Sophie Calle presents her first solo exhibition in Berlin after over 20 years at Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart. Six bodies of work from the past three decades, spanning photography, text, installation and video, provide insight into the French conceptual artist’s diverse use of media. Calle often approaches the effects of memory, loss and history through autobiographical perspectives that are sometimes morbid, while often playful and humorous. On the occasion of the museum’s 30th anniversary, she is creating a new work, which will enter Hamburger Bahnhof’s collection as a donation.
The starting point of Sophie Calle’s solo exhibition is a work from the series The Detachment in the collection of Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart. The series was created in Berlin in 1996, the founding year of the museum. The twelve photographs depict public places in Berlin where symbols of the GDR were removed after reunification, accompanied by descriptions provided by passers-by. Also on view for the first time since its creation for the Musée d’Orsay in Paris is the large-scale installation Les fantômes d’Orsay (2022).