WORKSHOP

The energy transition is creating a new type of landscape that demands transdisciplinary planning and design criteria. The central challenge of designing this transformation is developing concrete solutions that combine technically optimality with the aesthetic appeal. However, the pressure to quickly and comprehensively expand the energy infrastructure makes engineering positions appear dominant. Dialogue with artistic and visionary approaches rarely takes place.

The event aims to emphasize the intersection of technological progress and artistic sensibility to design sustainable energy solutions that are both functional and aesthetically pleasing. What design criteria should be considered in such planning? How can technical and artistic perspectives on landscape spaces be incorporated into the design process and translated into practical designs? Which function do the various design media fulfil in this context, for instance the models or image montages of future landscapes developed during the design process?

Participants will be encouraged to overcome traditional boundaries and explore creative solutions together through the exchange of ideas, discussions and practical exercises or walks in the landscape. The workshop aims to deepen understanding of the challenges of the energy transition and open up an innovative space for developing aesthetically appealing and efficient designs. The goal is to facilitate transdisciplinary experimentation and jointly develop innovative concepts for the aesthetic integration of renewable energy technologies into landscape formations.

The meeting will take place from May 8 to 10, 2025, at the sculpture park in the Westerwald. Created on the initiative of sculptor Erwin Wortelkamp, the park was designed by over 40 artists, landscape architects, writers and musicians, and provides an ideal setting in which to reflect on the role of art and design in landscape design in the context of the energy transition.

Programme

Venue: im Tal – Stiftung Wortelkamp, Schulstraße 18, 57635 Hasselbach

Non public.

Thursday, 8 May 2025

3:00–6:00 p.m.	Welcome, introduction and tour
6:00 p.m.	Dinner

Friday, 9 May 2025

9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.	Marcel Tröger (Landscape architecture and urban planning, Hamburg) Frauke Materlik (Landscape planning and art, Dittmarschen) Thomas Kissling (Landscape and urban studies, Zürich)
12:30–1:30 p.m.	Lunch
1:30–04:30 p.m.	Thomas Hensel (Art and design theory, Pforzheim) Nina Dettwiler (Spatial and landscape development, Zürich) Ina Turinsky (Design, Halle)
04:30–05:00 p.m.	Coffee break
05:00–06:30 p.m.	Franca Buss (Art history, Hamburg), Frank Fehrenbach (Art history, Hamburg), Georg Toepfer (Philosophy and biology, Berlin): Ten Theses on Shaping the Energy Transition
07:00 p.m.	Dinner

Saturday, 10 May 2025

10:00 a.m.–12.00 p.m.	Simone Kessler (Art, Hamburg) Raimund Rodewald (Landscape conservation and spatial planning, Bern)
12:00 p.m.	Lunch

Invited panellists were: Kira Meyer (Philosophisches Seminar, Kiel) and Veronika Studer-Kovács (Urner Institut Kulturen der Alpen, Lucerne).

On-site organisers were: Kim Wortelkamp and Claudia Siebeck (quartier vier, Leipzig).