Case-Study Sculptures

Art meets architecture in three new buildings designed by three blue-chip artists

- Gauri Kelkar

HIROSHI SUGIMOTO

There is a certain stillness to contemporary artist and architect Hiroshi Sugimoto’s photography, evoking an idea of timelessness and immateriality. In his most ambitious project yet, the Enoura Observatory in Odawara, that suspension of time and a sense of infinity pervade the idea of space. Set on a hilly area overlooking Sagami Bay, this gallery and performance centre, constructed under the aegis of his architectural practice, New Research Laboratory, harnesses fast-disappearing techniques used by artisans in and around Odawara. Crafted in diverse styles, from the medieval to the contemporary, the building, Sugimoto says, “is as much art as architecture”. ‘Seascapes’—his series of black-and-white photographs of the ebb and flow of the ocean—are on display inside the gallery and echo the scene outside. The end of time, the beginning of the world, or reality as it is now—Enoura, it seems, is the place where art transcends into infinity.

ELLSWORTH KELLY