Hiroshi Sugimoto

The grand master of conceptual photography Major retrospective, that will tour internationally in 2024 All major series, including the Opticks Sugimoto's only color photographs

Through his expansive exploration of the possibilities of still images, the internationally renowned artist and photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto has created some of the most alluringly enigmatic photographs of our time; pictures that are meticulously crafted and deeply thought-provoking, familiar yet tantalisingly ambiguous. Hiroshi Sugimoto: Time Machine is a comprehensive survey of work produced over the past five decades, featuring selections from all of Sugimoto's major photographic series, as well as lesser-known works that illuminate his innovative, conceptually-driven approach to making pictures. Texts by a collection of international writers, artists and scholarsincluding James Attlee, Geoffrey Batchen, Allie Biswas, David Chipperfield, Edmund de Waal, Mami Kataoka, Ralph Rugoff, Lara Strongman and Margaret Wertheimwill highlight his work's philosophical yet playful inquiry into the nature of representation and art, our understanding of time and memory, and the paradoxical character of photography as a medium suited to both documenting and invention.

The enigmatic works of Japanese photographer HIROSHI SUGIMOTO (1948, Tokyo) fundamentally questioned the understanding of photography. He studied sociology and politics in Tokyo, before moving to Los Angeles in the early 1970s, where he gained a BFA from the Art Center College of Design. In 1974 he settled in New York, where he created his first series, Dioramas*. His main artistic interests include architecture, abstract forms and intangible phenomena.

»In images that transfix and mystify, the great Japanese photographer seems to conjure a dream state outside of time and place in this magnificent first UK retrospective.«