Horoshi Sugimoto - Theaters - 2016

At the end of the 1970s, when Hiroshi Sugimoto was consolidating his stylistic signature, he asked himself: 'If it were possible to fix an entire film in a single frame, what would happen?' The answer he gave himself was 'We would get a white screen.' Thus was born the project 'Theaters': for about forty years, Sugimoto photographed the interiors of theaters scattered around the world using as the sole source of illumination the projection of a film onto the stage screen; the film begins and the camera remains open until the end credits roll. The astonishing result is that the screen literally becomes a bright white box that radiates light into the theater and highlights every detail. At first, Hiroshi Sugimoto focused on theaters built in 1920-30 specifically to host the first cinema screenings. Subsequently he also included among his subjects drive-ins, symbolic of the growing popularity of the film industry. More recently, in the last ten years, historically European theaters and old unused theaters have entered the project. Taken together, these photographs represent a meditation on the passing of time, a recurring theme in Sugimoto's works. 'Theaters' features 130 photographs, 18 of which have never been published before.

Volume as new with editorial cellophane