Artists Who Used Surveillance Techniques to Create Art
The creative tension between looking and being looked at
In 1979, the French artist Sophie Calle went to a party in Paris.
There she met a man known as Henri B.
Henri B told her he was about to travel to Venice on holiday. Secretly, Calle followed him.
For two weeks she pursued him around the floating city, recording his day-to-day actions, taking photographs of him in bars and cafes, down side streets, lingering on bridges. She took with her a make-up kit to disguise herself: a blonde wig, hats, gloves and sunglasses. On her Leica camera, she attached a device known as a Squinter: a mirror that allowed her to take photos without aiming at her subject.
As she watched him, she noted down his actions and speculated on his feelings. She produced a detailed diary of observations and reflections. She also wrote down her own sensations as her surveillance heightened. Suite Vénitienne is the artwork that resulted from her pursuit of Henri B.
As the city of Venice opened up to her, Calle concluded that she felt as if she was falling in love. The warren of narrow streets, cafes and bars — as depicted in her fleeting black and white photographs — became “a repository of her desires”, heightening…
