Paper Short Abstract:

Fragments in the post-mining Ralsko landscape connect past, present, and future, embodying the fragility and transience of matter. By materializing absences, they reveal the emergence of landscapes as dynamic and relational, offering a lens for unwriting hegemonic narratives and rethinking landscapes anew.

Paper Abstract:

Drawing on the post-mining landscape of the Ralsko region, this paper explores the role of fragments as constitutive elements of landscape, both materially and experientially. Fragments, in their very incompleteness, connect the present moment with the past while carrying both into the future. Unlike traces, which are marks left on the material fabric of the world, fragments are integral parts of that fabric. They are inherently material but simultaneously embody the fragility and transience of matter.

The presence of fragments within the landscape allows for the materialization of absences. These fragments not only evidence processes of disappearance but also enable (re)appearance, demonstrating that landscapes are fundamentally emergent phenomena. The uranium mining legacy of Ralsko offers a compelling lens to examine this dynamic. Uranium, as an unstable and transformative element, embodies the transient and vibrant nature of matter, which profoundly shaped the region’s landscape during the 20th century and continues to do so today.

Focusing on fragments as constitutive of landscape provides an opportunity to engage in unwriting established assumptions about landscapes as stable or complete entities. By emphasizing instability and transience, fragments challenge dominant narratives and open pathways to rewrite landscapes as emergent, relational, and shaped by absences as much as presences. This approach aligns with unwriting’s call to undo hegemonic paradigms, offering a means to reconsider and recreate landscapes as dynamic, multidimensional, and entangled with histories of material transformation and absence