It was at the Frieze Art Fair of 2005 that I met Marine Hugonnier for the first time. Someone introduced us, and Marine said she liked my film Sylvia Kristel—Paris. We just spoke a few words, but I felt an immediate connection with her. After I had continued on my way, I realized that we had recently been included in the same show in Luzerne and that I had very much liked the film she had shown there, Ariana. I felt stupid not to have remembered this and not to have told her when we spoke.

The next day an elegant figure dressed in black trousers, a black jacket, and a black hat passed by on one of the bridges crossing the Thames and said hello. A few seconds later I realized it had been Marine.

Our works have been included together in other shows and festivals, and each time I saw her work I had a feeling of recognition, as if we share our own universe.

This summer as I walked through the long hall of the Arsenale at the Venice Biennale, the figure with the black hat reappeared, looking calm, and concentrating on how to install her work. It was Marine again, and that’s where we really started to speak.

This conversation took place over email between London and Brussels.

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Issue 101 Fall 2007