Publisher/平凡社

Google翻訳
French artist Sophie Calle's "Douleur Exquise / Localized Acute Pain" begins with the personal event of the end of a romantic relationship, a work that uses a strikingly calm structure to explore how the sensation of "pain" is memorized and shifts its location in time. While repeatedly recounting the most painful events she has ever experienced, including the date and circumstances, Calle also asks others about the most painful experience of their lives and juxtaposes their answers in the form of photographs and words. The pain she deals with here is presented not as a narrative that invites empathy, but as a "fact" that defies comparison or comfort. Juxtaposed with the countless pains of others, Calle's pain remains indelible, yet it is no longer the center of the world, repositioned as a "localized point." Photographs are used not to reflect emotions, but as devices to support time and memory. Through reading and viewing, viewers are made aware of the distance between themselves and their own experiences. This work clearly demonstrates Calle's methodology for transforming personal emotions into artworks, quietly questioning what it means to live with pain and to put its contours into words. This work is a complete edition of the previously untranslated Japanese portions of the exhibitions held at the Hara Museum in 1999 and 2019. At the artist's request, the book has a unique fabric cover with a foil-stamped title and red-gold ink on three sides, and includes a Japanese commentary by modern and contemporary art curator Aomi Okabe.