Japanese photographer/artist Hiroshi Sugimoto is inescapable in Paris just now, with posters all over the Metro for his "Accelerated Buddha" exhibition at the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent and "Sugimoto Bunraku: Sonezaki Shinju" ("The Love Suicides at Sonezaki") at the Théâtre de la Ville de Paris — both part of the city's Festival d'automne.
Since its launch in 1972, this artistic festival has aimed to present experimental "works of reference" — but how experimental can traditional Japanese puppets performing an 18th-century drama by Chikamatsu Monzaemon actually be? In the hands of Sugimoto, 65, the answer is: Extremely.
Taking this play first staged in June 1703 in Osaka — just a month after the events that inspired it took place there — Sugimoto, as its producer/artistic director, has added lyrical and musical accompaniment by the living national treasure, Seiji Tsurusawa, together with video by artist Tabaimo and costumes created from Hermès silks.