All posts by julia lorimer

Sophie Calle – Take Care of Yourself

On Friday we spoke briefly about the work of writer/photographer/performance artist Sophie Calle. One of her projects that I have always connected with was her ‘Prenez soin de vous’  project, translation ‘Take Care of Yourself’.  The introduction to the project is as follows:

I received an email telling me it was over.
I didn’t know how to respond.
It was almost as if it hadn’t been meant for me.
It ended with the words, “Take care of yourself.”
And so I did.
I asked 107 women (including two made from wood and one with feathers),
chosen for their profession or skills, to interpret this letter.
To analyze it, comment on it, dance it, sing it.
Dissect it. Exhaust it. Understand it for me.
Answer for me.
It was a way of taking the time to break up.
A way of taking care of myself.

This project has been exhibited in many different galleries and was also installed at the Venice Biennale in 2007. It’s longest lasting form is a book. In the context of our mapping course, it could be said that this project interprets grief and seeks to map out an understanding or a way forward. Sadly it is not a project that explains itself well with a google search. If anyone is interested in seeing the book I would be happy to bring in my English translation of it on Monday. Let me know.

Here is a link to the original press release:
<https://www.paulacoopergallery.com/exhibitions/sophie-calle-take-care-of-yourself/press-release>

Cylinder – Sounds Translated into Objects

TranslatTranslaAndy Huntington and Drew Allan
Cylinder (Series), 2003
3D Printed Plastic
20-40 cm

Huntington and Allan developed software that translates sound into STL files to be 3D printed. With this technology, they were able to map the auditory complexity of spaces, music and moments into  visual and tactile objects. What is not apparent in this body of work is how scale comes into play. The small size of the objects suggests that the designers were limited by the size of their printers and that because of this, the scale that the sounds are printed at differs. The project “grew out of a desire to create truly complex objects which hint at the overwhelming detail present in nature,” and it is safe to say that the designers did succeed in producing complex objects but perhaps not ones that reflect nature. Some of the moments that they recorded like a breath, a Saturday market in Italy or Martin Luther King’s “free at last” are representative and provide a visual and tactile map of moments in the human experience. Not only can these objects help to illustrate the energy of a sound or a room but they serve as artifacts that can help us map out these moments that have passed.

    

01 – Julia Presentation 1_sm

02 -Julia Presentation 1_sm