Foto Saloon

In the Zollverein Coal Mine complex in Essen during the summer of 2003 the visitor was given the opportunity to take a portrait as a westerner in a saloon setting at that magical moment, when the hero steps through the swinging doors. He stands at the crossroads between the perils of wilderness behind him and the imminent threat of civilization that encroaches towards him from out of the darkness. In 2004 the mobile photo studio became a collaborative project with the Volksbühne Theater in Berlin. It was created following a conceptual architectural project of Bert Neumann, being the combination of the scenic western frontier town with a Polish mining district set upon the stage of a fairground.