St. Louis, MO – The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts announces its next installation, Hiroshi Sugimoto: Photographs of Joe, on view May 12 through October 14, 2006, with an opening reception on Friday, May 12, from 6-8pm. The artist will be in attendance at the event.

The idea for the installation originated when Sugimoto visited the Pulitzer in 2003. Although he initially intended to take photographs of the building, designed by his fellow countryman Tadao Ando, he quickly focused on Richard Serra's Joe, a torqued spiral sculpture that was commissioned for the Pulitzer's courtyard. Using a photographic technique involving areas of extremely soft light and blurred darkness, he sculpted views that seem like aspects of visual memory. Nineteen of these images comprise the installation at the Pulitzer.

Sugimoto's photographs of Joe and the sculpture itself are quintessentially parallel creations; the arts of photography and sculpture overlap, and memories of the two- and the three-dimensional mix. Sugimoto uses a large format camera to explore the passage of time through photography, or what he calls "time exposed." Similarly, of his work Joe, Serra states, "When you walk between the walls, you become implicated in the tremendous spiraling force of the movement...The sculpture is understood behaviorally as a function of time."

This parallel mode of creation is furthered by the corresponding publication Joe, which features the works shown at the Pulitzer, as well as additional photographs from this series. Novelist Jonathan Safran Foer (author of Everything is Illuminated) composed a text for the book that relates to the sculpture and the photographs without describing or defining them. His deep interest in the juxtaposition of the visual arts and poetic language predestined him to part of this project.

The Pulitzer aims to foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of art and architecture. With the works of art themselves, along with programs, collaborations and exchanges with other cultural and educational institutions, the Pulitzer is a resource for artists, architects, scholars, students and the general public. Integral to its mission is the visitor's experience of the building, designed by Tadao Ando and completed in 2001. It offers a place widely celebrated for its tranquility and for providing an atmosphere conducive to the contemplation, enjoyment and study of art.

The Pulitzer is open and free to the public Wednesdays from 12pm to 5pm and Saturdays from 10am to 4pm. Docent-led tours are available at 2pm on both days. For more information about the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts call 314-754-1850 or visit www.pulitzerarts.org.