Wolfgang Tillmans' new book turns his lens on the wider world with jaw-dropping results

Back in January we were pleased to see Taschen publish a combined set of Wolfgang Tillmans’ three previous books and wondered whether it marked the end of a certain stage in the Turner-prize winning photographer’s career.

Long term that remains to be seen but his new book Neue Welt includes more traditional imagery than we have come to expect from the king of innovation and experimentation. But therein lies the key, for Wolfgang this apparently more straightforward image-making is a new venture for him, as he puts it “trying out what the camera can do for me, what I can do for it.”

And the results are no less wonderful, as the book is packed with powerful, beautiful, thought-provoking and funny photographs taken on his travels which took him to Tierra del Fuego, Tasmania, Saudi Arabia, Papua New Guinea and, er, Nottingham.

“My travels are aimless as such,” he says, "not looking for predetermined results, but hoping to find subject matter that in some way or other speaks about the time I’m in.”

The work is also going on show at the newly reopened Kunsthalle Zurich from tomorrow September 1 to November 4, a fitting show to mark the new chapter of the ever-excellent Swiss gallery.