on writing!

She also has a nice def of art and if you have time, you can view her photographs and some exhibitions! They are amazing:) 

More about this book, some sample reading from http://book.douban.com/subject/3929911/

More about her:her blog: http://blog.sina.com.cn/wangxiaohuiworld

If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then  wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast   
---Hemingway, 1950


I was so captured by this comment and I borrowed this book from the library.


I was in Paris during Easter break and I was in love with her again.It is hard to explain why I love Paris, I have thought, is it because of the trees? The cafes? But later on I found similar trees being planted in Strasebourg and Spain. So not the trees!I think it's the atmosphere in Paris that Im in love with. The art, the food, the lifestyle, the people, the language...I enjoyed reading the book, Hemingway showed us his time spent as an expat in Paris with his first wife. He introduced us his friends in Paris, the nice cafes that he went to,the happiness that he had in Paris:)I learnt more about the 1920s Paris! I googled the names of his fds and discovered so many nice things! Like his fd Scott Fitzgerald and Pascin.

I love the ending of the book!

Paris was never to be the same again, although it was always Paris and you changed as it changed.

There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other. We always returned to it no matter who we were or how it was changed or with what difficulties, or ease, it could be reached. Paris was always worth it and you received return for whatever you brought to it. But this is how Paris was in the early days when we were very poor and very happy. 

 I wish I could visit Paris again later! Visit the Musée du Luxembourg to see the work of Cézanne, Manet, and Monet.