Portraiture of German chancellor Helmut Kohl during the election campaign 1990

Rituals of Election Campaigns
Power and Ritual

Photographs 1984 – 2021 (work in Progress)

The election campaigns for the German Bundestag are an ideal occasion to explore strategies of production and self-production across all political parties. This cycle is a work about the endeavour of shading light on the precisely calculated gestures of the actors of these public orchestration, their success in radiate aspects of power and its fascination. These photographs expose politics as theatre. (Part of the cycle Power and Ritual)

These are pictures of the chancellors Willy Brandt, Helmut Schmidt, Helmut Kohl, Gerhard Schröder, Angela Merkel, Olaf Scholz and the challengers Franz Josef Strauss, Hans Jochen Vogel, Johannes Rau, Oskar Lafontaine, Rudolf CDU Fans during the election campaign in Germany 1998Scharping, Edmund Stoiber, Fank-Walter Steinmeier, Peer Steinbrück, Martin Schulz and Armin Laschet.

In this context, media scientist Norbert Bolz once referred to the "great quit picture" as a refuge of serenity and concentration in the unending stream of visual data. The classic photograph, in other words, has strength in its weakness. It allows contemplation. The rituals of election campaigns were photographed in the years 1984 to 2017 and the work is still in progress...

Vintage gelatin silver and archival pigment prints,
24x30cm up to 80x120cm, sig., stamp., notes, 1984-2021

Vintage Prints, Licences and Download

Portraiture German chancellor Helmut Kohl during the election campaign 1998Rituals of election campaigns – German audiance in ArenaPortrait chancellor and Nobel Prize Willy Brandt – election campaign 1986
Photograph of Oskar Lafontaine at rituals of election campaigns, 1998Photograph of Oskar Lafontaine at rituals of election campaigns, 1990Helmut Schmidt and Johannes Rau 1994 in Germany – rituals of election campaignsphotography portraiture of former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt 1994photograph of bodyguards security SPDDigitalis Chapter 1985 Audience of election capaignsportraiture of Gerhard Schröder during the election campaign 1998Johannes Rau lost the election campaign in Germany 1987Helmut Kohl, Theo Waigel and Wolfgang Schäuble, CDU, 1998
Gerhard Schröder SPD 1998 – rituals of election campaignsperformance as a ritual of election campaignsDigitalis Chapter 1998 Audience of election capaignsThe early years of German chancellor Angela Merkel Portraiture 1994rituals of election campaigns in Germany 1998Joschka Fischer foreign minister
fan of the rituals of election campaigns
Candidate Edmund Stoiber CSU rituals of election campaigns, 2002Digitalis Chapter 2005 election capaignsSenior chancellor Helmut Kohl 2005 – rituals of election campaigns in GermanyGerman chancellor Angela Merkel and her staff during the party convention 2005
Photograph Franz Josef Strauss 1987 CSU – rituals of election campaigns
German chancellor Gerhard Schröder, fist, angry and sad in Berlin 2005rituals of election campaigns 1998Gregor Gysi Die Linke 2005 rituals of election campaigns
Guido Westerwelle foreign minister rituals of election campaigns
photograph of German politician Franz MünteferingAngela Merkel with typical gesture – rituals of election campaignsFrank Walter Steinmeier rituals of election campaignsphotograph and portraiture of German chancellor Angela MerkelFrank Walter Steinmeier foreign ministerGuido Westerwelle foreign minister and fistAngela Merkel CDU 2009 rituals of election campaigns
Oskar Lafontaine Die Linke 2009, election campaigns ritual
Peer Steinbrück, SPD, 2013, rituals of election campaignsDigitalis Chapter 2013 Audience of election campaignThe power and rituals of election campaigns, Oskar Lafontaine, 2013Rituals of election campaign in Germany – Angela Merkel CDU 2013Kristina Schröder CDU 2013 – rituals of election campaignGerman chancellor Angela Merkel during the rituals of election campaign 2013CSU 2013 – rituals of election campaignOskar Lafontaine, Die Linke, 2013, – rituals of election campaign Peer and his wife Gertrud Steinbrück, 2013 – rituals of election campaign
Angela Merkel CDU in Ludwigshafen 2013 – rituals of election campaign
portraiture of Angela Merkel, 2017, CDU in Mainz – rituals of election campaignsDigitalis Audience – Chapter 2017 Election Campaign with Sahra Wagenknecht (Die Linke) in Solingen, Germany, 2017Portraiture of Christian Lindner in Bonn, 2017 – rituals of election campaigns Christian Lindner in Bonn, 2017 – rituals of election campaignsElection Campaign with Martin Schulz in Dortmund, Germany, 2017 Documentary photography - rituals of election campaignsSPD Convention with Gerhard Schröder 2017 in Dortmund Documentary photography - rituals of election campaignsFDP Christian Lindner 2017 in Bonn – rituals of election campaignsElection Campaign with Martin Schulz in Dortmund, Germany, 2017 SPD Convention with Gerhard Schröder 2017 in Dortmund Documentary photography - rituals of election campaignsMartin Schulz in Cologne, Germany, 2017 – Rituals of election campaignsElection Campaign with chancellor Angela Merkel in Mainz, Germany, 2017 Digitalis Masses - Voters at 2021 chapter rally Documentary photography Annalena Baerbock in Cologne, 2021 - rituals of election campaignsArmin Laschet at a rally in Neuss, 2021 – Documentary photography - rituals of election campaigns Do not laugh! – Armin Laschet at a rally in Neuss, 2021, Documentary photography - rituals of election campaigns Christian Lindner in Cologne 2021, Documentary photography - rituals of election campaigns Armin Laschet at a rally in Neuss, 2021 Documentary photography - rituals of election campaigns
Oskar Lafontaine at a rally in Oldenburg, 2021, Documentary photography - rituals of election campaigns Christian Lindner in Cologne 2021, Documentary photography - rituals of election campaigns Sahra Wagenknecht and Oskar Lafontaine in Oldenburg, 2021, Documentary photography - rituals of election campaigns Annalena Baerbock in Cologne, 2021, Documentary photography - rituals of election campaigns Annalena Baerbock in Cologne, 2021, Documentary photography - rituals of election campaigns Robert Habeck in Cologne 2021, Documentary photography - rituals of election campaigns Robert Habeck in Cologne 2021, Documentary photography - rituals of election campaigns The future Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Heumarkt in Cologne, 2021, Documentary photography - rituals of election campaigns The future Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Heumarkt in Cologne, 2021, Documentary photography - rituals of election campaigns The future Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Heumarkt in Cologne, 2021, Documentary photography - rituals of election campaigns

See also the publications:

Photo book WAHL KAMPF RITUAL
Monograph, 192 pages, 113 photographs
Edition Panorama, Mannheim 2013
Monograph WAHL KAMPF RITUAL of photojournalist Bernd Arnold

Choreography of Power
by Hans Michael Koetzle, Leicaworld 1/2000

»Bernd Arnold looks behind the scenes without stepping into them. He exposes the routines without working from a somehow privileged position. His position is the same as that also shared by all the other photojournalists. And yet he finds solutions that place the familiar in a new context that challenges its accepted perception. He exposes politics as theatre.«

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The German politicians

  • Helmut Kohl, CDU, 1984, 1987, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2005
  • Hans-Jochen Vogel, SPD, 1985
  • Oskar Lafontaine, SPD / Die Linke, 1985, 1990, 1998, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2021
  • Willy Brandt, SPD, 1986
  • Franz Josef Strauß, CSU, 1987
  • Johannes Rau, SPD, 1987, 1994
  • Gregor Gysi, Die Linke, 1990, 1998, 2005
  • Rudolf Scharping, SPD, 1994
  • Helmut Schmidt, SPD 1994
  • Angela Merkel, CDU, 1994, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017
  • Gerhard Schröder, SPD, 1998, 2005, 2017
  • Joschka Fischer, Die Grünen, 1998, 2005
  • Edmund Stoiber, CSU, 2002
  • Guido Westerwelle, FDP, 2005, 2009
  • Franz Müntefering, SPD, 2005, 2009
  • Frank Walter Steinmeier, SPD, 2009
  • Jürgen Trittin, Die Grünen, 2009, 2013
  • Andrea Nahles, SPD, 2009, 2013
  • Sahra Wagenknecht, Die Linke, 2009, 2013, 2017, 2021
  • Peer Steinbrück, SPD, 2013
  • Sigmar Gabriel, SPD, 2013
  • Horst Seehofer, CSU, 2013
  • Christian Lindner, FDP, 2013, 2017, 2021
  • Martin Schulz, SPD, 2017
  • Armin Laschet, CDU, 2021
  • Annalena Baerbock, Die Grünen, 2021
  • Robert Habeck, Die Grünen, 2021
  • Olaf Scholz, SPD, 2021


Installation art Karlsruhe 2017

Installation of documentary photography Wahl Kampf Ritual at art fair artKarlsuhe 2017