Michaela Büsse: Blazing Heath/Heideglühen

We invite you to experience Blazing Heath / Heideglühen, a multi-channel audiovisual installation that explores the complex history and contested afterlife of former military training grounds in Brandenburg, Germany.

After the withdrawal of Soviet troops in the early 1990s, these heavily altered landscapes were transferred to nature conservation organizations under the “Naturerbe” (Natural Heritage) initiative, which aimed to preserve them in their “original” state—a concept open to interpretation. Marked by decades of tank maneuvers and live ammunition, the terrain still bears the physical scars of destruction. Yet paradoxically, these very conditions have enabled the return of rare and even once-extinct species. Today, these areas function as “living laboratories” for studying ecological adaptation and testing experimental conservation strategies.

Blazing Heath/Heideglühen offers a multisensory encounter with these uncanny landscapes, combining data-driven visual and sonic monitoring to reflect on their shifting meaning. The work interrogates how the toxic legacies of military occupation are rendered (in)visible and reinterpreted through scientific and technological practices. As new tools and methodologies are developed to promote biodiversity in these exceptional sites, the project raises critical questions: How do the histories embedded in data shape our present understanding of nature? And in what ways does past violence live on in the mechanisms we use to preserve life?

The roundtable “Refiguring Nature in a Datafied World: Debating the Politics and Materiality of Environmental Data” explores how data shapes our understanding of nature, informs environmental decision-making, and reflects broader socio-political dynamics. From sensor networks to satellite imagery, data plays an increasingly central role in how we engage with ecological change, but it also raises critical questions about visibility, power, and interpretation.

Participants will discuss the material and political dimensions of environmental data: How is it produced? Who controls it? And what kinds of narratives about nature does it generate? With contributions from Birgit Schneider (University of Potsdam), Alexander Vorbrugg (mLAB / University of Bern), Sandra Jasper (FAU Erlangen), and Michaela Büsse (TU Dresden / Matters of Activity). Moderated by Anna-Sophie Springer.

Just as the land retains the imprints of its militarized past, so too do the datasets—haunted by the specters of history and carried into future applications.

Michaela Büsse is an interdisciplinary researcher interested in environmental speculations and emerging material and territorial configurations in the context of planetary urbanization and the climate crisis.

Blazing Heath/Heideglühen is a collaboration with the Cluster of Excellence Matters of Activity at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and ZK/U – Center for Arts and Urbanistics, as part of the __matter Festival 2025.