THO­MAS RUFF. LICH­TEN

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From Sep­tem­ber 2014 on, Kunst­hal­le Düs­sel­dorf shows an ex­hi­bi­ti­on of works by Tho­mas Ruff (Zell am Har­mers­bach, Ger­ma­ny, 1958). As the lea­ding fi­gu­re in the Dus­sel­dorf school of pho­to­gra­phy, Ruff is best known for his se­ries of sta­ged and ge­ne­ric por­traits. The ex­hi­bi­ti­on con­cen­tra­tes on the pi­vo­tal chan­ge af­fec­ting pho­to­gra­phy over the last 30 ye­ars: the gra­du­al dis­ap­pearan­ce of light in the tran­si­ti­on from ana­lo­gue to di­gi­tal pho­to­gra­phy. Star­ting wi­th Ruff's ‘Pho­to­grams' (2012 to the pre­sent-day) — a si­mu­la­ti­on of this his­to­ri­cal gen­re — the ex­hi­bi­ti­on in­clu­des amongst others ‘Ster­ne' (1989-1992), ‘Näch­te' (1992-1996) and his first se­ries, ‘In­te­ri­eurs' (1979-1983). Tech­ni­cal con­s­i­de­ra­ti­ons, ren­de­red in ima­ges of stars at night, in­fra­red shots of ci­ty sub­urbs and do­mestic still li­ves, con­struct a po­li­ti­cal and so­ci­al per­spec­tive of the sta­tus of ima­ges.