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Hiroshi Sugimoto
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Hiroshi Sugimoto’s extensive architectural series, spanning iconic structures from the mid-1920s through the late 20th century, investigates the physical manifestation of time, memory, and modernism through a deliberate blurring of focus. Initiated in 1997, the project features landmark modernist buildings, ranging from the Empire State Building and Le Corbusier's architecture to Eero Saarinen’s TWA Flight Center and Philip Johnson's Glass House, photographed deliberately and completely out of focus using an 8x10 view camera. By extending the exposure and intentionally doubling the focal length, Sugimoto collapses historical detail into pure, luminous architectural silhouettes, reducing each structure to its foundational geometric essence.
The series is structured as a sweeping typological and chronological survey that bridges historical eras, capturing how utopian architectural ambitions dissolve or endure across time. By rendering the buildings as glowing, ghostly apparitions against atmospheric skies or dark voids, Sugimoto strips away the noise of contemporary urban existence to reveal the structural skeleton and conceptual purity of each design.
This specific photograph emerged from a special commission with the famous architectural site.
Hiroshi Sugimoto’s extensive architectural series, spanning iconic structures from the mid-1920s through the late 20th century, investigates the physical manifestation of time, memory, and modernism through a deliberate blurring of focus. Initiated in 1997, the project features landmark modernist buildings, ranging from the Empire State Building and Le Corbusier's architecture to Eero Saarinen’s TWA Flight Center and Philip Johnson's Glass House, photographed deliberately and completely out of focus using an 8x10 view camera. By extending the exposure and intentionally doubling the focal length, Sugimoto collapses historical detail into pure, luminous architectural silhouettes, reducing each structure to its foundational geometric essence.
The series is structured as a sweeping typological and chronological survey that bridges historical eras, capturing how utopian architectural ambitions dissolve or endure across time. By rendering the buildings as glowing, ghostly apparitions against atmospheric skies or dark voids, Sugimoto strips away the noise of contemporary urban existence to reveal the structural skeleton and conceptual purity of each design.
This specific photograph emerged from a special commission with the famous architectural site.
