Extraordinary photographs by renowned German photographer Michael von Hassel showcase the iconic stadiums of the Bundesliga in a series of hyper-realistic images that offer an unprecedented look at these revered football stadiums in his new photo book and exhibition ‘Bundesliga Cathedrals.’ Known for his innovative technique of layering up to 90 photos to create a single image, von Hassel pushes the boundaries of visual perception, capturing scenes that the human eye could never fully comprehend on its own.
“A celebration of art, architecture, and the passion that fuels football”
Munich native von Hassel, who gained widespread acclaim for his images of empty Oktoberfest tents, now turns his lens to the 36 stadiums of the Bundesliga’s 1st and 2nd leagues for the 2022/23 season. Shot over 5 years, his hyper-realistic approach, which he describes as a way to overcome the natural limitations of human sight, allows viewers to see these structures in a new light. The resulting images are both intensely detailed and imbued with a sense of purity and tranquility, presenting the stadiums as “sacred places of our everyday life at rest.”
LOWER BLOCK: You’re from Munich… are you are Bayern fan?
Michael von Hassel: I’m not a football fan. I always keep a respectful distance and try to photographically portray our everyday lives. But I admire the gigantic achievements of the thousands of full-time and volunteer football employees and I wanted to create a photographic monument to this. I deal with mass phenomena and mass psychosis.
LB: Taking photographs, was there anything that you felt connected you to football and the culture around the game, like fan culture, travel and stadium architecture for example? How did this help lead you to this photo series?
MvH: I always try to portray the other side. We are surrounded by countless conflicts every day. However, most of the time we only know one perspective on this problem. I live by the motto “audiatur et altera pars” (a Latin phrase meaning “listen to the other side”), and try to show the other point of view in my pictures. That’s why I “love” travelling to active warzones or zones of a frozen conflict and be there to listen to the other side. I have been to Donetsk and visited the Russian soldiers at the front-line. If you listen to them you certainly get another opinion on things. But that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m a friend or supporter of Putin. I also love discovering places where we all grew up, that we know like the back of our hand. However, I want to show these places as they have never been seen before. When we experience these places in such a completely different way, we learn a lot about our culture and our everyday lives.
LB: Your photos really showcase and celebrate both the might and grandeur of all these stadiums, old and new, in such a positive way. How to you think modern super stadiums compare to the older more historic grounds?
MvH: That’s a difficult question. Old stadiums breathe history, culture, traditions, they are simply legends. They have grown over generations and today often seem impractical, not made from one piece or have not been up to date for a long time. However, we all have stories to tell that our grandfathers and grandmothers have already experienced in these palaces. At some point you just need a new stadium and then you have to start over on a greenfield site. Everything has its time. It’s a good idea to fully involve fans and club members in the planning process.
LB: From this series, do you have a favourite ground that you photographed? Or which impressed you the most and why?
MvH: Here, too, I don’t have a concrete answer: In one stadium it was terribly cold and I was freezing, in the next I was almost beaten up by the Ultra fans and in the third the staff were very unsympathetic to me. Some stadiums looks pretty ridiculously small on site, but works extremely well in the photographic artwork. So it is impossible to give an objective answer. But if I had to choose, I’d go for places that have grown over generations and have a story to tell. Now that the motifs have turned out so well, Kaiserslautern is one of my favourite places in German football.
LB: By photographing the grounds without supporters, it feels like you’ve captured part of the soul of the club – something ever-present.
MvH: These moments in my pictures don’t actually exist. If the stadium is empty, you don’t turn on the lights. There are usually so-called lawn solariums in the field to provide the grass with sufficient light. In addition, it is extremely difficult to get permission for these photos from 36 clubs, stadium owners and marketing companies.
So I want to show something special, I want to create a monument to German football or the thousands of people who fill it with life. When looking at the works, I want to encourage you to think about what such places do to us and what we do to such places. I want the viewers of the pictures to ask themselves to what extent they are immersed in a movement when they enter such arenas and whether they are simply adopting traditions, rituals, songs, behaviour from the crowd or whether they are influencing this crowd themselves. What does a place like this do to me and what do I do with it? The emptiness is intended to explain and show us how these monumental buildings function when they are full of people on many different aspects and levels.
Art historian John Berger‘s notion that there is no objective view of reality, only subjective perspectives, is at the heart of von Hassel’s work. This concept is vividly illustrated in ‘Bundesliga Cathedrals,’ which offers a deeply personal and unique portrayal of football stadiums. Typically seen bustling with activity, the empty, pristinely illuminated stadiums take on an almost holy quality, resonating with the stories of fans and the history they hold.
‘Bundesliga Cathedrals’ is a celebration of art, architecture, and the passion that fuels football. It is a visually arresting tribute to the spaces where fans experience the highs and lows of the sport they love. Michael von Hassel’s work invites you to see these historic and iconic German football stadiums in an awe-inspiring way.
Bundesliga Kathedralen (Bundesliga Cathedrals) contains 105 photos across 208 pages and is avaliable to buy directly from the publisher, Callwey.
The photo exhibition MICHAEL VON HASSEL CATHEDRALS runs from June 13 – July 20, 2024, in Düsseldorf, Germany. Full details can be found here.
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