In 1340, John I of Luxembourg, King of Bohemia and Count of Luxembourg, founded the Schueberfouer as a market in Luxembourg city. Over the next 679 years the event transformed into one of the largest travelling funfairs in Europe, attracting up to two million visitors. The fair has since then been cancelled in 1915, during the First World War. It is one of the cultural highlights in Luxembourg and has been proposed for inclusion on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage. As a preventive measure against the viral disease COVID-19, Schueberfouer had to be cancelled in 2020. The council of Luxembourg City replaced the festival with decentralised small funfair attractions in nine different neighbourhoods of the city.
The situation ticked several boxes for me: I like to photograph environments in which someone actively tries to pragmatically improve a place while facing pressure. The time factor is important for me as well. The mini-fairs replacing Schueberfouer transformed several suburbs of Luxembourg City for a brief period. I am also attracted to contrasts on several levels in photographs. The pictures in the series The Great Disruption show foreign elements in otherwise plain neighbourhoods. The funfair attractions are meant to entertain people and be fun, yet they are empty and the places feel a bit grey. I had to get up early in the morning to capture that ambience.
Despite staying in Luxembourg for only a brief duration, I decided to photograph all of these sites: Place de la Constitution, Rue de Strasbourg, Merl Park, Place Jeanne d’Arc, Place de Roedgen, Laval Park, Place August Laurent, Place Thorn and Kinnekswiss Park.