Targets

by Herlinde Koelbl

With a provocative series of images rarely captured on film, acclaimed photographer Herlinde Koelbl offers us a unique glimpse of what soldiers around the world are trained to see as they learn to take aim at the enemy. In a career spanning nearly three decades, Herlinde Koelbl has firmly established herself as Germany's most acclaimed photographer. From intimate scenes of private life, to the corridors of power, Koelbl's eye for detail allows us to see the world we think we know in ways we never imagined.

In her most recent book, Targets, Koelbl has focused her lens on the phantom battle scenes used by armies worldwide to train their soldiers to shoot to kill. In the vast expanse of barren deserts, in labyrinths of concrete bunkers, and in mock Arab villages created by Hollywood set designers, soldiers are being taught to take aim at a great range of targets, all for the same deadly purpose. Over a period of six years Koelbl has visited military training camps in more than 20 countries across the globe, to see how soldiers learn their trade.

The result is a compilation of portraits--surprising, disturbing, and fascinating--of the lifeless targets used in practice to simulate an enemy in order to prepare for wars yet to come. Accompanying the photographs are texts from Koelbl's conversations with soldiers along with insightful essays on the increasingly diverse and perplexing conditions confronted by military populations throughout the world.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published May 25, 2014

About the author

Herlinde Koelbl ist eine deutsche Fotografin und Dokumentarfilmerin. Sie kam 1976 zur Fotografie. Parallel zu ihren Fotografien entstehen häufig themengleiche Dokumentarfilme und Videoinstallationen. Sie erhielt u.a. den Dr.-Erich-Salomon-Preis und die Goldene Kamera. Sie stellt vielfach aus, zuletzt Kunsthal Rotterdam, Galerie Westlicht Wien, Designmuseum Lissabon, Galerie Esther Woerdehoff Paris, Kunsthaus Zürich, John Hopkins University Baltimore, Deutsches Historisches Museum Berlin. Ihre Arbeiten sind in vielen Sammlungen international vertreten. Herlinde Koelbl lebt und arbeitet in München.

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Herlinde Koelbl is a German photographer and documentary filmmaker. She came to photography in 1976. Parallel to her photographs, she often creates thematically related documentary films and video installations. She has received, among others, the Dr. Erich Salomon Prize and the Golden Camera. She has exhibited widely, most recently at Kunsthal Rotterdam, Galerie Westlicht Vienna, Designmuseum Lisbon, Galerie Esther Woerdehoff Paris, Kunsthaus Zürich, John Hopkins University Baltimore, Deutsches Historisches Museum Berlin. Her works are represented in many collections internationally. Herlinde Koelbl lives and works in Munich.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seeing the Targets show at the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin was incredible.

What a question Herlinde asks: how do soldiers in different parts of the world perceive their enemies - and how is this impacted or shaped by the types of targets they train with?

I'll admit, I've never thought much about what shooting targets look like - but there is a wide variety showcasing not only the perceived enemies and targets of war, but the military organization and governmental budgets put towards training exercises. (Compare say, hand-drawn targets pasted onto old laundry baskets, versus cardboard cut outs, versus entire villages erected as elaborate training facilities for soldiers who need to learn to kill automatically and without consideration.)

This showcase is intensely disturbing and thought- provoking, and I had to bring home the book for further consideration.