| Private truths and public fictions, OR public truths and private fictions
EXHIBIT REVIEW
L’HOTEL SOFICALLE
Vera Greenwood
Stride Gallery
Runs until February 16
What would a detective find if she followed you? Would you be comfortable with the truth? What kind of persona do you choose to reveal to the world? Vera Greenwood considers the dichotomies of truth and fiction, public and private, in her installation L’hôtel SofiCalle.
According to the legend, French artist Sophie Calle was bored, so she started following strangers around Paris, recording their activities. Then in 1981, Calle arranged for a private detective to follow her for one day. She constructed an installation for the project, incorporating the detective’s notes and photos, as well as her own.
Canadian artist Vera Greenwood travelled to Paris in 1998, in order to follow Sophie Calle. Her interest was in the concept of the gaze. Does anything or anyone have an objective reality, one single truth? Or does it change with each person that looks upon it? Calle knew when the detective was following her, so how did that affect her activities for the day?
Greenwood’s exhibition at Stride Gallery seems to be a careful, thorough inventory of the artist’s time in France. The information Greenwood presents has the air of objective evidence, the authority of truth. Each section of the project is labelled and numbered, so it can be followed in chronological order. Diary entries are neatly typed and framed in black, and original documents and objects are displayed in Plexiglas cases.
One of the first cases contains a travel itinerary in Greenwood’s name, plus her boarding pass and Canadian passport. A section entitled The Research includes detective novels by Sue Grafton from which the artist learned search and surveillance techniques.
Greenwood became involved in the small details of her project, getting fake business cards printed and choosing the perfect wig and glamorous Jackie-O style sunglasses for a disguise. But these strategies were hardly necessary – she obtained Calle's address and phone number without much trouble.
Greenwood was tentative, and spent much of her time searching out and photographing the locations that appeared in Calle’s original project. She also found the detective agency Calle used 16 years before, and was able to read the original file. The private investigator's notes record that Calle returned to her apartment at 8 p.m., but the artist claims she went to an opening and a party, then spent the night at a hotel with a man she just met. Was the fiction Calle’s? Did she want to appear more interesting, exciting or sexy? Perhaps the detective faked his notes, not wanting to embarrass Calle, or maybe he just lost track of the artist after 8 p.m. Greenwood puts forth another possibility – perhaps Calle slept with the detective. In any case, the detective no longer worked at the agency, so Greenwood never found out what he saw, but she seems content to let both contradictory interpretations exist.
Greenwood’s only personal contact with Calle came at a screening advertised in a local paper, where the artist was present. Prodded by a friend, Greenwood followed Calle outside the theatre after the film started. She took a photograph, but the automatic flash on her camera went off.
"Sophie Calle’s friends keep right on walking, but the woman herself stops dead in her tracks." Greenwood tried to hide but Calle walked straight toward her.
"I know I can’t pull off a flawless conversation in French, so I don’t even try. ‘You’ve caught me.’ Is all I manage to blurt out… She stands there for a minute, obviously deliberating over what to say. Finally she speaks: ‘Vell, I guess I vill juust preetend that I did not see you.’ She tells me and darts across the street, hopping into her friend’s car."
Did Calle understand Greenwood’s project? Maybe this had happened to her before. Whatever her reason, Calle seems to have agreed to participate. But Greenwood never followed her again. She gave up on each foray, hanging up in panic when Calle answered her phone. She was not able to press the buzzer outside Calle’s apartment for fear she might come to the door.
In the end, L’hôtel SofiCalle does not reveal much about Sophie Calle, but a lot about Vera Greenwood. Her documentation tells an entertaining story – the main character is self-deprecating and funny, making mistakes along the way. Or is that just the persona Greenwood chose to present to the audience? The viewer will never know what really happened, but in the exhibition publication, writer John Murchie notes, "she has always seemed reasonably honest and trustworthy." |
