Year: 1997
Medium: gelatin silver print
Dimensions: sheet size: 58.5 x 47 cm (23 1⁄2 x 18 1⁄2 in.) frame size: 78 x 60.3 cm (30 3⁄4 x 23 3⁄4 in.)
Edition: No. 20 of 25
Acquired from Sotheby’s, 2022
This is one of Sugimoto's “Architecture” series. As the title suggests, he captures the Headquarters of the United Nations building in New York. A team of architects representing the victorious countries worked on the design proposal, which was eventually compiled into the current architectural design by the chairman of the committee, Wallace Harrison of the USA, using a compromise of plans from Le Corbusier of France and Oscar Niemeyer of Brazil as the framework. Besides the distinctive thin-plate exterior, in Corbusier's original design, a hollow and floating structure with a pilotis as his specialty was drafted at the ground. Corbusier’s design was not realized due to major changes in the plan made by Harrison, which is said to have caused conflicts between them. Sugimoto's “Architecture” series deliberately photographs the prominent modernist architecture in a blurred focus. According to Sugimoto, architecture is realized through the compromise with reality and differs from the designer's initial visions. While the ideals of Corbusier and Niemeyer were certainly not achieved in their full form, their hidden thoughts must be dwelling as a spirit in the architecture in reality. Sugimoto dares to blur the solid outer shell of the building to revive the architect's ideals which are in apparent death within the building, and embody them as photographs.
