Batavia - Koningsplein 1863 - 1866

Curator: Today, we’re looking at a photograph entitled "Batavia - Koningsplein," dating from between 1863 and 1866, captured by Woodbury & Page. The Rijksmuseum holds this gelatin-silver print. When I first encounter it, there’s this incredible sense of...serenity, wouldn't you say? Editor: It is strangely calm. A little…staged? It feels like an invitation, this long road vanishing into a gauzy, sun-soaked haze, but one lined with watchful, even slightly oppressive, trees. Curator: Oppressive is a strong word! I see them more as protective. What speaks volumes is how it uses light to denote clarity and a pathway of order, representative of both nature's harmony, the order the artist imposed with their framing, and likely the order they aspired for in their society. Street views such as this one weren't simply aesthetic; they showcased progress, infrastructure. The avenue itself symbolizes access and movement of not only goods, but ideas. Editor: True. And the ordered line of trees on the right mimics the architecture barely visible on the left, establishing a strange symmetry, despite the difference in organic and designed objects. To me, it symbolizes control over nature itself, which has colonial implications written all over it, even more as the title has the mark of Batavia - name from Dutch colonisation. Curator: That’s astute, yes. Considering its historical context, the "Koningsplein" – or King’s Square – bears an undeniable association with colonial power. The planned precision subtly echoes societal structures. Editor: I wonder if the inhabitants feel at home in this place? It is clearly not an accidental or carelessly captured place; a planned area that gives an odd sense of safety, however fragile or maybe false. There's an inherent loneliness, even a threat to it, isn't there? Curator: Loneliness? Intriguing, yes, as there are no humans here. Editor: I imagine there might be one sitting inside, longing, contemplating things like we are doing today! I still don't know, I’m getting strange vibes here… a constructed nostalgia, perhaps, to cover some darker aspect of humanity and this exoticised setting. Curator: Well, perhaps that's the beautiful irony. The photograph stands as an ordered space and silent invitation. Editor: Maybe you are right! Maybe one day it won’t feel so alienating and melancholic. Anyway, this was interesting, as usual!