Volker Derlath – Oktoberfest bacchanal in photographs

Germany | Isn’t there a saying like “you only know what you are missing when it is no longer there”? For 35 years, the Munich photographer Volker Derlath has been a regular at the Oktoberfest. In the thick of things, camera at the ready, he would capture beer-fuelled moments, ranging from the comical to the violent and anguished. For Mr Derlath, the Oktoberfest is a modern bacchanal, where life, freed from civilising constraints, can be lived to the fullest.

Mr Derlath has found it most sad that the Oktoberfest, which usually attracts some six million visitors, was cancelled again this year due to the pandemic. Beer lovers around the world will have felt bereaved too. After all, they are missing out on two exhilarating weeks of beer, roast chicken, rides, and no-holds-barred partying.

But relief is at hand. On the occasion of Oktoberfest 2021 (which would have been held from 18 September until 3 October), Slanted Publisher is releasing a 200 page coffee-table book, replete with Mr Derlath’s black&white photographs from 1984 to 2019, and an insightful introduction by Christian Topp, in both German and English.

I guess the book will serve two purposes. For those who have been to the Oktoberfest, it will be a nostalgia-laden trip down memory lane, while for all ye innocents it could persuade them to definitely put a visit on their bucket list. Maybe next year? As they say, the Oktoberfest is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The book, priced at EUR 30 (about USD 36), can be ordered from Slanted Publisher at https://www.slanted.de/product/oktoberfest-1984-2019-by-volker-derlath/