Every Photo Is a Bullseye! Fairground Photography

September 19 to October 4, 2026, Museum Tent, Oide Wiesn, Munich’s Oktoberfest

This exhibition in the museum tent at Oide Wiesn shares how fairground photography has evolved from its invention in the nineteenth century to today’s digital world. Relics from fairground booths, camera equipment, and photographs breathe life into fairground photography methods of the past, as visitors appreciate firsthand the fascinating link between photography and fairground culture. 

"Every Photo Is a Bullseye! Fairground Photography" reveals how photography first became a popular draw at fairs, how photographs became desirable souvenirs, and how both changed as technology advanced. Today, anyone can take a picture whenever they wish, as photography has become incorporated into smartphone technology. Fairground photo booths have thus become a nostalgic form of entertainment, one revived at Oktoberfest, where booth operator Chris Doherty takes novelty photographs of visitors against vintage backdrops. This year, an exciting new section expands the exhibition, showcasing Oktoberfest postcards as a beloved form of mass media at the turn of the twentieth century.

This exhibition was created by Münchner Stadtmuseum in collaboration with Historische Gesellschaft Bayerischer Schausteller e.V.