Sophie Calle | Double Game

Sophie Calle
Double Game
London, UK: Violette Editions, 2007
296 pp., 7.8 x 5.8 x 1.1", hardcover
Edition size unknown


Originally published in 1999, Double Game was the first major publication in English by Calle, a hybrid monograph and artist's book. Julie Martin, writing for the New York Times Book Review, said "Double Game is a wonderful artist's book. Calle's texts are riveting, and they are enriched and amplified by accompanying photos. The photographs also pull us into the game." The title also received glowing reviews in Time Out, Artforum and the Daily Telegraph.

This slightly altered version was published in  2007, to coincide with the 52nd Venice Biennale, where Calle represented France. The book takes the form of a 'double game', between the work of Sophie Calle and the fiction of Paul Auster.

Paul Auster's seventh novel, Leviathan (1992) features a character named Maria - a photographer who follows strangers to take their picture. Many of the Maria's projects are based on the work of Calle and several others could be thought to be 'in the style of' Calle's work. In Double Game, the artist remakes these fictional artworks as her own.