Art Journal #59: Sophie Calle at Whitechapel

You know that you've made it if you are listed on the exit signage of the subway! That's Whitechapel at Aldgate East.

As an independent art space, it's really operating at the same scale as any museums - and probably, better than many. The Sophie Calle show was powerful and beatifully curated. The originating idea of her ex boyfriend (fiction?) as her muse, and having women across different walks of life interpreting the "breakup email" from him was fascinating. The photos were powerful. The interpretation was haliarious at times - particularly like the one from an accountant, which said "assets - I will always love you, 443,000" and then underneath that, "liabilities - we can never be friends, 443,000"

In terms of infrastructure and setup, at Whitechapel, there's two spacious floors with high ceilings that will take in larger scale installations. There's a cafe in the middle floor, though I didnt get to try the food. The shop was small but sufficient, with a good selection of books. Limited edition prints were sold at the Information Desk, with prices ranging from GBP100-2000 (though I dont think they have a lot of askers, not very strong works - always the problem I guess?).

For the Sophie Calle show, there's a massive hardcover catalog (65 GBP, not cheap) which will put even the better exhibition catalogs (if they exist) at HK Museum of Art to shame.

Lots of catching up for us to do in HK!!