‘Douleur Exquise’ by renowned French artist Sophie Calle was an autobiographical artwork, exploring themes around the loss of love and reconciliation she experienced during the 192 days of an intense love affair.
The work had previously been exhibited at the Pompidou Center in Paris, where was presented in a conventional ‘white cube’ setting. Sophie felt that this sterile presentation was not successful in capturing the emotion inherent in the piece.
In Luxembourg, she had an opportunity to re-present the work in a space refurbished from an old tram depot. I was excited about collaborating with Sophie to help her re-imagine the work in this new location.
The depot was circular in plan and we organized the exhibition along two interlocking spirals - the first spiral documenting the countdown towards a wedding that never took place, followed by a second spiral on her period of recovery after the torment of the break-up.
Along the first of these two spirals, the photos and artifacts collected by Sophie during her epic journey from Paris to India were displayed against a red wall.
Along the second spiral, photos and texts created by Sophie during the 99 days following her breakup were displayed in the form of diptychs, against a wall clad in brushed finish stainless steel.
The centerpiece of the presentation was a structure made with white translucent mesh. Inside this structure was a bed, also made with the same material and a red telephone; symbolizing the turning point of Sophie's journey to India where the promise of marriage never materialized.
We called the mesh structure as the ‘bride’ because the pleats and folds on its surfaces were reminiscent to those of a bridal gown. The 'bride' was the closest I came to fashion design.
In some ways, this exhibition constituted a continuation of the explorations in regard to materials that we had begun during the course of the three motorcycle exhibitions for the Guggenheim. The interplay of light and shadow gave the installation an ephemeral quality intrinsic to the piece.
I suppose that some people might consider it a bold decision to put artwork on walls of brushed stainless steel. I recall Sophie's smile at the opening - she was happy with our installation.
The projects in this section were designed and executed during my time at Gehry Partners LLP (the office). I am grateful to Mr. Gehry and the team at the office for their generosity and support over the years. All intellectual property rights of these projects continue to be owned by the office unless otherwise mentioned. The narrative texts on the projects are entirely personal, they do not represent the views or opinions of the office, its clients or any other third party or organization.