Loopband (trottoir roulant) als deel van de Rue de l'Avenir op de Wereldtentoonstelling van 1900 1900

Curator: This photograph, entitled "Loopband (trottoir roulant) als deel van de Rue de l'Avenir op de Wereldtentoonstelling van 1900", was created in 1900 using a gelatin-silver print, likely as part of a photomontage process. Editor: It has this oddly charming antiquated futurism... a kind of hopeful yet slightly unnerving feeling, amplified by the sharp, receding lines of the moving walkway. The stark shadows add to the visual drama, I think. Curator: Yes, the "Rue de l'Avenir," or Street of the Future, showcased at the Exposition Universelle, intended to demonstrate progress. We have to contextualize this technological optimism, considering it was conceived in a milieu of rapid industrial expansion but also colonial expansion, gender disparity and class divisions, not to mention nascent ideas about modernity. How did these new inventions reflect those inequalities or promises of progress? Editor: Looking at it as an iconographer, that promenade is a visual symbol that resonates across different epochs: it’s the quest, a linear route of innovation or access, or a metaphor for the relentless passage of time, but time shaped, of course, by early Modern aspirations and anxieties. Note the carefully dressed observers along the sides, silent arbiters of modernity. Curator: I see those silent arbiters also as a visual clue to this being a demonstration of inequality since we observe a distinct separation of roles here. Also the futurist theme is an interesting marker within art history since the theme occurs during a peak moment of Japonisme, evident in the visual simplicity and emphasis on linear perspectives, revealing an East-meets-West artistic and philosophical exchange in thinking about the "new." Editor: You're absolutely right. I think that even extends to the way this image resonates visually, echoing a scroll or something sequential. It’s a captivating reminder of the narratives we weave into our technological marvels. Curator: Exactly. Images like these reveal so much about that liminal space between hope, technological advancement, and unaddressed social faultlines that affect identity and accessibility still today. Editor: Indeed, food for thought long after the fair closed.