Sf. Padjarakan Verdamplichaam / Sf. Krian en Sf. Tangoelangin Twee verdamplichamen ... in bewerking Possibly 1924

Curator: This fascinating photogravure is titled "Sf. Padjarakan Verdamplichaam / Sf. Krian en Sf. Tangoelangin Twee verdamplichamen ... in bewerking," and it’s attributed to an anonymous artist, possibly dating back to 1924. Editor: Whoa. It has this strangely mesmerizing, melancholy vibe. Like witnessing the skeletal remains of industry. The repetition of form creates a solemn yet somehow ethereal feel... is it just me? Curator: Not at all. There’s something haunting about the sheer industrial scale depicted here, isn't there? The images present two steam boilers, likely in Java, when it was still part of the Dutch East Indies. It presents a stark depiction of colonial industrial infrastructure, doesn’t it? The meticulous printing really emphasises the size and weight of the subject, using light and shadow to emphasize material qualities. Editor: Absolutely. Thinking about the means of production—the human labour, the raw materials extracted and shipped, the design of these massive boilers themselves…It’s all part of a larger system, one where these monumental constructions became silent, looming monoliths of colonial activity. I can almost smell the iron and steam through the photographic texture. Curator: I keep picturing the anonymous photographer meticulously choosing their angles, almost reverentially framing these industrial titans... Maybe it’s that quest to capture the sheer scale and awesome destructive and creative force of progress back in the day that haunts it. It feels so monumental in itself – in trying to record it. It really evokes that conflicted, somewhat romantic, view of machinery from that period. Editor: It's a strange tension—this glorification juxtaposed with a certain somber silence, perhaps foretelling future conflicts centered around resources and production. You see those pressure gauges on the boiler...each a silent testament to control, to engineered management. I imagine there’s something quite claustrophobic about actually operating this thing too. Curator: A potent, material reminder. It reminds me a bit of some surrealist landscapes, those unsettling visions of industrial encroachment upon natural spaces. Editor: And to think this entire system operated often with underpaid or forced labor under a complicated colonial social system! Curator: Yes...It reminds us to look beneath the surface of such grand depictions, always mindful of whose story truly gets told. Editor: Exactly. And it pushes us to investigate the complex stories woven into these monuments, their legacy within ongoing post-colonial discussions, making that nostalgic awe somewhat uneasy.