Thomas Ruff. Artistic Practice as Expanded Theory.

For 45 years, Thomas Ruff has been exploring photography in all its forms: its genres, its uses, and its specific technical image-making process. Ruff began his work just as photography was preparing to take its place in museums alongside the great paintings and sculptures - and yet he has always been interested in what makes photography unique, what constitutes its political and social dimensions, how it changes technologically, and what distinguishes it from other images. An artistic practice as an expanded theory.
The conversation sheds light on key stages and controversies surrounding this body of work.

Florian Ebner – Thomas Ruff

About the speakers

Born in 1958, Thomas Ruff studied under Bernd Becher at the Düsseldorf Art Academy from 1977 to 1985, where he later taught photography from 2000 to 2006. His first major solo exhibition was held at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 1989–1990. His first retrospective opened at the Kunsthalle Baden-Baden in 2001 and toured Europe until 2004. In 2025, he exhibited at the Lishui Photography Museum in China. He lives and works in Düsseldorf.

Florian Ebner is Head of the Photography Department at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Previously, he directed the Photography Collection at Museum Folkwang in Essen and curated the German Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale (2015). His curatorial work explores the social and political dimensions of photography. In 2025, he curated “Wolfgang Tillmans: Nothing Could Have Prepared Us–Everything Could Have Prepared Us” at the Centre Pompidou. Born in Regensburg, he lives and works in Paris.

Thomas Ruff, tableau chinois_18 l., 2021 – Courtesy of the artist