Hiroshi Sugimoto

The history of theater starts with the beginning of civilization itself. Myths were born when the human race acquired consciousness and we needed a way to imagine our own origins. These myths acquired greater credibility the more often they were acted out for ritual purposes.

 American civilization began as an imitation of Europe. Numerous movie theaters were built throughout the country during the booming 1920s. These were temple-like spaces that copied the opera houses of Europe, but on a more gigantic scale and incorporating ornamentation of unknown provenance in the style of ancient civilizations. While Europe invented cinema, America swiftly mastered it, turning the movies into a cornerstone of the national culture. As a new country that lacked its own myths, America, you might say, made movies into its mythology.

 I resolved to visit the theaters in Europe on which the Americans had based their imitations. There are many magnificent theaters in Italy, chiefly in the north, that were built from 1580, when Palladio began construction of the Teatro Olimpico, through to the 18th century. If myths are counterfeits of fiction, then movies are fictional counterfeits of reality. Classical theaters do not have screens, so I had to put one up before projecting onto it classics of the Italian cinema which I then captured, a whole movie in a single exposure. The screen was transformed into incandescent white light that suggested some sort of manifestation. It was similar to the process in ancient times where myths acquired reality for people through the act of performance. I chose to use a summary of the movie performed in that specific theater as the title of each work. Regardless of whether the movie was a tragedy, a comedy or devoid of meaning, all the summaries conclude with the same phrase: “It’s a commonplace story you might hear anywhere.”

-Hiroshi Sugimoto

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