September 20 to October 5, 2025
Museum Tent, Oide Wiesn, Munich Oktoberfest
Fairground photography hit its stride in the 1860s with the invention of tintypes, made inexpensively and quickly. Earlier examples of pictures from Oktoberfest date from 1841, when daguerreotypes were popular, but it was the new technology of tintypes that made it possible to operate mobile photo studios and place customers against spectacular backdrops. Such photo studios struggled in the late 1800s when an early version of the photobooth, the Bosco Automat, came onto the market. Yet even today, gag photos taken against painted backdrops, known in German as "Scherzfotografien" remain popular. Following World War II, photography integrated into shooting galleries became especially popular. Here, fairground visitors could use a gun to quite literally "shoot" their own portrait. Photographs remained a firm favorite fairground souvenir and the act of photographing and being photographed was itself an attraction.
This exhibition uses artifacts from stalls, camera equipment, and photographs to illuminate the range of historic practices at play when photographing at fairgrounds. A work by Swiss artist Romain Mader (born 1988, Aigle, CH) was specially commissioned to expand on these items. The exhibition has been developed in cooperation with Historische Gesellschaft Bayerischer Schausteller e.V.
Plan Your Visit
Opening hours
Interim exhibition What the City. Perspectives of Munich in the former armory
Tuesday – Sunday 11am – 7pm
Free Admission
Filmmuseum München – Screenings
Tuesday / Wednesday 6.30 pm and 9 pm
Thursday 7 pm
Friday / Saturday 6 pm and 9 pm
Sunday 6 pm
The rest of the museum is currently closed due to the general refurbishment.
Contact
St.-Jakobs-Platz 1
80331 München
Phone +49-(0)89-233-22370
Fax +49-(0)89-233-25033
E-Mail stadtmuseum(at)muenchen.de
E-Mail filmmuseum(at)muenchen.de
Ticket reservation Phone +49-(0)89-233-24150