“I would have liked things to have turned out differently. Take care of yourself.” read the breakup e-mail that Sophie Calle received from her partner at the time some years ago. Those words triggered the creation of the installation by the same name, which includes a multiple and thorough epistolary analysis to understand the causes of the separation.
In Take Care of Yourself, the artist invited different professionals to interpret the letter, each from the point of view of their field of expertise. Altogether, she gathered 107 conclusions drawn by women in the fields of journalism, style correction, acting, singing, dancing, philosophy, and psychoanalysis, among many others.
The result of this exercise is a microscopic look at a breakup, carefully dissecting each possible meaning of the different parts of a farewell note, by means of photographic portraits, written studies and video performances expressing different ideas on love, pain, sex and identity.
Sophie Calle is internationally renowned for using aspects of her personal life as a source of inspiration. Her work is about exploring human relations using provocative, sometimes even controversial methods, since her narrations —often told through photographs, videos and text— reveal, or at least seem to reveal, the artist's very own intimacy and that of those surrounding her.
Date: From May 26 through August 23 (except June 1, 2, and 3)
Time: 2 to 8 pm
Venue: Centro Cultural Kirchner
Admission: Free and open to all
Coproduced by Centro Cultural Kirchner - Argentine Ministry of Culture with the support of the French Embassy in Argentina, and the Institut Français
Sophie Calle's exhibition Take care of yourself (Prenez soin de vous), is an installation made up of nearly a hundred interpretations by women, inspired by an e-mail received by the artist years ago, in which her partner at the time ended their romantic relationship. Within this framework, Maricel Álvarez premiers a series of performances which proposes a radical change of analytical perspective by focusing on the male standpoint.
What would men think of the possible reasons that have triggered the writing of this breakup email? In search of answers, the actress and director invited different Argentine artists and intellectuals to present their own conclusions from their fields of expertise.
The series, curated by Álvarez, proposes the subjective reading of the same material and is an invitation to reflect upon the influence of gender in the configuration of a point of view. Edgardo Cozarinsky (writer and filmmaker), Marcelo Delgado (composer), Emilio García Wehbi (visual artist, performer and theater director) Gustavo Lesgart (dancer and choreographer), Hugo Mujica (poet), Marcelo Percia (psychoanalyst and professor) and Diego Velázquez (actor) will be in charge of dissecting each word and phrase written by Calle's ex, and somehow, give testimony of the complexity of human relations.
Date: May 27
Time: 6 pm
Venue: Centro Cultural Kirchner
Free admission / Limited capacity
Coproduced by Centro Cultural Kirchner - Argentine Ministry of Culture
Curated by Maricel Alvarez
The artist will make a public presentation in a dialogue with Agustín Pérez Rubio, artistic director of the Buenos Aires Museum of Latin American Art (MALBA).
Date: May 18
Time: 7 pm
Venue: MALBA. Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires
Free admission / Limited capacity
We hadn't been living together for more than a year, but our relationship had worsened to such an extent that we had stopped talking to one another altogether. I dreamed of marrying him. He dreamed of making movies. To get him to travel across America with me, I suggested that we make a film during the trip. He agreed.
Our absence of communication gave us the idea of equipping ourselves with separate cameras, making them the sole confidantes of our respective frustrations and secretly telling them all the things we were unable to say to each other.
Having established the rules, on january 3, 1992 we left New York in his silver Cadillac and Headed for California.
No Sex Last Night, 1992
(Title of the original video version : Double Blind, 1992)
Film, color, sound, partly subtitled, 35 mm, 72’
Directors: Sophie Calle and Greg Shephard
Editing: Michael Penhallow, Greg Shephard and Sophie Calle
Production: Bohen Foundation, New York/Gemini Films
Post-Production: San Francisco Art Space
Date: May 18th
Time: 5:30 pm
Venue: MALBA. Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires
Free admision / Tickets can be picked up one hour prior to the event, at the Museum's reception. Only one ticket per person will be given out, until theater capacity is complete.
Sophie Calle 1953, Paris, France.
She lives and works in Paris, France.
She is a conceptual artist who explores different media such as the performance, sculpture, photography, and, video, among others. Since the late 1970s, Sophie Calle has merged image and narration. Her work methodically organizes an unveiling of reality —her own and that of others— while allocating a controlled part of this reality to chance. The theme of absence is central to her work. From the beginning, she has exhibited in galleries and international museums. A major exhibition entitled A suivre was held in 1991 at ARC / Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris. In April 2001 she presented Twenty Years Later at Galerie Perrotin, a project which reactivates that of La Filature [The Shadow] (1981): “On April 16, 1981, at my request, my mother went to a detective agency. She hired them to follow me, to report my daily activities, and to provide photographic evidence of my existence. Twenty years later, on April 16, 2001, I was followed by a private detective of the Duluc agency who had been hired by Emmanuel Perrotin.” In 2003, a Sophie Calle retrospective titled M’as-tu vue [Did you See Me?] was organized by the Centre Pompidou; then travelled to the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin; the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland; and the Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany. For Take Care of Yourself at the 2007 Venice Biennale, Sophie Calle invited women to interpret a breakup email. The artist orchestrated these interpretations by combining texts, photographs and videos. This exhibition then travelled to the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, and throughout twenty museums across the world. More recently, Rachel, Monique dealt with the death of her mother. Different versions of the exhibition were exhibited at the Palais de Tokyo (2010), the Avignon Festival in France (2012), the Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest in New York (2014); and “MAdRE” at Castello di Rivoli in Torino, until February 15, 2015. The exhibition Last Seen, recently exhibited at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, echoed a 1991 series of the same title, also linked with Museum collections. In 2010 Sophie Calle was the recipient of the Hasselblad Award for photography. Recently, several solo exhibitions of her work have been on view: Cuídese mucho at Museo Tamayo, Mexico (until March, 1st, 2015), For the Last and First Time at the Musée d’Art Contemporain, Montreal (from February 5 through May 10, 2015), and a retrospective Modus Vivendi at La Virreina, Barcelona, Spain (March - May 2015).
Maricel Álvarez
1973, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
She lives and works in Buenos Aires (Argentina).
She is a film and theater actress, director, choreographer, and teacher. Since 1999 she works in close collaboration with director, playwright, and performer Emilio García Wehbi. She has presented her work in many of the most prestigious world stages and film festivals of Argentina, Germany, Brazil, Colombia, Spain, France, Italy, Japan, Mexico, and Switzerland. She has worked for outstanding artists such as: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Santiago Loza, Woody Allen, Ana Katz, Diana Szeinblum, Nora Lezano, Alejandro Tantanian, Nicolás Prividera, Sophie Calle, Gustavo Taretto, Martín Churba, Marcelo Delgado and Daniel Veronese, among others. Chief among her films are Las insoladas (2014), Un paraíso para los malditos (2013), To Rome with Love (2012) and Biutiful (2010).
Some of her major works as choreographer and coproducer include Red Lights for Dr. Faustus (Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany, 2010); Moby Dick oder der Weisse Wal (Ludwig Maximilian Universität, Munich, Germany, 2007), and Chacales y árabes (Universidad Nacional de Bogotá, Bogotá, Colombia, 2009). She participated of internationally-awarded projects (Cannes Film Festival, Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards) and her professional activity was honored with various distinctions from Argentina and abroad, including the Florencio Sánchez, the Trinidad Guevara, the María Guerrero, the Unión de Actores (Spain), the Ariel (Mexico), and the Cóndor de Plata awards. In the academic field she has worked as a teacher of such institutions as the Ludwig Maximilian Universität (Munich, Germany) ; Freie Universität Berlin (Berlin, Germany); Kyoto University of Arts and Design (Kyoto, Japan); Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Bogotá, Colombia); as well as in theaters and festivals, including the Theatertreffen-Internationales Forum (Berlin, Germany); and the Foro Shakespeare (City of Mexico, Mexico).
Edgardo Cozarinsky
1939, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Writer and filmmaker. In 1974 he settled in Paris, and since 1988 he alternates his residency between Buenos Aires and the French capital city. Chief among his literary works are the essays El pase del testigo (2001), Museo del chisme (2005) and Blues (2010); his narrative volumes Vudú urbano (1985), La novia de Odessa (2001) and Tres fronteras (2006); as well as the novels El rufián moldavo (2004), Maniobras nocturnas (2007), Lejos de dónde (2009), La tercera mañana (2010), Dinero para fantasmas (2012) and En ausencia de guerra (2014). His most recent films include Ronda Nocturna (2005), Apuntes para una biografía imaginaria (2010), Nocturnos (2011), and Carta a un padre (2013).
Marcelo Delgado
1956, Buenos Aires Argentina.
Composer, director, and teacher. His music productions include numerous chamber pieces, songs, and five chamber operas premiered at the Teatro Colón Experimentation Center and the Centro Cultural Rojas. He is founder and director of Compañía Oblicua, ensemble of contemporary music. He is the creator and host of the radio show OMNI (Spanish acronym for Unidentified Music Objects), which promotes contemporary music in Radio Nacional Clásica. He is professor of the School of Arts at the University of Buenos Aires, of Composition at UCA (Argentina Catholic University), Music Theory and Practice at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, and Composition for the Advanced Diploma course in Contemporary Music at the Conservatorio Superior de Música Manuel de Falla
Emilio García Wehbi
1964, Buenos Aires Argentina.
(Artists' page)
Gustavo Lesgart
1967, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Contemporary dance choreographer, dancer, and teacher. His work as choreographer has been featured at different Latin American and European festivals, and has been produced by Tanz im August (Germany); Buenos Aires International Festival (F.I.B.A, Argentina); Musikkteatret i Trondheim (Norway); and Cía. Mudances (Spain). He has created choreographies for the Teatro San Martín de Buenos Aires Contemporary Ballet (Argentina); IUNA Company (Argentina); Ballet Argentino de Julio Bocca (Argentina); Musikkteatret i Trondheim (Norway); NYU Ensemble (United States). He directed the company of physical-theater Lesgart-Sanguinetti, and collaborated as actor and dancer of such groups as Núcleo Danza, El Descueve ,and De la Guarda, among others. He was awarded the career achievement Merit Diploma by the Fundación Konex in Argentina; and the Best Dancer award granted by Clarín newspaper in Buenos Aires.
Hugo Mujica
1942, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
He studied Fine Arts, Philosophy, Philosophical Anthropology, and Theology. He has published over twenty books. His essays include: La palabra inicial (1995), Flecha en la niebla (1997), Poéticas del vacío (2002), Lo naciente (2007), La pasión según Georg Trakl (2009), and El saber del no saberse (2014). Chief among his narrative books are: Solemne y mesurado (1990) and Bajo toda la lluvia del mundo (2008). In 2013, he published Del crear y lo creado. Poesía completa. 1983-2011, and the following year he published two more volumes with almost all his essays. He also has numerous personal anthologies, which have been published in sixteen different countries.
Diego Velázquez
1976, Mar del Plata, Argentina.
Actor graduated from the Escuela Metropolitana de Arte Dramático de Buenos Aires. He studied Dance and Visual Arts. He worked with directors and choreographers including: Ciro Zorzoli (Estado de Ira; Traición, Exhibición y Desfile; El niño en cuestión; and 23.344), Alejandro Tantanian (Los Sensulales; Las Islas; Amerika; and Knives in Hens), Daniel Veronese (Cock; Los Corderos), Eugenia Estévez (Si), Gustavo Tarrio (Decidí Canción; Súper), Robert Sturua (El luto le sienta a Electra), Jorge Lavelli (King Lear), Moro Anghileri (3-EX; Puentes), Ana Frenkel and Carlos Casella (Vacaciones en la Oscuridad), among others. He directed the plays Aquaman; and En el Ruido. His work in films include: Wild Tales, Lumpen, El niño pez, Amorosa soledad, Habi la extranjera and in television: Los Siete Locos; Farsantes; La Casa; and La Verdad. He is currently also teacher of the National Company of Contemporary Dance.
Marcelo Percia
1954, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Regular professor at the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Buenos Aires. He published: Notas para pensar lo grupal (1991); Una subjetividad que se inventa. Diálogo, demora, recepción (1994); Clínica del crack-up. Ficciones psicoanalíticas (2001); Deliberar las psicosis (2004); Alejandra Pizarnik, maestra de psicoanálisis (2008); Inconformidad. Arte, política, psicoanálisis (2010); Sujeto fabulado I Notas (2014), and Sujeto fabulado II Figuras (2014). He compiled the volumes Ensayo y Subjetividad (1998) and El ensayo como clínica de la subjetividad (2001), among others. He was responsible for the revision and the epilogues of essays including Maurice Blanchot's The Analytic Word (2012) and Thomas De Quincey's The Sphinx’s Riddle (2013). He is part of the editorial committee of Pensamiento de los confines magazine.
1st Performance Biennial
April 27 thru June 7, 2015
Argentina 2015
2015 Biennial