Gezicht op het uitkijkpunt Rigi Känzelei en de Pilatusberg c. 1895 - 1905

Editor: Here we have an anonymous gelatin-silver print, likely dating from around 1895 to 1905, titled "View of the Rigi Känzeli viewpoint and Mount Pilatus." It's such a stark, almost industrial take on a mountain landscape. What do you see when you look at this photograph? Curator: The labor involved in producing this image and accessing this viewpoint is interesting. Think about the industrialization and burgeoning tourist industry of the late 19th century. The materials themselves – the gelatin-silver print – speak to the commodification of the landscape. Editor: Commodification? How so? Curator: Photography enabled mass reproduction. This image isn't just about a view, it’s about the *accessibility* of that view through industrial processes and technology. The development of the gelatin silver process, which allows for sharper and more easily reproducible images, plays a key role in circulating and consuming this landscape as an object. Consider, too, how infrastructure like the Rigi Railway altered the relationship people had with nature; this photograph becomes evidence of those changes. Editor: That's fascinating. It's not just about the mountains, but also about how we *get* to the mountains, literally and photographically. The image itself is a product of these changing material conditions. So the materials used to *make* the photograph are related to industrial production… Curator: Precisely. And to consumerism, as these prints were sold to tourists to remember, to possess, and perhaps even show off their experiences of nature through the consumption of technology. What looks like a straightforward landscape hides layers of socio-economic and technological processes. Editor: I never would have thought about a landscape photograph that way! I was so focused on the mountain, and the view… now I see so much more! Thanks! Curator: Indeed, materiality guides us to consider how technology transforms even seemingly untouched landscapes into commodities.