Just published: Energy Landscapes: Transformations of Natural Spaces from the Early Modern Period to the Present
Mnemosyne. Warburg International Seminar Papers, Volume 8
Energielandschaften. Transformationen natürlicher Räume von der Frühen Neuzeit bis zur Gegenwart
edited by Franca Buss, Frank Fehrenbach, Laura Isengard und Cornelia Zumbusch
November 2026, ISBN 9783689240813 (hardcover), 9783689240820 (eBook), € [D] 79,00
As societies transition to renewable energy, landscapes have become the focus of growing aesthetic and public debate. Yet landscapes have long been shaped by practices of energy production – from agricultural land, wind – and watermills to the landscapes of fossil fuel extraction. These changing relationships between energy and landscape have not only transformed the physical environment but have also left their mark on artistic and literary representations. Bringing together contributions from art history, history, literary studies, and film studies, this volume traces these developments from the early modern period to the present. It explores how artistic representations make practices of energy production visible and how, in turn, they shape our understanding and perception of landscape.
The fruit of the international Warburg seminar Energy Landscapes, this volume goes back to the interdisciplinary sessions held in 2024, in which doctoral candidates and young academics from various fields discussed their work. The seminar was held from October 14 to 17, 2024, at the Warburg-Haus Hamburg, in joint cooperation of the DFG-Centre for Advanced Studies Imaginaria of Force (Universität Hamburg) and the Aby Warburg Foundation.
