Christoph Morlinghaus

The Enchanting Supporters Section

In the soccer stadium for BVB Dortmund, the South Bank is home to full-volume singing and die-hard fans. The club’s songs issue from thousands of mouths, players’ names are chanted, and goals are celebrated wildly. In this supporters section, the air is electric with every foul. The South Bank is a sea of yellow and black, Dortmund’s colors. Flags, jerseys, and scarves are in constant motion: loud and stormy waves. Photo artist Christoph Morlinghaus has captured the singular magic and dynamism of this location in a spectacular piece. The euphoria is contagious, spreading out into the space beyond the image. There is an incredible density to this artwork, transmitting the stadium’s spectacular atmosphere.

A Sense of Tradition

The fans in Dortmund’s South Bank and Christoph Morlinghaus share a love of tradition. In the fast-paced world of sports, BVB supporters are steadfast, an active part of the historic club’s identity. There the club and fans share a mutual dedication to each other. Morlinghaus uses tried and true photography techniques, abstaining from fickle trends of the times. Instead, he puts his faith in his experience with analog photography as well as the methods he has developed and refined throughout the years. Morlinghaus and the Dortmund supporters section both appreciate the advantages of established values that resist commercial and fashionable trends.

About the Artist

Christoph Morlinghaus is a very special kind of photo artist. In contrast to many contemporaries, he continues to work analog. Using a complicated large-format camera, he captures images with long exposure times. He refrains from using any artificial lighting. This requires great precision and dedication. It is completely different from digital photography, in which a whole series of photos can be produced in a very short period. Morlinghaus works very deliberately and creates very few photographs. But each piece is the result time-intensive preparation. This is what enabled him to capture the moving fans and flags of Dortmund in such an impressive way.