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Hiroshi Sugimoto

1948, Tokyo, Japan 
He lives and works in New York and Tokyo

site-specific | permanent artwork

Enlightning

2024
Trinted fabric

Hiroshi Sugimoto’s multidisciplinary practice explores the  themes of time, empiricism, and metaphysics. Building on  his technical expertise in classical photographic traditions, he investigates the ways in which photography can  document the unseen forces of nature.  

Enlightning, a fusion of the words Enlightenment and  Light(n)ing, embodies the connection between the two  renowned series, Lightning Fields and Opticks, both  emerging from the study of nature. The artist views the  Enlightenment, the European scientific and intellectual  movement advocating the belief that a “natural law”  underlies all aspects of life, and Kenshō (enlightenment),  from Buddhist philosophy, referring to an awakening  where one experiences the true nature of the self, as  complementary concepts, two sides of the same coin.  Examining the world around us to understand the nature of  life and looking within ourselves to understand the nature of  the self.  

The Enlightning ceiling canvas was created especially for  Palazzo Diedo. 

Courtesy of the artist

 

Photos by Massimo Pistore

temporary artwork

Opticks 062, 163, 050, 061

2018-2022
C-print

Isaac Newton 
Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light 
Published in 1704

Hiroshi Sugimoto’s multidisciplinary practice  encompasses the themes of time, empiricism, and  metaphysics. His works explore history and temporal  existence, delving into the themes of time, empiricism,  and metaphysics. Building on his technical expertise in  classical photographic traditions, he investigates the ways  in which photography can document the unseen forces of  nature.  

The nine photographs in the Opticks series draw  inspiration from Isaac Newton’s studies on the nature  of light. Sugimoto recreated the scientist’s experiments  using a prism to break white light down into its  constituent colors. Emerging from a scientific study,  the resulting photographs present sublime abstract  compositions. An original copy of Isaac Newton’s Opticks:  or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions  and Colours of Light is on display alongside photographs  inspired by the book. 

Courtesy of the artist

Photos by Massimo Pistore

Palazzo Diedo
Berggruen
Arts & Culture

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Fondamenta Diedo
Cannaregio 2386
30121 Venezia