Fotoreproductie van een brief van Johannes von Rordorf before 1893

Curator: Here we have a photographic reproduction of a letter penned by Johannes von Rordorf sometime before 1893. The original is, presumably, a drawing rendered in ink on paper. Editor: It feels immediately archival—a whisper of parchment and ink. I imagine the weight of that handmade paper, its fibers telling a story of creation long before the words were even inscribed. Curator: The texture and composition are captivating. Note the aging of the paper, a palimpsest where the support seems to converse with the drawn marks and fading typeface. Editor: Exactly! The aged paper points towards a network of human and natural processes that imbue the piece with meaning. How was the paper milled? What kind of labor went into producing this substrate to begin with? And who was involved? Curator: True, but focus, for a moment, on the formal elements. See how the stylized text plays with medieval calligraphic traditions. Look closely at how the initial letters begin each paragraph like illuminated manuscripts of old. The entire construction acts as a simulacrum, almost. Editor: A simulacrum that nonetheless exists within material conditions! What about the ink? It wasn’t just mixed—it came from somewhere. It might point to local ecologies, trade routes… Perhaps that’s why the type is fading as the inks betray a specific recipe that's wearing down, materially degraded by time itself. Curator: Intriguing. I do feel the arrangement performs an intricate dance between the symbolic order, and the deterioration you mention invites questions about permanence, presence, and absence. What resonates for you upon deeper contemplation? Editor: Considering the whole trajectory of resources used in production from extraction to paper production, it speaks volumes about its past and perhaps its present valuation, now housed, archivally. Curator: Fascinating, I hadn't considered such material and process implications. Editor: It highlights a silent history, of manufacture and making in general.