Thomas Ruff: jpegs ny @ David Zwirner New York

Exhibition views David Zwirner, New York | Fotos: Kerry McFate, New York

Featuring images from jpegs ny, a subset of the larger jpegs series, the works on view are derived from images of the World Trade Center attacks in New York on September 11, 2001. Coinciding with the twenty-fifth anniversary of the attacks, this exhibition was conceived by Thomas Ruff together with David Zwirner as a commemoration of that day. Prior to the exhibition in New York, this group of works was also on view as part of Unlimited at Art Basel 2026.

Ruff was in New York on September 11, 2001, and he shot numerous photographs documenting that day and its aftermath, but when he returned home to Germany several days later he realized there were no images on his camera. Three years later, in 2004, the event was still front of mind for him. Seeking an appropriate artistic response to tragedy on such an unimaginable scale, he began to research and source imagery of September 11 from the internet.