Sugimoto’s Screen Test

One of Sugimoto's sublime theaters.

I’ve been thinking lately of photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto‘s theater series, which he first showed in 1988. They’re mysterious, ornate, forgotten, nostalgic, romantic, and maybe a bit haunted. Sugimoto described his inspiration as a conversation with himself. “Suppose you shoot a whole movie in a single frame? And the answer: You get a shining screen.” He immediately brought his large format camera to a cheap movie theater in the East Village, and left the aperature open wide while the film played. At the end, after two hours, he clicked the shutter closed.

To see more on Sugimoto’s work, click here.