Sophie Calle © Adagp, Paris 2010, Courtesy Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris & Miami

A small explosive event happened yesterday, as French conceptual artist Sophie Calle rolled into California College of Arts to give a talk about using photography as a medium in her work.  “In her conceptual projects, Calle immerses herself in examinations of voyeurism, intimacy, and identity. In the process of secretly investigating, reconstructing or documenting strangers’ lives, Calle manipulates situations and individuals and often adopts guises. Thus in the act of pursuing a stranger to Venice, or taking the position of a hotel chamber maid to surreptitiously observe the guests, Calle conditions and recasts her own identity for that period of time. The documents or so-called evidence that results from these conceptual projects are presented as photographs, photo-text installations, and bookworks.

Calle’s works often focus on the nature of desire and on the relationships between the artist/observer and the objects of her investigations, as in her sole video project Double-Blind. Produced in collaboration with Gregory Shepard, this conceptual road movie was released theatrically in Europe as a feature film, entitled No Sex Last Night.”

Unfortunately, I’m on the east coast and couldn’t attend, but there are plenty of shouts published on Tumblr.