The Hotel

by Sophie Calle

Working as a chambermaid for the Hotel C. in Venice, Italy, Sophie Calle stashes her camera and tape recorder in her mop bucket, so that as she cleans and tidies, she can also sort through the evidence of the hotel guests’ lives. Assigned twelve rooms on the fourth floor, she surveys the state of the guests’ bedding, their reading materials, their clothes. She methodically photographs the contents of closets and suitcases, examining the detritus in the rubbish bin and the toiletries arranged on the washbasin. She discovers their birth dates and blood types, diary entries, letters from and photographs of lovers and family. She eavesdrops on arguments and love-making. She retrieves a pair of shoes from the wastebasket and takes two chocolates from a neglected box of sweets, while leaving behind stashes of money, pills, and jewelry. Her thievery is the eye of the camera, observing the details that were not meant for her, or us, to see.

Like her other conceptual projects rooted in surveillance and almost forensic-like observation, The Hotel is one of Calle’s most provocative works, raising questions about our curiosity about the private lives of others and our assumption of our own privacy, about what selected artifacts of our own lives might reveal rightly or wrongly about us, and about how we navigate the known and unknown in lives partially revealed.

The Hotel now manifests as a single, standalone book for the first time in English (it was previously included in the 1999 book Double Game, now long out of print). In collaboration with Calle on a completely new design, Siglio has included larger, enhanced reproductions as well as a number of previously unpublished photographs in The Hotel. As with Siglio’s other collaborations with Calle—The Address Book (2012) and Suite Vénitienne (2015)—The Hotel pays special attention to the book as an object and an experience, as one of Calle’s primary media is the book itself: her audience must read image and text, in multiple ways, to fully engage with her work.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Photography, Travel, France

248 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

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

[Cherise Wolas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Calle is a multimedia artist, and I believe The Hotel, in its first iteration, was a gallery show. In 1981, Calle took a temporary 3-week job as a chambermaid in a hotel in Venice, Italy. She was given 12 rooms to clean, brought her camera and tape recorder, and did clean, but also photographed people's belongings, recording everything she saw. Observational, intrusive, raising questions of privacy, and fascinating - some of the things that people take with them on a trip are so odd - and also revealing about Calle - how she responds to the rooms, to the belongings, to the people who own them, a few conversations she overhears, what she thinks or feels looking through the items of others, setting them out to be photographed, taking candies, spritzing herself with someone's perfume, tasting what is left in a glass. Her breaches of others' privacy are both passive and active - she limits herself to the evidence she can see - books, medicine, clothing - while also imposing herself as a spectator and participant. The photographs, color and black and white, are arranged so they don't necessarily link up with the text, they also freeze time in a way, not just because they were taken decades ago, but because time does sort of become static when living in a hotel room. We are always constructing and inventing ourselves, the people in our lives, the people whose lives pass through ours. I found this book beguiling and am eager to see more of her work.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Hotel is intriguingly voyeuristic and aesthetically delightful. The colorful textile cover and gold-edged pages remind us what we are missing with the e-reader experience- make sure to touch books, at least once in a while- and the door-hanger bookmark is perfection.
The saturation of black and white photos lets the mind fill in the blanks with the experiences of all of the hotels we’ve spent time in, at the same time making the color versions a treat for the eye. The objects, clothing and furnishings are a snapshot of a time and place, which it’s ok to be glad we’ve moved on from.
Sophie’s writing is at its best when her disdain or boredom with certain rooms/guests bubbles up through her descriptions.
A particular favorite: the postcards bragging of Venetian water sparkling in the sunlight…
“And as I read Liz’s letters, the rain continues to come down. It hasn’t stopped for three days. I make the bed”.

[Emilie Dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

suchhhhhhh a fun read and has only made me slightly wary of hotel cleaners ! keep ur unmentionables under lock and key when sophie is around 🫵🫵

[Mai M Ibrahim · Rating 3 out of 5]

الكاتبة هي مصورة فوتوغرافية وفنانة
اشتغلت ك عاملة نظافة ف احد الفنادق لمدة ٣ أسابيع ف الثمانينات وده كان زي غطاء ل فكرة أنها عايزه تصور غرف الفندق والمتعلقات اللي الناس سايباها وده كويس لو هتصور الحاجات من الزبالة اللي سابوها والشكل العام للغرفة .. بس إنها تفتح الشنط ساعات وتشوفيه فيه ايه ولو حد سايب نوت بوك تشوف كاتبين ايه وتصوره وتذكر أسماء الناس ده بعتبره تعدي ع الحرية الشخصية!!!!

بس هي كاتبه ف آخر الكتاب الحقوق محفوظة والكلام ده بس هل الناس اللي صورت حاجتهم عارفين ب ده؟ مش عارفة


هقرأ لها حاجات تانيه قريب لان افكارها عجبتني


قرأت الكتاب ك تحضير ل حلقة هنزلها قريب اوي ع قناة "فيلم عميق" ع اليوتيوب لو حد مهتم ممكن يعمل subscribe علشان يعرف اكتر 😍 👇

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[Aeroyou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intrusive pour notre plus grand plaisir, Sophie Calle nous offre une œuvre qui fait réfléchir sur la curiosité que nous inspire l’intimité des autres.

[David Jacobson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sophie Calle worked for three weeks as a chambermaid at a Venetian hotel in 1981. But, her real goal with artistic voyeurism. She secreted a tape recorder and camera amongst her cleaning supplies and, between tidying the sheets and replacing the towels, took stock of the guests through their physical remnants (clothing, toiletries, postcards, notebooks) and, rarely, through overheard conversations. We get a sense of the romance of travel, but mostly of its monotony. So many of the guests arrive in Venice with the same sorts of clothes, figure out what to do through the same sorts of books, and write home with the same sorts of notes. Particularly striking are a series of nine postcards written by a Liz D. of Boulder, Colo., to friends and family back home. All are transcribed here, and all talk about the same "sun shining, which makes the water sparkle" even though, as our voyeur-agent dryly observes: "the rain continues to come down. It hasn't stopped for three days. I make the bed."

The book also has something interesting to say about photography as a craft. The prosaic black-and-white photos of rumpled clothes and splayed-out luggage contents and interspersed with gorgeous images of the same hotel rooms nicely done up, their wallpapers, furniture, and linens all complementing one another. These latter photos, however, are rather boring, and I mostly flipped straight through those pages. It is the photos enlivened by the stuff of everyday life, rather than by formal composition, that offer a rich window onto humanity.

[☆faithy☆ · Rating 2 out of 5]

*2.5 stars

I felt extremely uncomfortable reading this

[Vler · Rating 5 out of 5]

With this book Sophie Calle takes a look in peoples personal lives by going through their personal belongings and photographing them. Through journal entries you can read the thoughts of Calle about the stuff that hotel guests take with them. This book shows you how much you think you can tell about a person from their belongings and how people leave their stuff around when they think nobody is watching.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another of Calle’s books, The Address Book is really interesting and subversive. I had hoped the same of The Hotel but it’s not quite as compelling. The physical appearance of the book is chic and gorgeous. Feels like a fancy coffee table book. Calle is just a little wicked in her experimentation, which I love. The moments where she seems to intentionally not cover her tracks with the hotel guests are fun.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this at McNally Jackson Seaport

[Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

So intimate

[Ra 🌼 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a cool intersection between storytelling and photography idk, rated it so much! Was the perfect length, ended before the format got boring, and the book itself is beautiful, has a fabric cover and gold leaf on the page edges, so pleasant haha

[Mayelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

An unusual book that made me question about readers responsibility for author's actions (do they have one?) and whether staying in a hotel should be documented in this way. Interesting exercise, but somehow complicated by the ethics of boundaries of an individual's privacy.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and thought-provoking.
The black and white images, though full of content, made me a little sad, but the colorful empty rooms did too.
All in all, am feeling a little melancholy.

As the earlier reviewer wrote, it displays the monotony of travel.
Different people, different days, different rooms, but strikingly remarkable in their sameness.

I thought I would enjoy being "the fly on the wall," but the book only reminds us that much of a human life is dull, even in an interesting place.

[Miriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Hotel," (1981) is my third Sophie Calle book. Like "The Address Book" (1983) and "True Stories," (1994) it fully indulges my inner voyeur. Calle documents strangers with her camera and diaristic notes, pushing the boundaries of public and private, and examining human intimacy.

She uses a guests' lipstick, drinks coke from their glass, and rummages through their suitcases. Although her actions are at times, distressingly intrusive, as a reader I found myself wanting Calle to press even further—and to press myself further into the artist's own psyche. As the editors of Phaidon state in The Art Book, Sophie Calle "scrutinizes not only friends and strangers, but also, in an exhibitionistic way, the artist herself." (p. 92)

I'm fascinated by the project's many manifestations. First, "The Hotel" is a performance. Working as a chambermaid in a Venetian hotel for three weeks, Calle examines the personal belongings of hotel guests and their lives. Second, "The Hotel" is a series of photographs and diary entries. Third, these artifacts are formatted as 21, aprox. 7'x5' diptychs, and "The Hotel" becomes a museum installation. Lastly, these images and text are reformatted as the book, "The Hotel." I cannot think of another project that has so many iterations.

A painting may be photographed, then printed as a poster, or published in a book—but if one traces the image back to its source, the original will always be a painting. On the other hand, it is not clear what the original "The Hotel," is—whether we experience the piece as a performance, a collection of artifacts, a museum installation, or a book, we are close to the original concept. Each version, in way, is its own original.



The book is an art object. The cover was designed by Calle herself, featuring three swaths of the wallpaper that distinguishes each room. The fabric feels like wallpaper, and is delightful to touch. The gilding adds the sophistication of a Venetian hotel. And my favorite detail of all—it includes a complimentary bookmark fashioned after a "do not disturb" sign.

This reprint of "The Hotel" is published by siglio, a press specializing in "uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature." I delighted to discover they also publish Cecilia Vicuña, and ordered a copy of "About to Happen." Looking at their list of books, there are several other writers/artists I have not heard of, and am eager to discover!

The *chéri* on top of the "The Hotel," was Calle's 2011 installation, "The Room" The artist invited participants up to her room in the Lowell Hotel, which was filled with items of personal significance. Participants explored her bathroom cabinets and closets, just like Sophie Calle did when she was employed as a chambermaid. However, the room was not merely exhibition space—the artist also slept in the hotel room, further adding to the realism of intrusion.



As the artist told reporters for the Observer, “I always go back to the hotel." As an artist obsessed with blurring the lines of art and literature, I always go back to Calle.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

A voyeuristic photo diary of Sophie Calle’s brief stint as a chambermaid at a Venetian hotel in 1981. The writing is fairly to-the-point, detached, and professional. I imagine somewhat like a medical student’s lab notes. Similarly, most of the entries are formulaic (her own scientific method), starting with the state of the beds (which were slept in, how many pillows does each guest sleep with at night, what sort of pajamas do they wear), description of the shoes lain out (she often takes note of exceptionally large men’s shoes), the state of the bathroom and the medicines and cosmetics used, etc. The format of each entry for each guest follows a similar plot path. I did not; however, find this tedious and I found her dismissive boredom at some of her guests quite funny. I was also thrilled at how ballsy Sophie was in reading others’ diaries and dissecting the contents of handbags numerous times.

Photos abound in this book of the state of the rooms left behind by the various guests. Intimate still life portraits of the clothes, shoes, and random ephemera (love letters, receipts, porn magazines…) scattered about the rooms accompany each guest’s journal entry. Sometimes the photos almost take on a crime-scene-like aspect, and at other times they are relatively benign and common place. Somehow these mundane and familiar objects and the arrangement of them form a biography of their owner. 4 stars ⭐️

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book-version of Calle's exhibition that blurred the lines between observation, voyeurism, and intrusion. The photorealist (unsettling and almost crime scene photo sinister) photos document the quotidian nature of travel while taking a look at the paradoxically "always changing yet always static" quality of time in a hotel (emphasized by the out-of-order entries). Some entries (and composed photos) felt contrived, but the art excels where most spontaneous. (For instance, Calle reads through guests' postcards that include a false, but poetic description of the weather...Calle's cutting "it's been raining for three days." underscores the sense that we can only know these guests through their detritus/superficial remnants. I suppose I would liked additional material (especially of this more spontaneous nature), especially as it relates to a commentary on surveillance.

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an odd and invasive project, getting a job as a hotel maid in order to secretly photograph the belongings and describe the snippets of overheard conversations and actions. It explores the border of personal and private and if any sense of a person can be made from how they leave a hotel room when they don't know anyone is watching. Very ephemeral and full of poetic debris, the photos are lovely, albeit a almost creepy way of how they came about.

[Barbara Wilgus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I respect and admire Sophie Calle, her artwork takes an unflinching look at the human condition, and an almost documentary look at herself within it.

For this work, she took a 2 week gig as a housekeeper in a hotel, then went through the possessions of each room’s occupants each day, cataloging, photographing, and describing them, day after day and room after room.

And now you know why I have the “do not disturb” sign on my door for the entirety of any hotel stay!

[Donna]

This thoughtful Christmas gift is a work of art, albeit in a voyeuristic, invasive, creepy sort of way. The b&w photographs are mesmerizing, and the book’s cover fabrics mimic the bed linens in the color pictures. I’m so taken with the author/artist’s idea for this book that I’m casting about for my own book/art project. In the meantime, I’ll be sure to lock my suitcases next time I travel.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is beautifully produced. But basically dull to read. I really don't care to look at other people's stuff. It seemed too intrusive and voyeuristic to me. Did these hotel guests give permission for their things to be photographed and then publicly displayed and published? I doubt that this could even happen now.

[L · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was quite an invasive and voyeuristic project. Sophie Calle would not only photograph the hotel rooms as people left them, she would rummage through their luggage, read their diaries, and sometimes use their makeup and spray their perfumes. I do wish she hadn't arranged the items in some of the rooms that she photographed.

[Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

Artistically voyeuristic.
A wise man once said:
RULES KEEP US SAD

[Areeba · Rating 1 out of 5]

Quick read, but I found this book rather boring. I'm not sure what the purpose of the book was.

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a strange concept, but beautifully executed. The photography and book design are exquisite, and the deadpan narrative is frequently hilarious.

[Daniela Solaroli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful....

[Tony Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've often wondered what Maids and cleaners make of our disordered hotel rooms when they come to clean and tidy, now I've got some idea..

[Liv Noble · Rating 5 out of 5]

heaven for snoops!!!

[Brainard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book, oddly intimate and fascinating, I felt complicit somehow in her project… no spoilers here, but this is a great document of an early project of hers.

[abatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️