French Philosopher Jean Baudrillard died earlier this week. Rita Barros, who photographed Baudrillard and his 
wife, for her book, 15 Years: Chelsea Hotel, recalls her excitement at meeting Baudrillard in his Paris studio and preparing dinner for him here at the Chelsea. We're happy to learn that he didn't like "The Matrix," feeling that the film makers had misunderstood his ideas. We just thought it was boring.
When I got to Paris on assignment to photograph Jean Baudrillard I was quite excited. I could finally discuss or at least ask him some questions that he had raised with books like Simulacra and Simulations. It was a warm afternoon and I vividly remember his small studio, books piled all over the place. He opened the door with a wide smile and announced that he was ready for the real image of himself. Time was short and the conversation got postponed to a later date.
Years later he called to say he was staying at the Chelsea so I made dinner for him, his wife and João Pedro a Portuguese common friend. He was very disappointed with the treatment of his ideas in the film “The Matrix” and wanted nothing to do with the whole hysteria.
The next trip to New York I got to photograph him in the hotel. He loved to stay here, better than a fancy place without a soul. “This hotel is a vanishing point of New York” he told me.
And now Baudrillard has vanished but his photo remains, a sign of the real for the real itself…..
Rita Barros
“It is no longer a question of imitation, nor of reduplication, nor even of parody. It is rather a question of substituting signs of the real for the real itself” Jean Baudrillard
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