Winnetika Drive-in, Paramount

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To achieve the glowing white screens that dominate these photographs of American drive-in cinemas, Sugimoto used extraordinarily long exposures lasting exactly the duration of the movie shown there. Captured in real time, the movie is reduced to a blank screen. This ‘presence through absence’ is a common theme in Sugimoto’s work. The light emanating from the screen illuminates the immediate surroundings against the night sky, in which the trajectories of passing aircraft are clearly visible.

Gallery label, May 2010

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