O Campo

O Campo is a series of photographs depicting football fields across various Brazilian cities. In these satellite-captured images, Joachim Schmid reveals how the desire to play surpasses and disregards any topographical limitations or regulations imposed by FIFA. According to these official regulations, playing on such fields, with their sloping contours, strange proportions, distorted and poorly marked boundary lines, would not be allowed. 

Joachim Schmid
 

Joachim Schmid studied Visual Communication at the Fachhochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd and at the Berlin University of the Arts (1976–1981). He began his career as a critic and editor of Fotokritik, a publication that challenged traditional conceptions of artistic photography in West Germany. After Fotokritik closed in 1987, he focused on his artistic work based on found photographs and public image sources. Influenced by his extensive collection of vernacular photography, his work explores photography as an omnipresent cultural discourse with a critical and humorous approach. He has exhibited internationally, and his work is included in major collections. In 2009, he founded the ABC Artists’ Books Cooperative for self-publishing. In 2011, he co-authored the From Here On manifesto, and in 2014 the Carnegie Museum of Art released the documentary Discarded about his work.