Appointment with Sigmund Freud

by Sophie Calle, James Putnam (Afterword)

A unique assembly of Calle's own thoughts and photographs of her belongings juxtaposed with objects from Sigmund Freud's personal collection, still kept in the house where he lived. ‘ In February 1998, I was invited to create an exhibition entitled Appointment at a house at 20 Maresfield Gardens, London, where Dr Freud lived and died. After having a vision of my wedding dress laid across Freud’s couch, I immediately accepted. I chose to display relics of my own life amongst the interior of Sigmund’s home. ’―Sophie Calle

A unique and beautifully produced assembly of Calle’s own texts and personal objects juxtaposed with objects from Sigmund Freud’s personal collection, still kept in his Hampstead house, Appointment features fragments from the artist’s own fascinating life story, characteristic texts that reveal intimate secrets and unravel some of Calle’s childhood memories as well as her adult relationships.

Calle’s references to certain mementos and the emotionally charged events with which they are associated have many parallels to Freud’s own psychoanalytic theories and his passion for collecting. 80 illustrations, 50 in color

Genres: Art, Psychoanalysis, Art Design

156 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2002

About the author

Sophie Calle is a French writer, photographer, installation artist, and conceptual artist. Calle's work is distinguished by its use of arbitrary sets of constraints, and evokes the French literary movement of the 1960s known as Oulipo. Her work frequently depicts human vulnerability, and examines identity and intimacy. She is recognized for her detective-like ability to follow strangers and investigate their private lives. Her photographic work often includes panels of text of her own writing.

Reviews

[Olivia Thomas]

So fascinated by her… Sophie Calle obsession loading

[Ulla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book after catching Sophie Calle's amazing exhibition "Take Care of Yourself" at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art north of Copenhagen, Denmark in 2010. I have read it several times since, and it has become one of my favorite books, or should I say favorite art pieces? Because that is really what it is.

There is something incredibly intriguing about the photographs and accompanying texts, a raw honesty that may be related to the bizarre reality shows of today and some people's desire to broadly share some orchestrated, intimate details of their lives. But here it comes off as completely true, brave and sincere. There is a quirkiness that just speaks to me, and makes me feel a kinship with Sophie and her off-beat take on the world.

[Elle DesMarteau · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a class where we make and look at works incorporating text and image. When we come into class my teacher TK has spread lots of books across the table and we think and talk. As everybody in the class is talking about their projects today I have gotten sucked into this book. I wasn't expecting to like it at all. I saw freud, I thought boring. Same with the idea of an installation of this one artist's stuff just in his house. I thought boringggg. But then as I started to read these little blocks of texts, I got absolutely sucked into the stories. They are so well written. She doesn't even seem like she is trying that hard. But seriously so interesting and she captures the essence of each story in as little words as possible. I love this book. I love her

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't help but evaluate this in light of having already ready True Stories, where most of this is reprinted with a better, more thoughtful design, and expanded form. I'm glad I read True Stories first. One of the things his lacks is the closing to True Stories, which I found most powerful. It's closer to documentation of a show than a bookwork and the installation shots aren't incredibly compelling.

[Abraham · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read and a great example of documentation that becomes its own artwork. The installation at freuds house is rendered here into a book with photos and some sort of relationship to the original but with its own path of understanding. The piece is personal and speculative and marked with the intimacy that marks all her work. And it's a quick read.

[Mazola1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sophie Calle somehow got permission to do an art installation at Freud's last home, in London. The installation consisted of the placement of personal items of hers in various locations in the Freud home, including his study and bedroom. The book consists of pictures of the installation, together with the written notations which were placed by the items, explaining them. The notes are highly personal to Calle's life, so the effect is something like an artistic analysis with the long dead father of analysis. Calle had no appointment with Freud, of course, only an imagined and imaginative meeting with his ghost.

The book and the installation both can only be called weird. The mystery is how Calle ever got permission to do such things as arrange her wedding dress on Freud's fabled analytic couch, or drape a lover's bathrobe in his armchair. Surely this is one of the oddest books I've read in a long time, bizarre but fascinating.

[Daisy · Rating 4 out of 5]

How did I hear about this book? I can't remember now. It's intriguing, interesting like when you go to an exhibit that inspires you to copy it, do your own version of it, almost like an assignment. Remember in To Kill a Mockingbird when Scout goes through her box of treasures? Everyone has mementos. Sophie Calle displays her own in the context of Sigmund Freud's London home, now museum, in an installation part of a series of "artist interventions" (as the curator James Putnam puts it). Each keepsake is accompanied by a very personal tale and placed somewhere in the house. I wish I could've seen it in person.
What objects would you choose, what would you confess about them? Where would you put them if you got to have your own show like this? This just has me imagining...

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I go back and forth between thinking that Sophie Calle's work is very narcissistic and bravely open and personal. I love her for her focus on the material evidence of the events of her life and that I can never differentiate between what in her work is fact and what is fabricated.

[Joetta]

so clever and interesting.
her life projected onto freuds house!