When I had the chance in 2024 and 2026 to document the creation of the Palapa Stage at Fusion Festival photographically, my passion for photography merged with my enthusiasm for festivals. For years, I’ve been fascinated by the unique spirit of Fusion Festival – now I finally got to capture a small piece of this history with my camera.

Over several weekends, I made trips to the festival grounds in the Mecklenburg Lake District and watched as steel and wood became a world unto itself – with its own set of rules. The Palapa area emerged as an architectural thought experiment, inspired by the chaotic urban canyons of Kowloon, the neon lights of Tokyo, and the dystopian visions of the movie Blade Runner.

The construction process at the former military airfield in Lärz was impressive: in organized and structured collaboration, yet with maximum space for individual creativity, up to one hundred people worked on site simultaneously – screwing, hammering, painting, wiring. People with vastly different skills shared their knowledge and creative moments. For the facade decorations, trucks full of recycled materials were sourced from residential, commercial, and industrial renovations.

When the festival opened its gates, the 1,200 square meter tent filled with thousands of visitors. What I witnessed was exactly what months of planning and construction had been for – a functioning space where people could briefly break free from the monotony of everyday life and immerse themselves in a new world.

This photo series is my attempt to capture the creative spark – that magical moment when a temporary parallel world emerges from an idea, lots of sweat, and even more creativity. A city that exists for only a few days but will live on in the memories of its inhabitants.

Wanderzirkus e.V., a collective founded in 2014 by childhood friends from Hanover and Berlin, was the creative crew involved in this project. As a decentralized network of people from various professional backgrounds and nationalities, they create immersive experiential spaces, rooted in the electronic music and festival scene. Palapa is not a static project – parts of it have already traveled to the Moloch Club in Hamburg, the Moyn Moyn Festival in northern Germany, and the Undercity Festival in Warsaw, where the concept was adapted each time to the specific location and artistic requirements.

When I had the chance in 2024 and 2026 to document the creation of the Palapa Stage at Fusion Festival photographically, my passion for photography merged with my enthusiasm for festivals. For years, I’ve been fascinated by the unique spirit of Fusion Festival – now I finally got to capture a small piece of this history with my camera.

Over several weekends, I made trips to the festival grounds in the Mecklenburg Lake District and watched as steel and wood became a world unto itself – with its own set of rules. The Palapa area emerged as an architectural thought experiment, inspired by the chaotic urban canyons of Kowloon, the neon lights of Tokyo, and the dystopian visions of the movie Blade Runner.

The construction process at the former military airfield in Lärz was impressive: in organized and structured collaboration, yet with maximum space for individual creativity, up to one hundred people worked on site simultaneously – screwing, hammering, painting, wiring. People with vastly different skills shared their knowledge and creative moments. For the facade decorations, trucks full of recycled materials were sourced from residential, commercial, and industrial renovations.

When the festival opened its gates, the 1,200 square meter tent filled with thousands of visitors. What I witnessed was exactly what months of planning and construction had been for – a functioning space where people could briefly break free from the monotony of everyday life and immerse themselves in a new world.

This photo series is my attempt to capture the creative spark – that magical moment when a temporary parallel world emerges from an idea, lots of sweat, and even more creativity. A city that exists for only a few days but will live on in the memories of its inhabitants.

Wanderzirkus e.V., a collective founded in 2014 by childhood friends from Hanover and Berlin, was the creative crew involved in this project. As a decentralized network of people from various professional backgrounds and nationalities, they create immersive experiential spaces, rooted in the electronic music and festival scene. Palapa is not a static project – parts of it have already traveled to the Moloch Club in Hamburg, the Moyn Moyn Festival in northern Germany, and the Undercity Festival in Warsaw, where the concept was adapted each time to the specific location and artistic requirements.