Call for Participation: Research Studio - Extractive Pasts, Sustainable Futures?

How do imaginaries of the energy transition shape our present and how can we engage with and intervene in these imaginaries through our scholarly and artistic practice?

Please join our first research studio Extractive Pasts, Sustainable Futures? - an interdisciplinary, one-week excursion and workshop format that explores the energy transition in Lusatia, one of Europe‘s largest lignite mining site. The studio targets early-career researchers and practitioners interested in the conversion of post-extractive landscapes and the development or renewable energy infrastructure. Over the course of one week split between multiple sites in Lusatia as well as in and around Dresden we will collect, discuss, and create vocabularies, concepts, narratives, maps, drawings, diagrams, and other visual and textual outputs that might help us grasp what is at stake in the energy transition (in Lusatia and beyond). The research studio will cover multiple guided tours in the region to learn about its energy histories and futures, visits to leading clean energy start-ups in Dresden, lectures from experts in the field of socioecological transformation and energy humanities, as well as performances by local artists and hands-on work-shops for mapping and translating research findings into a joint adhoc publication.

The research studio is free of charge, however participants will have to cover their own travel and accommodation in Dresden. For participants who do not have institutional support we offer a limited amount of stipends.

In order to participate in the research studio, please send us your CV, portfolio (if applicable) and a short motivation letter (one page) elaborating on your background, research interests and connection to the theme of Extractive Pasts, Sustainable Futures? Documents should be submitted in one PDF file (5MB max) no later than 15.12.23 to 

For more information visit our homepage.

Organizers:
Michaela Büsse, Kristiane Fehrs, Orit Halpern, Johanna Mehl
A collaboration between the Chair for Digital Cultures, the Chair of Micro-Sociology and Techno-Social Interaction, and the Department for Speculative Transformation, TU Dresden.