"ma.r.s. 13"

For Thomas Ruff, the space has always been a sphere of fascination. In two previous series, the Düsseldorf-based photographer portrayed stars and planets in his own and very unique way. For ma.r.s. Thomas Ruff made use of an Internet Image Archive, that is run by NASA. The archive is used to store photographs of planet mars taken by a space probe. Ruff chose some of the very raw black and white photographs and reworked them digitally. Color, image detail and even the perspective of the photos are redesigned by the artist. In the finished artwork, the red planet seems close enough to touch, like seen through an airplane window shortly before landing. A science fiction utopia came true. With ma.r.s., Ruff helps us to realize how incredibly far we have already penetrated into the unknown but how little we seem to know about it.