Compression
Spaces
Infrastructures
Concepts
Jenny Neubig trained as an architect at the Technical University of Dresden and the University of Strathclyde Glasgow. She works between architecture, urban planning, art and research and has collaborated with architecture firms and artist collectives in Berlin and Vienna. Together with Maura Schmitt, she founded the collective Lostandfound, which explores themes and ideas of the circular economy, urban metabolism and the transformation of lost places. Since the winter semester 2023/24 she has been a research assistant at the Chair of Housing and Design, Studio Löserlott at the TU Dresden.
A Reflection on Time Compression
The immense extraction of coal for the neverending demand for energy is initially an abstract concept, until you actually experience it at the site of the coal mine in Lusatia. Dead biomass, which was converted into coal 17 million years ago, lies in the depths of sediment layers that have accumulated over the centuries. The scale and speed at which the 17 million year old coal are mined and transported becomes tangible as you walk through the mine, its vast expanse, huge machines and eternally long converyor belts. Mountains of coal pile up at the edge of the mining area. Our guide, who leads us through the mine, says: “This pile is enough for about 3 days. 3 days and then it‘s all gone.“ A mountain of 17 million year old coal, which has been created over an impalpably long process, is consumed within 72 hours, creating a different kind of temporality.
While coal is still being actively mined in Welzow Süd, the former open-cast lignite mine Cottbus-Nord is being restored into the largest artificial lake in Germany.
At the same time, a 500 year old village like Mühlrose is being relocated to make way for the expansion of the Nochten open-cast mine, which is expected to cover the demand for coal until 2038, while coal is spreading to renewable energies. Travelling through Lusatia, you can see the many empty houses that illustrate the decline in population and demographic change. While Cottbus describes itself as a booming city and is planning new neighbourhoods such as ‘Framework Plan Seevorstadt’. It seems as if everything is happening at once, as if everything is ageing faster. Time is under pressure. So time gets compressed. But what happens when you compress something and there is no limit, no stabilisation that can hold it? It gets out of control. It spreads sideways and expands spatially.
Spatially Spreading
What could be thought of as a vertical operation, extracting coal from the depths, has evolved into a sprawling, horizontal endeavor. Enormous machines move mountains of earth, layer by layer, exposing the coal below. The F60 moves horizontally across the landscape, expanding the mine, fuelled by the relentless demand for energy. In the background you can see power plants that continuously emit steam when burning coal to generate energy. Huge clouds of steam are pressed into the atmosphere and spread out.
How does time compression affect spatial spreading?
Conflict-Free Areas?
The compression of time and the pressure of structural transformation is fuelling the spread of monofunctional areas. Whoever is quickest takes the most land. But nature and social processes are slow. How can these slow processes be implemented in this race? At present, there are only monofunctional areas surrounded by fences. Fences around the mine, fences around the lake, fences around the nature conservation area. But what happens when there is no space left for future needs? Who will own the land? Will it be possible in future to turn these monofunctional spaces into multi-layered spaces?