Cover Image: Brush Impression, Heart Sutra, 2023. Gelatine silver prints. Photo courtesy of Dominic, Atmosphere.
Presented at the Singapore Art Museum, Hiroshi Sugimoto: Form Is Emptiness gathers 5 decades of Sugimoto's work into his very first major survey exhibition in Southeast Asia. 63 works from 11 series are shown in proximity to 14 fossils from the artist's personal collection, proposing a rare view of the artist’s enduring pursuit of conceptual inquiry across diverse artistic media.
In this inaugural collaboration with the Singapore Art Museum, Autonym Ambient Incense lends an olfactory companion to Hiroshi Sugimoto’s body of work, extending the contemplative state occasioned by the exhibition beyond the museum site into domestic space. On view from 29 May 2026 to 4 October 2026, with a limited quantity available for acquisition during the exhibition period.
Form Is Emptiness: A Shared Recognition
The prolonged act of composing Autonym Ambient Incense gave rise to a recurring realisation: nothing quite exists in isolation. Much of Autonym finds its expression through Sandalwood. Yet no sooner did the material appear to disclose its origin than that origin receded elsewhere: the wood to the soil from which it emerged; the soil to the rain that nourished it; the rain to atmospheric currents carrying moisture across distant oceans; the currents to planetary conditions extending far beyond immediate perception.
The aromatic experiments undertaken at Atmosphere Laboratory likewise ceased to be understood as the mere assembly of ingredients. Each formulation came to be understood a condition in which nothing could be encountered apart from the relations that made its appearance possible. Such recognition finds a natural resonance with the Heart Sutra's articulation of emptiness—not as nothingness, but as the absence of inherent existence.
In recognition of a shared engagement with Form Is Emptiness, Autonym Ambient Incense finds resonance with Sugimoto’s body of work, in which the tension between appearance and reality has long been central.
Artwork Highlights
Accelerated Buddha, 1997-2018. Three-channel video projection, sound. Photo courtesy: Dominic, Atmosphere
Tyrrhenian Sea, Scilla, 1993. Gelatine silver print. Photo courtesy: Dominic, Atmosphere
Five Elements, 2011-2012. Optical glass, black-and-white negative, steel and wood. Photo courtesy: Dominic, Atmosphere
About Hiroshi Sugimoto
Born in Tokyo in 1948, Hiroshi Sugimoto is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans photography, sculpture, installation, architecture, writing, and the performing arts. Bridging Eastern and Western philosophical traditions, his work examines the nature of time, perception, memory, and consciousness through a sustained inquiry into the conditions of human experience. Beyond his artistic practice, Sugimoto has established the New Material Research Laboratory and the Odawara Art Foundation, extending his engagement with architecture, traditional Japanese craftsmanship, and cultural preservation through projects including the Enoura Observatory.
About Singapore Art Museum
Founded in 1996 as Singapore's first museum dedicated to contemporary art, the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) presents contemporary artistic practices from a Southeast Asian perspective through exhibitions, commissions, and public programmes. Alongside one of the region's most significant public collections of Southeast Asian contemporary art, the museum fosters critical dialogue between artists and audiences while advancing thoughtful engagement with the cultural and social questions of our time.
