In Sophie Calle’s latest project, Huntingthe personal ad transformed from a brief, oft-parodied plea for love into a window into the heart of the body politic. Calle Excerpt Personal Ad Published on french huntera hunting and nature magazine published between 1895 and 2010. Together they form a catalog of 12 years’ most desirable qualities. But most importantly, they draw attention to the universality of craving.
Last week, at the Paula Cooper Gallery in Chelsea, new york review of books Co-chaired the readout of Kahler’s findings. The event is designed to do a little matchmaking for yourself, while also providing a place for people who are “single and looking for a partner” to network. Singles are asked to “check in” and let people know they are available to mingle.
Actress and emerging translator Molly Ringwald joins other notable figures—critic and essayist Vivian Gornick, writers Katie Kitamura and Daniel Kehlman, among others—in reading Huntingand snippets from new york RBpersonal advertising profile. Kahler joined the meeting from her bed in Paris — she appeared via a laptop Zoom call and was lifted to face the speaker throughout the reading.
When Ringwald read french hunter The ad was in the original French version, while other readers chose the translated version.
“A shrill call,” reads author Chris Heath. “Tired of solitude, longing for tenderness. What young French lady, still of childbearing age, peasant, Christian ideal, asset or property would faithfully dedicate herself to a lonely peasant? Advanced age; poverty; frustration; generosity of spirit; noble affection.”
Joana Avillez wrote: “At noon on November 5th, in the rain, with a book under his left arm, waiting for traffic to pass on the island at 83rd or 84th Street at Park Avenue, and then walking west, would the tall gentleman walking west be willing to write to the lady in black wearing a black umbrella walking east?”
Daniel Kelman continued: “Assistant in a butcher shop. 27 years old. Hope to meet someone in the butcher shop. For the purpose of marriage. No need to apply to lose weight.”
Before she began reciting, Gornick looked flirtatiously at the numerous points that stood before her and said, “I haven’t decided yet whether I’m going to hunt.”
first conceived as trouble Sars Museum, Paris (2017), Hunting is an expanded and final form of the work, now containing photographs and additional text. The retrospective will travel to the Orange County Museum of Art and open on January 29, 2026.
Readings are taken from framed text panels and categorized by the most commonly used phrases – “Really usable”, “Plump, wide-hipped, preferably gentle”, “Good grip, able to replace late mother”, etc. The headlines of personal ads written by men are in red, and the headlines of ads written by women are in blue. Double-sided framed photos are mounted above each panel: one side shows a hunting stand, the other shows night-time images of animals taken with an infrared camera (from wildlife research conducted near French highways). These visual pairings prompt Kahler’s question – “Who is the hunter and who is the prey?”
“In the hunt “This work continues Kahler’s long-standing exploration of power, trust, suspicion, and intimacy within romantic desire,” Paula Cooper wrote in a press release. “With its historical scope, the work also charts shifting cultural attitudes toward love, gender roles, and personal agency throughout the twentieth century.”
The final panel is taken from a dating app and illustrates our casual, no-strings-attached dating habits today. These groups seemed to be asking, especially compared to the arc of courtship history that lay before them: Are we more afraid of partnership, of vulnerability, of hunting, than before?
