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Suite Vénitienne/Please follow me
Suite Vénitienne/Please follow me is a collaborative project created by Sophie Calle and Jean Baudrillard which is primarily concerned with the concept of tracing. The text is comprised of the juxtaposition of two very different works: an annotated photographic investigation and a scholarly analysis of that investigation. Together, the two texts both articulate and perform a seduction that leads readers into an awareness of their own similar investigations and analyses of the texts at hand.
86 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
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595 people want to read
About the author
Sophie Calle
75 books291 followersSophie 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
November 14, 2019
Studied this book as part of a reading syllabus for a course in grad school. For some reason it is incredibly expensive to own, so I can only crave to possess it on my shelves.
This frustrated urge aligns with the nature the book itself. The author deliberately undertook the following experiment: choose a random pedestrian in the city around you, and start 'tailing' him. 'Shadow him' as he goes about his life. Photograph his habits, his traits. Build up a dossier on him.
Invade their privacy (and, in Sophie's case, build an art installation/photographic project from it). But do all this for no ulterior reason of your own; choose someone you have utterly no connection to. The point is to question the process itself; to analyze 'the approach' rather than 'the results'. Ask not "What does all this mean?" when poring over the target-subject's data, but rather "Why do some things mean more to us than other things?" or "Why did I go about the task this way, and not some other way?" Reflect on the surveiller, rather than the surveilled.
Simple; bold; clever. But Calle's surveillance experiment was done before the advent of the modern problem of identity-theft; before 9-11 watch-lists; before companies began buying and selling identities; before the 'nanny-state'.
'Please follow Me' was disturbing enough when it was unique; and yet powerfully artistic. It was justified for that reason. But now that we're awash in such issues I don't know what remains in it to admire. Now that the internet has exterminated creativity, what can you do with such projects? They're not distinct or relevant anymore.
It's an intellectually elegant work, but cashiered by time and events. Think of it this way: a room filled with detectives no longer has any secrets.
This frustrated urge aligns with the nature the book itself. The author deliberately undertook the following experiment: choose a random pedestrian in the city around you, and start 'tailing' him. 'Shadow him' as he goes about his life. Photograph his habits, his traits. Build up a dossier on him.
Invade their privacy (and, in Sophie's case, build an art installation/photographic project from it). But do all this for no ulterior reason of your own; choose someone you have utterly no connection to. The point is to question the process itself; to analyze 'the approach' rather than 'the results'. Ask not "What does all this mean?" when poring over the target-subject's data, but rather "Why do some things mean more to us than other things?" or "Why did I go about the task this way, and not some other way?" Reflect on the surveiller, rather than the surveilled.
Simple; bold; clever. But Calle's surveillance experiment was done before the advent of the modern problem of identity-theft; before 9-11 watch-lists; before companies began buying and selling identities; before the 'nanny-state'.
'Please follow Me' was disturbing enough when it was unique; and yet powerfully artistic. It was justified for that reason. But now that we're awash in such issues I don't know what remains in it to admire. Now that the internet has exterminated creativity, what can you do with such projects? They're not distinct or relevant anymore.
It's an intellectually elegant work, but cashiered by time and events. Think of it this way: a room filled with detectives no longer has any secrets.
September 28, 2008
Sophie Calle follows random stranger in the streets of Paris for several minutes, attempting to photograph him, but loses him several minutes later. The following evening, completely by chance, she is introduced to him at a party, during which he tells her he is taking a vacation to Venice. On a whim, she purchases a train ticket to Venice and proceeds to follow and photograph him surreptitiously in the streets of Venice, keeping careful documents on his movements. This book is comprised of those notes and photographs.
An interesting study on surveillance, evidence, personal boundaries and the arbitrariness of (as well as a healthy amount of French irony). This is one of the most interesting art objects I've experienced in a long time. Highly recommended.
An interesting study on surveillance, evidence, personal boundaries and the arbitrariness of (as well as a healthy amount of French irony). This is one of the most interesting art objects I've experienced in a long time. Highly recommended.
December 14, 2025
Livre objet œuvre d’art, l’artiste rencontre un dude dans un party et le lendemain décide de le suivre à Venise. Le photo reportage rend la chose encore plus vraie, encore plus excitante et awkward. Bien aimé!
March 14, 2023
"On our first meeting, Henri B. had told me he liked cemeteries. It is the only thing I know about him. In the afternoon I go to the old Jewish cemetery of the Lido. To open its gate, one first must get the key from the caretaker of the main cemetery. Having completed this step, I close the cemetery gate after me.
This is where he should have been. I have high expectations of him."
This is where he should have been. I have high expectations of him."
June 7, 2021
Well, this was odd - but in a good way. This work was mentioned in The Red Notebook and the description piqued my interest: an artist decides to randomly follow and photograph strangers for the sake of her art, then by chance gets introduced to one of these strangers at a party and on a whim decides to follow him to Venice where she spends two weeks following him during his holiday. The book is made up of her photographs of Venice, of her subject and her diary-like log entries recounting her search for him in Venice and subsequently following him around. The last few pages of the book are an essay by the philosopher Jean Baudrillard about the seductive aspects of following someone and being followed.
It should be mentioned that these events took place in 1980 and the book was first published in 1983 - before the internet and social media made the concept of following strangers commonplace and, I would argue, sucked all the brooding romantic mystery out of it, replacing it with plain old garden variety "creepy". Sometimes you meet an interesting looking stranger and are tempted to find out more about their life, to follow them into their life (or is that just me?) and the artist Sophie Calle basically acts on this impulse. Her photographs are fascinating, because they are snapshots in time, 40+ years ago, of strangers in Venice and the sense of mystery permeates throughout.
The atmosphere of this book strongly reminded me of the Isdal Woman mystery. A mysterious foreign woman (a spy?) with multiple fake identities, found dead in an isolated forest, all tags cut out of her clothing, all hints of her real identity carefully obfuscated, the manner of her death unusual to say the least, her actions in the days preceding utterly confounding. All sorts of investigators have been "following" her path ever since, trying to crack the mystery of her identity and her activities leading up to her death - unsuccessfully. I feel like Sophie Calle had similarly been following strangers hoping to crack the mystery of who they really are and catching only a glimpse here and there.
It should be mentioned that these events took place in 1980 and the book was first published in 1983 - before the internet and social media made the concept of following strangers commonplace and, I would argue, sucked all the brooding romantic mystery out of it, replacing it with plain old garden variety "creepy". Sometimes you meet an interesting looking stranger and are tempted to find out more about their life, to follow them into their life (or is that just me?) and the artist Sophie Calle basically acts on this impulse. Her photographs are fascinating, because they are snapshots in time, 40+ years ago, of strangers in Venice and the sense of mystery permeates throughout.
The atmosphere of this book strongly reminded me of the Isdal Woman mystery. A mysterious foreign woman (a spy?) with multiple fake identities, found dead in an isolated forest, all tags cut out of her clothing, all hints of her real identity carefully obfuscated, the manner of her death unusual to say the least, her actions in the days preceding utterly confounding. All sorts of investigators have been "following" her path ever since, trying to crack the mystery of her identity and her activities leading up to her death - unsuccessfully. I feel like Sophie Calle had similarly been following strangers hoping to crack the mystery of who they really are and catching only a glimpse here and there.
May 14, 2025
This is what I think the backside of a Donna Leon book looks like. Calle is often comic in her mock private investigator ways, and at the same time is so close to the real thing, her (seemingly) arbitrary motivation excepted. Calle's need to justify her endeavor through love, her reminders that she isn't in love with him, may seem like an attempted denial, but most of all speak of how the only domain left for "uninterested" (e.g. not monetized) pursuits is passion. Lover as detctive, as researcher. The thrill of the chase only needs an excuse. You may ask why Henri B., and not someone else (the very strict law of chance), but you may also ask why Venice, and not another city? Its labyrinthine quality, its crowded piazzas (during carnival even more so), its narrow alleys filled with shops, make it an ideal scenario to look for and find someone.
PS: I love how invested everyone else is, doing what she needs, no questions asked. Goes to show how everyone is in need of a little undercover adventure, even in a secondary role. In fact, even the object, Henri B, seems to drag it on a little longer.
PS: I love how invested everyone else is, doing what she needs, no questions asked. Goes to show how everyone is in need of a little undercover adventure, even in a secondary role. In fact, even the object, Henri B, seems to drag it on a little longer.
July 3, 2018
Creepy and surreal. I want to read more of her. Also my third recent encounter with Baudrillard; finally started reading Simulations after it sat on my shelf for a year, and in Chris Kraus' I Love Dick (her name also appears on the series masthead in Simulations). I really need to start writing these right after I read them; it's so hard for me to hang on to anything other than a vague feeling.
November 21, 2023
Was this entire book about her stalking a random guy? Yes. Was it surprisingly entertaining? Also yes
January 10, 2024
She’s a genius! She’s crazy!
March 21, 2024
so interested that I’m writing my dissertation on it
February 21, 2023
"I refuse to think about being in this place. I must not think about it. I must stop pondering possible outcomes, wondering where this story is leading me. I will follow it to the end." - Sophie Calle
I followed this book from, Jean Baudrillard's The Transparency of Evil: Essays in Extreme Phenomena. In chapter Pursuit to Venice, he says - “A strange pride incites us not only to possess the other but also to force the other’s secret out of him, not only to be dear to the other but also to be fatal to him. To play the éminence grise in the other’s life.”
With that quote I feel like it fails to mention that we are also forcing our secrets out of ourselves and learning something new about our inner selves. I truly believing even with out us knowing, sometimes when we observe others from afar, we gain this power over them. We subconsciously feel like we control their destiny. We for a moment in time have adopted the task as their watcher, their protector.
Finally catching up to this, dated February 11-22 1980, I'm a day ahead of reading a story that nearly took place 43 years ago. On February 21, Sophie Calle said goodbye to her other and watched him drift away into the shadows.
A fun dive into a calm take on the innocence in our voyeuristic tendencies we as humans have and hide with our deep and darkest desires on curiosity.
I followed this book from, Jean Baudrillard's The Transparency of Evil: Essays in Extreme Phenomena. In chapter Pursuit to Venice, he says - “A strange pride incites us not only to possess the other but also to force the other’s secret out of him, not only to be dear to the other but also to be fatal to him. To play the éminence grise in the other’s life.”
With that quote I feel like it fails to mention that we are also forcing our secrets out of ourselves and learning something new about our inner selves. I truly believing even with out us knowing, sometimes when we observe others from afar, we gain this power over them. We subconsciously feel like we control their destiny. We for a moment in time have adopted the task as their watcher, their protector.
Finally catching up to this, dated February 11-22 1980, I'm a day ahead of reading a story that nearly took place 43 years ago. On February 21, Sophie Calle said goodbye to her other and watched him drift away into the shadows.
A fun dive into a calm take on the innocence in our voyeuristic tendencies we as humans have and hide with our deep and darkest desires on curiosity.
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January 27, 2024I honestly don't know how to rate this. Calle's narrative is unnerving, and the accompanying photographs amplified my discomfort. This is essentially "stalking for art," but her motivation seems to be curiosity not possession. I wouldn't say that makes it better or less problematic, but it is interesting to see how the city and her own routine become so profoundly anchored to a person she met once. It's also very fascinating to see how other people respond to her "quest," aiding and abetting without much hesitation.
Suite Vénitienne features repetition and obsession, much like other works (Exquisite Pain). In EP, it's almost a ritualistic repetition, exorcising of grief and heartbreak. Here, it assumes a very different role, becoming part of a curious compulsion Calle herself seems astonished by.
Suite Vénitienne features repetition and obsession, much like other works (Exquisite Pain). In EP, it's almost a ritualistic repetition, exorcising of grief and heartbreak. Here, it assumes a very different role, becoming part of a curious compulsion Calle herself seems astonished by.
September 22, 2018
Four stars for the concept. Five stars for the potential. Three stars for the execution.
May 3, 2020
there is such a gap between his thoughts and mine. i'm the only one dreaming.
non ho mai letto niente di simile
non ho mai letto niente di simile
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April 6, 2023on train back from botanic gardens
March 3, 2021
This one is really simple. The concept is great. It is just an art project, but the sheer audacity of the woman is amusing. So I picked it up after reading it mentioned somewhere.
“After following strangers on the streets in Paris for months, photographing them and notating their movements, Sophie Calle ran into a man at an opening whom she had followed earlier that day. "During the course of our conversation, he told me he was planning an imminent trip to Venice. I decided to follow him," she writes at the beginning of Suite Vénitienne, her first artist's book and the crucible of her inimitable fusion of investigatory methods, fictional constructs, the plundering of real life and the composition of self. Over the course of almost two weeks in Venice, Calle notates, in time-stamped entries, her surveillance of Henri B., as well as her own emotions as she seeks, finds and follows him through the labyrinthine streets of Venice."
I think this one is definitely ‘of its time’. Doing this today, even just using the sinister reach of social networks, would definitely be viewed extremely negatively. That’s a good thing to note really, that we have developed a stronger desire for personal privacy.
Ultimately humans are fascinating, but if you get carried away you can end up writing a quite dull journal of a trip to a beautiful city chasing after someone that was far more interesting before the introduction.
If you are an art student, read this. You’ll love it and it’ll mean we won't have to suffer your half-baked concept because it has been ‘done’ and therefore isn’t worth doing again.
“After following strangers on the streets in Paris for months, photographing them and notating their movements, Sophie Calle ran into a man at an opening whom she had followed earlier that day. "During the course of our conversation, he told me he was planning an imminent trip to Venice. I decided to follow him," she writes at the beginning of Suite Vénitienne, her first artist's book and the crucible of her inimitable fusion of investigatory methods, fictional constructs, the plundering of real life and the composition of self. Over the course of almost two weeks in Venice, Calle notates, in time-stamped entries, her surveillance of Henri B., as well as her own emotions as she seeks, finds and follows him through the labyrinthine streets of Venice."
I think this one is definitely ‘of its time’. Doing this today, even just using the sinister reach of social networks, would definitely be viewed extremely negatively. That’s a good thing to note really, that we have developed a stronger desire for personal privacy.
Ultimately humans are fascinating, but if you get carried away you can end up writing a quite dull journal of a trip to a beautiful city chasing after someone that was far more interesting before the introduction.
If you are an art student, read this. You’ll love it and it’ll mean we won't have to suffer your half-baked concept because it has been ‘done’ and therefore isn’t worth doing again.
December 20, 2025
I found out about Sophie Calle thanks to a lovely Youtuber, Carla Serrano from La Inercia, who introduces lots of interesting artists, architects and concepts providing rich cultural information in Shorts format.
The concept for his piece of art sounded quite interesting: following someone —who the artist barely knew— from Paris to Venice, trying to discover where he was staying (like finding a needle in a haystack) and taking pictures of him for fourteen days without being recognized. The book has around one hundred pages and consists of her photos and diary in which she captures updates on her bizarre mission. After a while it becomes a little repetitive and too frivolous.
In contrast, Jean Baudrillard’s text is exquisite. It provides reflection, explores the thought processes behind Sophia’s art: The shadowing and The sleepers (she invited lots of people to sleep eight hours in her bed for twenty days). I enjoyed his explanations in his transcendental and poetic style more than Sophia’s art.
In summary, I don’t know if it makes sense to read this book because I think knowing about the concept of The shadowing is probably enough. Despite that, I recommend reading Baudrillard's final pages. I will look both for more texts by him and more art from her. After so many imitators in today 's art landscape it is always refreshing to discover this type of ideas (from the 60’ to the 80’ was a fertile time).
The concept for his piece of art sounded quite interesting: following someone —who the artist barely knew— from Paris to Venice, trying to discover where he was staying (like finding a needle in a haystack) and taking pictures of him for fourteen days without being recognized. The book has around one hundred pages and consists of her photos and diary in which she captures updates on her bizarre mission. After a while it becomes a little repetitive and too frivolous.
In contrast, Jean Baudrillard’s text is exquisite. It provides reflection, explores the thought processes behind Sophia’s art: The shadowing and The sleepers (she invited lots of people to sleep eight hours in her bed for twenty days). I enjoyed his explanations in his transcendental and poetic style more than Sophia’s art.
In summary, I don’t know if it makes sense to read this book because I think knowing about the concept of The shadowing is probably enough. Despite that, I recommend reading Baudrillard's final pages. I will look both for more texts by him and more art from her. After so many imitators in today 's art landscape it is always refreshing to discover this type of ideas (from the 60’ to the 80’ was a fertile time).
July 2, 2025
5/5
"You remember those reels that were like, If I were in a room with a hundred other girls would you look for me? Well, when I went into the auditorium, filled with over a hundred people, clustered, dancing, darkly lit, it was empty only until I found you."
I want to be your shadow. To slink behind you always. To learn you. Protect you against the sun. To be.
--
"You seduce yourself into the other’s destiny, the double of his path."
A wonderful read. Exciting read. So well written. I was so enticed the entire time. So anxious. Curious. Sophie Calle's writing reminded me of Hemingway's in many ways. So tight. Economical, while profound. And Baudrillard's essay was amazing--a few places I thought could be tightened up a little, but nonetheless amazing; I'd been exposed to his ideas before; this was the first time encountering his words; I will be returning to him, and Calle, again and again.
"You remember those reels that were like, If I were in a room with a hundred other girls would you look for me? Well, when I went into the auditorium, filled with over a hundred people, clustered, dancing, darkly lit, it was empty only until I found you."
I want to be your shadow. To slink behind you always. To learn you. Protect you against the sun. To be.
--
"You seduce yourself into the other’s destiny, the double of his path."
A wonderful read. Exciting read. So well written. I was so enticed the entire time. So anxious. Curious. Sophie Calle's writing reminded me of Hemingway's in many ways. So tight. Economical, while profound. And Baudrillard's essay was amazing--a few places I thought could be tightened up a little, but nonetheless amazing; I'd been exposed to his ideas before; this was the first time encountering his words; I will be returning to him, and Calle, again and again.
February 12, 2020
I have never, ever read another book like this before. It's not only a glimpse into the past and how life was then, but it's subject matter is unique, it's boldness empowered by the simplicity of it's telling.
Artist Sophie Calle meets a man in Paris by chance. And by chance, later that same day, she meets him again at a party where she learns that he will be traveling to Venice. She decides to follow him, and the reader embarks upon her journey and becomes a sort of co-conspirator as she surveils him.
Enchanting, magnetic, evocative, like a dream, and so utterly unlike anything else.
Artist Sophie Calle meets a man in Paris by chance. And by chance, later that same day, she meets him again at a party where she learns that he will be traveling to Venice. She decides to follow him, and the reader embarks upon her journey and becomes a sort of co-conspirator as she surveils him.
Enchanting, magnetic, evocative, like a dream, and so utterly unlike anything else.
June 13, 2020
An exploration of the logistics and meaning itself, of photography; of finding your muse and following through. Most often than not, the muse is your own projection of yourself onto someone else you want to be closely associated with. The photographer's work then becomes about herself, in a way.
This book talks about the subject of her photography, and herself - how hard she tries to pursue him. It looks as if in looking for him and locating him, she's inherently looking for herself - a self that keeps running away and that which we struggle to keep up with.
This book talks about the subject of her photography, and herself - how hard she tries to pursue him. It looks as if in looking for him and locating him, she's inherently looking for herself - a self that keeps running away and that which we struggle to keep up with.
March 2, 2022
"What a thrill to be hidden while someone's looking for you, what a delightful fright to be found, but what a panic when, because you are too well hidden, the others give up looking for you after a while and leave. If you hide too well, the others forget you. You are forced to come out on your own when they don't want you anymore. That is hard to take. It's like turning too fine a phrase, so subtle that you are reduced to explaining it. Nothing is sadder than having to beg for existence and returning naked among the others."
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March 13, 2022Suite Vénitienne is mildly disquieting at best and downright disturbing at worst. While I understand the desire to follow a random person -- a desire which must be called voyeuristic despite both authors' vehement insistence that it is not -- there are reasons why one should never give in to a impulse like this. The perverse invasion of a person's privacy is no less reprehensible only because it it being undertaken in the name of art, science, or philosophy.
August 29, 2018
A perfect piece to read after the Address Book, a more narrowly focused shadowing of a stranger - a tracing. Especially wonderful thanks to the interpretive text from Baudrillard. Life lived through others, controlling others, letting others release control.
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February 5, 2020It’s incredible to see how willing the locals were to help stalk him, given such little information. Does the project seem menacing? Not really? Playful? Yes. Someday I’d like to be this impulsive, yet have the organizational skills to be as methodical as she is.
January 8, 2024
Chaotic good in terms of stalking
Something endearing about this weird relationship … something something kinship strangers fascination ambivalent
I was secondhand stalking on Google maps the whole time
Something endearing about this weird relationship … something something kinship strangers fascination ambivalent
I was secondhand stalking on Google maps the whole time
December 28, 2017
Did not enjoy
April 10, 2018
“It is to the unknown that one yields most impulsively; it is toward the unknown that one feels the most total, the most instinctive obligation.”
March 12, 2019
Incredible. Well worth tracking down.
September 14, 2020
read for class
December 18, 2021
Have an idea, and do it to see what will happen. That’s what Sophie teaches me.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews