The American Barracks, Mannheim, Germany.

The American Barracks, Mannheim, Germany.Commissioned by the city of Mannheim (Germany), The American Barracks, Mannheim is a photographic survey/exhibition, which documents American military bases constructed in the post-WW2, Cold War era prior to final withdrawal of American troops in 2013/14. The work looks at the dissolution of territorial borders in the context of permanent vs. temporary military architectures. The research surveys the architectural structure of these American military bases stationed in the Rhine-Neckar region of Germany, examining the systematic components underpinning post-WW2 and Cold War military architectures and revealing the permanent nature of such structures. The research is grounded is the concept of how US military barracks in the post war era were designed as a permanent way of life, through high quality housing and living standards, and in effect served as a recruiting tool for the US army. The work directly responds to earlier research authored by the same photographer, which questions the role of memory in the context of modern military sites inherently temporary in nature and structure, such as the [American/contemporary] military structures utilized in Afghanistan. In contrast, the American barracks in Mannheim have been retained since the Cold War and are scheduled to be maintained after the final American withdrawal, consequently raising a negotiation about how we remember and transition these former structures into a new [era/context] – whether industrial, housing, or commercial properties.