日本東京都寫真美術館在2014年閉館整修後，今年九月重新開幕並推出攝影藝術家杉本博司個展「失落的人類（ロスト･ヒューマン）」。該展試圖探討人類文明與時光運行之間的關係，展覽涵蓋美術館二樓及三樓展廳，不僅是一次大型的藝術家個展，也同時慶祝寫美館創館二十週年紀念。
杉本博司於1948年在日本東京出生，畢業於加州藝術設計學院，1970年代活躍於美國紐約至今。他擅長使用大畫幅相機長時間捕捉影像，著名系列有《透視畫館》（Dioramas）、《劇場》（Theaters）、《海景》（Seascapes）等等，皆受國際好評。近年來杉本的展覽以歷史調研為導向，同時也投入建築領域，作品遊走於當代藝術與建築設計，在日本與國際舞台上皆發揮多元的影響力。
此次展覽包含三個系列：《Abandoned Theater》、《Lost Human Genetic Archive》、《Sea of Buddhas》。首先由《Lost Human Genetic Archive》作為序曲，以三十三個不同的情境展開，描寫人類文明末日的種種。杉本寫下：「這個世界在今日衰亡。又或許是昨日。」觀者行走於與歷史文明相關的裝置之間，將會發現故事充滿幽默想像，但在理解展品背後的歷史之際，又將促使我們反思我們自己所創造的文明、我們的意識以及當代社會。此作品曾在2014年於巴黎東京宮展出，而這次的東京版本，則增加了藝術家個人的作品、古董收藏、化石，和其他與歷史相關的物件，展現出不同風格。
另外，展覽中首次公諸於世的作品《Abandoned Theater》（廢墟劇場），則是杉本自1970年代創作的著名作品《劇場》的延伸。為此，杉本走訪美國各地因為經濟因素或其他變故而被塵封的電影院，他在戲院中掛起屏幕，重新播放電影，並使用大畫幅相機進行長時間曝光，並極精細地放相，帶來時空再生與歷史無聲勝有聲的巨大體驗，發光的螢幕事實上是不停流動的故事之累積，刺激著我們對時間與光的各種想像，並將我們的意識帶往超越文明／歷史架構的時間概念本身。這個概念在《Sea of Buddhas》系列更被進一步深化。其中，藝術家費時十年，拍攝日本京都「三十三間堂」的佛像，營造出佛教聖地的光輝。這些平安時代（794-1185）留下來的古文物，在杉本的鏡頭下，似乎早已跳脫時間束縛，產生另一種影像力量。
杉本博司：失落的人類 ロスト･ヒューマン
Hiroshi Sugimoto: Lost Human Genetic Archive
時間 Date | 2016.09.3- 2016.11.13
地點 Venue | 東京都寫真美術館 Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
更多資訊 More info
The Tokyo Photographic Art Museum is holding the “Hiroshi Sugimoto: Lost Human Genetic Archive” Exhibition to celebrate the museum’s Grand Reopening and 20 Year Anniversary. Hiroshi Sugimoto is an artist, based in New York since the 1970s, who uses a large-format camera to produce minutely detailed photographic series, such as his “Dioramas”, “Theaters”, “Seascapes”, etc., for which he has received international acclaim. In recent years he has presented exhibitions based on historical research while also applying himself to architecture, both in Japan and abroad, exerting a powerful influence in a wide variety of fields, ranging from contemporary art and architecture to design.
This exhibition occupies two floors of the museum; dealing with the epic theme of “the demise of mankind and civilization”, it consists of three bodies of work: the world’s first showing of his latest series, “Abandoned Theater”, the first Japanese showing of his “Lost Human Genetic Archive” and a new installation work entitled “Sea of Buddhas”, which together present the artist’s view of history and the world.
The exhibition starts by presenting 33 scenarios describing the end of civilization. With Sugimoto’s text, “Today the world died. Or maybe yesterday”, in hand, the viewer can walk around installations based on history or civilization in which “the idealist”, “the comparative-religion scholar” and “the astrophysicist” have been reduced to relics. This is the new, Tokyo version of a work that received high acclaim when it was first shown at the Palais de Tokyo (Paris) in 2014, and comprises of his own work, antiques, fossils, and books or historical material collected by the artist. The story is imaginary, sometimes humorous, but when we realize the history behind the objects on display, we are forced to reconsider the civilization we have created, our awareness and contemporary society.
This exhibition includes the world’s first showing of the photographic work, “Abandoned Theater”. This is a new series that evolved from the “Theaters” series that he has worked on since the 1970s. For it, he visited movie theaters across the U.S.A. that had become disused for economic reasons or the sudden change in the viewing environment, etc., putting up new screens and projecting movies onto them, keeping the shutter of his camera open for the whole duration of the film and recording the light that is transmitted to the screen. Utilizing a large-format, 8×10 camera and a minute printing technique, the works confront the viewer with the faded glory of these beautiful interiors, bringing back to life the history and profound tranquility of the spaces. The vivid whiteness of the shining screen, is actually the aggregate of countless stories, making us realize anew that photography creates a record of time and light, taking our awareness beyond the framework of civilization or history and leading it to the concept of time itself. This idea is taken even further in the “Sea of Buddhas”, which takes us to an image of the Buddhist paradise. The statues featured in this work belong to the Sanjūsangen-dō temple in Kyoto that the artist spent over ten years photographing. They were created during the Heian period(794-1185), in what were described as the “latter days of Buddhism”, but they have transcended time to be reborn within this new installation work.