Sophie Calle: The Elusive Self at Centre Pompidou

Sophie Calle's retrospective 'M'as-tu vue' at Centre Pompidou (19 November 2003 – 15 March 2004) explores the blurring of fact and fiction through photography and text. The exhibition features works from her series (Autoportraits), including a photograph of a white wedding dress accompanied by a narrative about an anonymous lover. Calle's practice involves surveillance, stalking, and role-play, often using a first-person narrator who is unreliable and elusive. She targets strangers—stealing an address book, following a man in Venice, working as a chambermaid to inventory guests' belongings—and objectifies herself as a bride, stripper, or ghost. Her work contrasts with Cindy Sherman's multiple personas; Calle presents a single woman's narcissistic dreams while concealing her true self. The exhibition title 'M'as-tu vue' (Did you see me?) encapsulates her game of attention and distraction. The show also references the disappearance of Bénédicte, a Centre Pompidou receptionist who identified with Calle and vanished from her burning apartment. Calle's influences include Borges, Raymond Chandler, and Paul Auster, whose novel Leviathan features her as a character. The retrospective highlights her focus on ordinary vulnerabilities beneath the veneer of provocation.