'Hiroshi Sugimoto: Time Machine' at UCCA Beijing, China

7 March 2024

From 23 March – 23 June 2024, Hiroshi Sugimoto's solo exhibition 'Time Machine' at UCCA Beijing surveys the artist’s works from 1974 to the present. Often employing a large-format camera, mixing his own darkroom chemicals and developing his gelatin black-and-white prints by hand, Sugimoto continues to explore in-depth themes and practices of photography from the 19th century onwards, including subjects such as dioramas, wax figures and architecture. In the process, his work has stretched and rearranged concepts of time, space and light that are integral to the medium. In addition to key works from the artist’s major photographic series such as Seascapes, Theaters, Lighting Fields and Portraits, this retrospective exhibition also presents a newly created series of calligraphic works to the public for the first time.

These works highlight the artist’s philosophical yet playful inquiry into our understanding of time and memory, and the ambiguous character of photography as a medium suited to both documentation and invention. Whilst best known as a photographer, Sugimoto has recently added architecture and sculpture to his multidisciplinary practice and has been the art director and producer of several theatre and stage performances. This exhibition will be designed by Shinsoken (New Material Research Laboratory), an architectural design office co-founded by the artist. This exhibition is organized by the Hayward Gallery, London in association with UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, and will travel onward from UCCA to the Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney. The original London presentation was curated by Ralph Rugoff. The Beijing instalment is organised by UCCA curator Neil Zhang.

Find further information via UCCA Beijing.

'Hiroshi Sugimoto: Optical Allusion' will run from May – June 2024 at Lisson Gallery in New York.