
Energy Images
Aesthetics of Resemblance and Form
Arthur Mason(Author)
Routledge (Publisher)
1st Edition
Will be published approx. on 25. June 2026
Book
Hardback
224 pages
978-1-041-02915-1 (ISBN)
Description
Energy Images: Aesthetics of Resemblance and Form explores how visual representations of future oil and gas resources shape energy policy, investment decisions, and public understanding.
Drawing on ethnographic research and visual analysis, the book shows how planners and corporations rely on abstract maps, models, and data visualizations to manage uncertainty and project authority, turning speculative futures into seemingly reliable objects of governance. The book extends the author's previous investigation into how expertise, perception, and power operate across contemporary energy systems and introduces two aesthetic regimes - resemblance and form. Resemblance organizes perception through proximity and surface similarity, grounding energy in embodied experience and causal links between production and consumption. Form, by contrast, operates through distance and abstraction, transforming infrastructures into patterns, diagrams, and branded images that invite interpretation rather than recognition. Together, these insights reveal how aesthetics function as a central force in energy politics.
This book will appeal to scholars in energy studies, anthropology, governance, and environmental humanities.
Dr. Arthur Mason's Routledge trilogy Inside the Energy Salon (2024-2026) explores how expert performance and curated interactions shape global energy governance. The trilogy develops an "anthropology of surfaces" arguing that the visual and social staging of expertise - rather than data alone - is what makes energy futures appear investable and morally persuasive to political and industry elites. It features the following books:
Energy Capitol: The Waning of Regulatory Form (2024)
Consulting Energy: From Judgment to Decision-Making (2025)
Energy Images: Aesthetics of Resemblance and Form (2026)
Drawing on ethnographic research and visual analysis, the book shows how planners and corporations rely on abstract maps, models, and data visualizations to manage uncertainty and project authority, turning speculative futures into seemingly reliable objects of governance. The book extends the author's previous investigation into how expertise, perception, and power operate across contemporary energy systems and introduces two aesthetic regimes - resemblance and form. Resemblance organizes perception through proximity and surface similarity, grounding energy in embodied experience and causal links between production and consumption. Form, by contrast, operates through distance and abstraction, transforming infrastructures into patterns, diagrams, and branded images that invite interpretation rather than recognition. Together, these insights reveal how aesthetics function as a central force in energy politics.
This book will appeal to scholars in energy studies, anthropology, governance, and environmental humanities.
Dr. Arthur Mason's Routledge trilogy Inside the Energy Salon (2024-2026) explores how expert performance and curated interactions shape global energy governance. The trilogy develops an "anthropology of surfaces" arguing that the visual and social staging of expertise - rather than data alone - is what makes energy futures appear investable and morally persuasive to political and industry elites. It features the following books:
Energy Capitol: The Waning of Regulatory Form (2024)
Consulting Energy: From Judgment to Decision-Making (2025)
Energy Images: Aesthetics of Resemblance and Form (2026)
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Academic and Postgraduate
Illustrations
63 s/w Photographien bzw. Rasterbilder, 2 s/w Tabellen, 63 s/w Abbildungen
2 Tables, black and white; 63 Halftones, black and white; 63 Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-041-02915-1 (9781041029151)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
approx. 06/2026
Routledge
€60.49
Available for download

E-Book
approx. 06/2026
Routledge
€60.49
Available for download
Person
Arthur Mason is Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Social Anthropology at Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. He also holds positions as Senior Visiting Fellow in the Department of Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK, Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology at SOAS University of London, UK, and Research Affiliate at the Centre for Energy Ethics at the University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland.
Content
Preface: The Petrolic Fold
Acknowledgments
1. Energy Images
2. Empathy for the Energy Graph
3. Admiration of the Portrait
4. Histories of the Future
5. The Overlook
6. Procurate Energy
7. Art of Engineering
8. Aesthetics of Resemblance and Form
Acknowledgments
1. Energy Images
2. Empathy for the Energy Graph
3. Admiration of the Portrait
4. Histories of the Future
5. The Overlook
6. Procurate Energy
7. Art of Engineering
8. Aesthetics of Resemblance and Form