Hausbrand

Hausbrand is a long-term photographic and historical documentation project about energy production in Germany and the ways in which it has shaped landscapes and society.

Photographs of contemporary energy landscapes and post-industrial landscapes are brought together with historical imagery and the recorded experiences of people who lived and worked in these places. These different perspectives form a visual narrative of how domestic energy resources have transformed landscapes, shaped regions, and influenced ideas about work, prosperity, progress and home.

The project began in 2021. Since then, photographic work has been carried out in all of Germany’s federal states, alongside the collection of numerous historical sources. The first results will be published at the end of 2026, with a book publication planned for summer 2027.

Folgelandschaften / Afterscapes

Landscapes preserve history. Open-cast mines become lakes, spoil heaps become viewpoints, and former industrial sites become natural areas. Elsewhere, mining damage, technical infrastructure or changes to water systems require management for generations.

Hausbrand documents such landscapes throughout Germany – from active extraction and disused industrial sites to reclaimed and redesigned landscapes. The photographs tell stories from the “incorruptible memory” of the earth.

Lived History

The history of energy is also the history of the people who lived and worked in these regions.

Resettled residents, local communities, miners and other contemporary witnesses tell of work and community, but also of environmental impacts, conflicts, mining damage and the loss of home. Different and sometimes conflicting experiences are deliberately presented alongside one another.

For Hausbrand, we primarily draw on previously documented oral histories and historical sources. At the same time, we welcome information about personal accounts, private collections and sources that may so far have received little attention.

Visual History

How has energy been explained, promoted and debated within society?

Historical postcards, posters, brochures, advertising materials, corporate publications and protest materials reveal the ideas that have been associated with energy, heat and resource extraction at different points in time.

Hausbrand brings together these examples of visual communication and places them in dialogue with the photographic documentation. They tell of promises of progress and security of supply as well as environmental conflicts, protest and changing ideas about how landscapes and resources should be used.

Collaboration

Research for Hausbrand leads us to archives and collections, museums, public authorities, academic institutions, companies, associations and private sources.

Many of these institutions and individuals hold knowledge and materials that are scarcely documented elsewhere. Professional exchange and the support of our partners are therefore an important part of the project.

We are particularly interested in historical photographs and printed materials, corporate and collection histories, documented oral histories, and information about collections and sources that remain relatively little known.

Get in Touch

Do you work with a subject, region or collection that might be relevant to Hausbrand? Or do you have a question about the project? post@folgelandschaften.de.

You can also subscribe to our newsletter (in German) for updates on new research, publications and the continuing development of the project.