'Hiroshi Sugimoto: Form Is Emptiness' at Singapore Art Museum, Singapore

30 April 2026

From 29 May – 4 October 2026, Singapore Art Museum presents 'Hiroshi Sugimoto: Form Is Emptiness' which marks the artist’s first major exhibition in Southeast Asia. Bringing together 63 works from 11 series, alongside 14 fossils from the artist’s personal collection, the exhibition traces five decades of artistic inquiry and sustained conceptual exploration.

The exhibition title draws from a well-known line in the Heart Sutra, a foundational Buddhist text. The phrase “form is emptiness” articulates a profound yet direct insight: nothing exists independently, and we perceive the world in a certain way because of the definitions we have created for ourselves. The tension between appearance and reality has long been central to Sugimoto’s practice.

Although Sugimoto is best known for his photography, his work extends far beyond a single medium, encompassing sculpture, installation, writing, and architectural design. For him, these are not departures from photography but expansions of photographic thinking—ways of distilling and contemplating time and space so that a moment becomes a catalyst for deeper perception.

Find out more via Singapore Art Museum.

Image: Hiroshi Sugimoto, Brush Impression, Heart Sutra, 2023, 288 unique gelatin-silver prints, Curved Install Dims 453.4 x 1949.5 x 3.8 cm © Hiroshi Sugimoto, Courtesy Lisson Gallery