Claudio Hils: Red Land-Blue Land

by Anna M. Eifert-König, Rolf Schonlau, Claudio Hils (Photographer)

Red Land-Blue Land is a photographic study of the military training ground of Senne in Germany, a site which the documentary photographer Claudio Hils explored with his camera over the course of several years. While at first glance these photographs seem to be conveying a simple sense of unspoiled nature, upon closer inspection the signs and traces of military use slowly reveal themselves. The eye begins to discover more and more details -- cartridge cases, overgrown graves, outlines of ruined houses -- and the deeper one moves into Hils' imagery, the more surreal it becomes. Human props, placed amidst cardboard-and-wood backdrops designed to represent streets, trenches, and shot-up tanks finally confirm that what we are witnessing is the staging of a war scenario. With all color illustrations, this publication offers multiple insights into Claudio Hils' new photographic project and serves as an overview of the photographer's work over the last few years.

160 pages, Hardcover

First published November 15, 2000

Reviews

[Tiarnán · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing photo collection surveying the "Sennelager Training Centre", an area of desolate heathland leased and operated by the British Army in west Germany, complete with fascinating scale reproductions of northern Irish neighbourhoods and villages designed for "anti-terrorist training". We view images of faux-authentic imitation homes, pubs, and shops, populated by eerie dummies and dehumanised shooting targets. A curious insight into the antagonistic manner in which the army has always conceptualised its relationship to the "disloyal" citizenry - in fact half the population - of the Six Counties.