Hiroshi Sugimoto

Artist Hiroshi Sugimoto is renowned for the conceptual rigor and flawless technical execution of his work, exemplified in photographic series such as Seascapes and Theaters. Along with photography, Sugimoto has made sculpture and architecture for more than twenty years. Since the early 2010s, he has been constructing the Enoura Observatory, and with his singular vision he has brought together ancient and contemporary Japanese traditions in one seemingly timeless art and architectural complex. Enoura Observatory: Land of Distant Memories provides an account of this stunning multidisciplinary project. The Observatory, home to the artist's Odawara Art Foundation, is sited on a hilly area covered with citrus trees in Odawara, nestled against the outer rim of the Hakone Mountains and overlooking Sagami Bay. Sugimoto envisions it as a forum for disseminating art and culture both within Japan and to the rest of the world. The complex comprises a hundred-meter-long gallery space, a Noh theater stage, a re-creation of a sixteenth century tea ceremony room, a restored Muromachi Period Meigetsu Gate, a strolling garden, and the Winter Solstice Light Worship Tunnel, which juts out over the hills and offers a breathtaking view of the Sagami Bay. Odawara is home to groups of artisans with mastery of sophisticated techniques that have been handed down for centuries. Sugimoto has constructed the Enoura Observatory using these techniques, which are growing increasingly difficult to preserve. The artist says of this project: "In a sprawling mikan citrus grove, I established the Enoura Observatory with the aim of conveying to a wide audience the unique essence of Japanese culture-a continuous legacy dating back to the prehistoric Jomon period-which is the art of living in harmony with nature. In today's grim world of rampant materialism and consumerism, when so much natural splendor has been destroyed, it is the revival of these ancient Japanese traditions that we need most." The beautiful photographs in Enoura Observatory: Land of Distant Memories show the site in all four seasons and at different times of day, revealing Sugimoto's poetic vision for this total work of art that is the culmination of his art practice.