CALLE, Sophie. L’EROUV de Jerusalem.

(Arles, France): Actes Sud, 1996. First edition. 19cm by 9.9cm. 55 pages. Neat artist’s book that documents Calle’s engagement with the concept of the eruv — the symbolic boundary constructed in Jewish law that transforms public space into a permissible extension of the private domain on the Sabbath — as both a material and psychological threshold within the urban fabric of Jerusalem. The work interweaves text and photographic images to reflect Calle’s inquiry into public and private identities and spaces in Jerusalem. Built around the artist’s provocative question — asking Israeli and Palestinian residents alike to take her to a public place they perceive as private — the volume captures a series of stations and personal narratives that traverse the city’s contested topographies. The result is a nuanced meditation on territoriality, belonging, and the manner in which personal histories and cultural traditions shape experiences of space. A very good copy in wrappers with integral flaps.