Museum of Modern Art, Part OneThe Sleepers by Sophie Calle now installed in a room of its own
events, 07/26/26
American museums have—surprisingly, unsurprisingly?—rarely exhibited Sophie Calle’s work. Now, the entirety of the English-language version of The Sleepers is installed at the Museum of Modern Art. (Finally.)
The Sleepers is one of Sophie Calle’s first artistic experiments. She invited friends, acquaintances, and strangers to sleep in her bed, photographed them awake and asleep, served each a meal, and, if they agreed, subjected them to a questionnaire. The result comprised her first exhibition in 1979: a large grid of 176 photographs, most with a hand-written caption, along with brief texts introducing each sleeper.
In the installation in MoMA Room 419, the photos and text “cards” are installed as two lines traveling the length of three walls. A slow perambulation is necessary as you read, sequentially from Sunday, April 1, 1979 at 5 p.m. to Monday, April 9 at 10 a.m—as opposed to standing still, confronted by a dense grid 0f short texts and photographs as the piece was originally exhibited. (It’s a very interesting variation.) Here’s a write-up in MoMA Magazine by curators Marina Molarsky-Beck and Rachel Rosin, in which you can also see a shot of of the installation.
The artist’s book The Sleepers (originally published as Les Dormeurs by Actes Sud in 2000, translated into English by Emma Ramadan and published by siglio in 2024) contains all of the photographs as well as a novella-like report narrated by Calle from the single, liminal mise-en-scène of her bedroom.
These are quite different expressions and experiences of her work: installation/exhibition and book. The intimacy of the latter envelopes the reader in a kind of complicity in Calle’s detonation of boundaries. The former allows the viewer to possibly notice when they want to move in close and when they (feel they have to) move away. (That’s at least one way of comparing; there are many others, of course.)
Go now, go soon, if you can. It’s unclear how long The Sleepers will be in Room 419.
see also
✼ natalie’s upstate weather report:
May 27, 2024—Eggs, books, etc.: The first book in siglio’s new habitat is just about laid. Our local snapping turtle George perambulated the house in driving rain, determined and curious, then laid her eggs at our doorstep. Do snapping turtles and publishers share common traits? Oh, so very, very slow. Reportedly testy but actually timid. A group of them might be a bale, nest, turn, dole, or creep—though ours seems solitary. Only 10% of her eggs will survive as hatchlings. Make of it what you will. Sophie Calle’s The Sleepers goes on press very soon. One sleeper said to Calle: “I’ve often dreamt of an egg that was enormous ovoid transgression. The original sin of Adam & Eve is a hard-boiled egg.” Meanwhile, many sightings of goslings, kits, poults, and one fawn too: how easily the others propagate, alas.
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