Thomas Ruff: ma.r.s.

The basic starting material of Thomas Ruff’s most recent series, ma.r.s, likewise comprises NASA images, this time taken by the space probe Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Our red neighbour planet Mars, which is approximately half the size of planet Earth, likewise features polar ice caps and changing seasons. The extremely sharp black-and-white images show us not unfamiliar landscapes: dried-out riverbeds, mountain ridges and craters. From this vast archive of soberly scientific material, of which he has viewed only a small fraction, Thomas Ruff selects those images that fascinate him aesthetically or subjectively and then processes them in order to give them depth and colour.