Paper short abstract:

In our contribution we explore the accelerating changes to a post-mining/post-military landscape in northern Bohemia with an emphasis on more-than-human materialities of everyday. Through this prism, we conceive the landscape as one of re-creation.

Paper long abstract:

In our contribution we explore the accelerating changes to a post-mining & post-military landscape in northern Bohemia with an emphasis on non-/more-than-human actors and forces. At present, spatial restrictions cover spaces of the removal of uranium mining residues, individual, closed mines, and protected natural areas. The region itself is a borderland region with low population and many recreational facilities. Hence, the contrasts in the landscape abound – the depopulated zones scattered with ruins lie near ancient castles and towns in and around which refurbished houses and establishments embody the ongoing struggles to re-invent the region. It is absences, the traces of what has been, which fuel many projects (architectural, artistic, conservation) of re-inventing the region and re-creating the landscape. These often attempt at re-branding the area as unified and meaningful by filling absences with new materialities and meanings. In order to understand the dynamics of the changes, we explore the more-than-human materialities of everyday in order to understand the landscape as one of re-creation.