Hiroshi Sugimoto

On view from November 13, 2004 to February 27, 2005, this exhibition includes a selection of 19 large format black and white images in an installation designed by the artist specifically for the spaces of the Foundation. The complete series of 44 photographs, organised into 3 groups-Mathematical Forms: Surfaces, Mathematical Forms: Curves and Mechanical Forms-will be reproduced in the accompanying exhibition catalogue, realized in direct collaboration with the artist.

Hiroshi Sugimoto’s special installation for the Fondation Cartier relates directly to the transparent glass architecture of the building of Jean Nouvel. By presenting his photographs in two separate sections, the Mathematical Forms: Surfaces and the Mechanical Forms, the artist has created a spatial reconstruction of Marcel Duchamp’s most famous work, Le Grand Verre (The Large Glass). To realize these images, Sugimoto photographed a collection of 19th-century scientific objects at the Museum of the University of Tokyo. The Mathematical Forms: Surfaces are in fact a series of stereometric models in plaster that were used to provide students with a visual understanding of complex trigonometric functions. The Mechanical Forms represent a series of mechanical models that were used to demonstrate the basic movements of modern machinery.