Hiroshi Sugimoto: Theaters

A companion exhibition to new photographs of abandoned theaters on view at Fraenkel Gallery, this exhibition presents a selection of drive-ins, opera houses, and cinemas.

Black and white photograph of an empty theater with a large white screen

From September 14 – October 1, 2016, FraenkelLAB is featuring a special presentation of seven photographs of theaters by Hiroshi Sugimoto. The artist has photographed more than 100 movie houses and drive-in theaters in the past 40 years, and he recently extended the series to include Italian opera houses and abandoned theaters. This exhibition is particularly notable for the inclusion of one of Sugimoto’s marvelous new photographs of opera houses, Teatro dei Rozzi, Siena (2014).

Tri City Drive-In, San Bernardino, 1993

In his new book Hiroshi Sugimoto: Theaters, the artist has written:

To watch a two-hour movie is simply to look at 172,800 photographic afterimages….My dream was to capture 170,000 photographs on a single frame of film. The image I had inside my brain was of a gleaming white screen inside a dark movie theater.

Teatro dei Rozzi, Siena, 2014

The presentation at FraenkelLAB is a complement to Hiroshi Sugimoto: Remains to be Seen at Fraenkel Gallery, which marks the U.S. debut of the artist’s photographs of abandoned theaters.

Works on View

Ask About the Works in this Exhibition

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.