PHOTO: Hiroshi Sugimoto-Viaggio In Italia

A multifaceted figure, Hiroshi Sugimoto has developed his artistic practice mainly through photography, sometimes associated with sculptural objects, architecture and experimental exhibition installations. Grouped in thematic cycles that develop over a long period, Hiroshi Sugimoto’s photographs are an instrument of investigation into the photographic medium itself, through which to hide or reveal the thin line that separates reality from appearance.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Galleria Continua Archive

Hiroshi Sugimoto’s exhibition “Viaggio in Italia” starts from the interiors of some historic theatres, then it retraces part of the Italian stages of a famous journey done in the sixteenth century by four Japanese delegates, also known as the “Four Boys” or “The Tenshō Embassy to Europe”; before ending in the boundless spaces of the Amalfi Sea. “Theaters” is a project that started in 1976 and it has led the artist for more than forty years to photograph the interiors of cinemas and theatres all over the world. In 2013, after a break of almost 15 years, Sugimoto resumed working on this subject matter, including for the first time in his shots the stalls and the gallery as well as the illuminated screen of the theatre and therefore extending the view out into the public space. The works exhibited in the gallery are included in the wake of this most recent research. In “Theaters” the exposure time used for photography corresponds to the projection time of the film. This allows Sugimoto to capture the duration of the entire film in a single shot, transforming the screen into a white rectangle capable of illuminating the theatre and its architectural beauty, as well as revealing details that are barely perceptible in the semi-darkness. Just like in his “Seascapes”, where the seas represent a past that is regenerating and repeating itself – each time becoming richer in experience and history – the artist delegates to the viewer the responsibility of rousing the memory contained in a magical white space. “Seascapes” is a long-standing series of panoramic views. Divided equally between water and sky, the horizon line is always placed at the exact same height; it marks the exact contact point between Earth’s surface and the sky, representing the limits of our mental and visual perception while also instilling a sense of eternity. The frame, taken with a 19th century style large format camera using black- and-white film,   captures         the passing of time, giving us images full of mystery made to be admired and contemplated. In the summer of 2015, the artist was in Italy to carry out his project on theatres. Visiting the oldest surviving opera house in Europe, the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, he comes across the Quattro Ragazzi for the first time. As the artist says “Pointing to one of the fresco panels, the director of the theatre explained to me that it showed a group of envoys from Japan welcomed into the theatre when they visited Vicenza while passing through Rome in 1585, the year the theatre opened. After careful observation I could distinguish, with almost absolute certainty, four Japanese-looking people in the front row. They were the famous young envoys, the four boys, of the Tenshō mission in Europe. Immediately a strong interest arose in me in tracing the travels of the four boys around Italy. I began to investigate their movements and discovered that after landing in Livorno they went to Pisa and Florence via Siena to Rome, and then from Assisi to Venice. I had photographed the Pantheon in Rome, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Cathedral of Siena, all buildings that were already there when the four boys arrived in Italy. Almost by chance, I realised that I was seeing the same buildings that the four boys had seen”

Photo left: Hiroshi Sugimoto, Pantheon, Rome. 2015, © Hiroshi Sugimoto, Courtesy the artist and Galleria Continua. Photo right: Hiroshi Sugimoto, Map Room at Villa Farnese, Caparaola. 2016, © Hiroshi Sugimoto, Courtesy the artist and Galleria Continua

Info: Galleria Continua, The St. Regis Rome, Via Vittorio E. Orlando 3, Rome, Italy, Duration: 24/11/2023-13/1/2024, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:30-18:30, www.galleriacontinua.com/