Sophie Calle. Overshare

Although the oeuvre of the well-known photo, video and installation artist has already been presented in numerous books, the design of this survey catalogue offers a surprisingly fresh perspective. Twenty-odd works spanning 45 years are organised into four thematic chapters distinguished by four different pastel shades of paper. Within the chapters the works are unveiled in chronological order, each introduced with an identically structured title page containing three graphic elements: the name of the work appears at the top in a box with a wide grey-and-white border, a box in the centre of the page bordered by a thin line contains a brief description of the work, and the technical details can be found along the bottom of the page. After the title page, the presentation of the works varies from case to case, often reflecting exhibition practice. Many of the page arrangements of images and texts are based on how the artworks are displayed in museums, and numerous additional boxes with wide grey-and-white borders indicate that the respective pieces were framed in exhibition. Purely visual works appear in the catalogue without any supporting text, and film stills are grouped on black pages. The structured yet variable presentation allows the reader to get a good sense of each individual work and its particular form. This vividly highlights the various balancing acts the artist stages between intimacy and publicity, and between curiosity and unsettling insight. The five typefaces used for five types of text visualise the complexity of the catalogue and the strong presence of the book’s design, without this diversity becoming overwhelming. The balance between creative freedom and order is impressive.

Editor
Henriette Huldisch, Minneapolis (US)

Authors
Various

Design
Julia Born, Zürich (CH)

Printing
Musumeci S.p.A., Quart (IT)

Publisher
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (US)

ISBN
978-1-935963-30-1