The exhibition is centred on two new series by Ruff: Phg (Photograms, started in 2012), a virtual simulation of the classical genre of the photogram, and Negative (started in 2014), in which the artist reaches back to photography’s roots in the 19th century. In addition, the exhibition presents excerpts from
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 lifes, provide a political and social perspective on the status of images.

In its historical span, the show extends beyond the limitations of analogue photography with the seemingly limitless possibilities of contemporary image production.

Instead of photographing our daily reality, Ruff focuses on portraying the realities of photography. His working process is based on the methodology of what was called a “scientific artist”.

In each of his series Ruff uses the medium of photography to undertake a systematic analysis through which social, political and aesthetic aspects of image-making are reflected, and thus also the history of Modernity. The question of the nature of light, still not fully explored, is fleshed out as the show’s leitmotif: in each of the series light assumes a different function, ranging from the gentle documentary illumination of home décor in post-war Germany in Interieurs to the relation of space and time in Sterne, via an artificially rendered artefact in the photograms.