This article uses the elemental concepts of earth, water and fire to examine the
production, use and control of space in the seventeenth-century Wrangel
estate at Skokloster in central Sweden. Using a relational approach, the
paper discusses how the elements symbolically express a part of the
baroque aesthetic, how they were emphasised or pinned down as part of an
economic asset, and how they reacted and produced space in dialogue with
human agents. The reciprocal relations between man and earth through
food production, tenancy and rent, or the management of woodland for firewood,
demonstrate an on-going interaction between various socially-hierarchical
agents. The construction of dams and the control of water illustrate other
struggles between the tenants, the proprietor and the water itself. When
setting up new types of heating systems inside the castle multiple sources
of agency are visualised – the owners, the domestic servants, the woodland
and the fireplaces. The study concludes that the elements operated as more
than aesthetic and philosophical categories, but were empirically-evident
worldly driving-forces.
Routledge, 2015. Vol. 16, nr 2, s. 126-144