Zeppelin in Wenen 1930 - 1931

Curator: These gelatin-silver prints are from Berti Hoppe’s “Zeppelin in Vienna,” taken between 1930 and 1931. What catches your eye? Editor: The sheer volume! It’s like an ode to the age of the airship, a wistful dream captured in a handful of silver moments. So many attempts at a perfect, simple encapsulation. Curator: Hoppe’s modernist aesthetic really shines through. Each photograph is quite direct, yet together they are far more romantic. It also subtly echoes anxieties about technology that were prevalent at the time. Mass technologies changed urban life but, even in 1930, weren't quite seamless, were they? Editor: There’s something deeply melancholic about these images, isn't there? This heavy metal beast drifting over serene landscapes or groups of people just stopping to stare. This collection documents that feeling you only get from technologies in transition, right before it really permeates society. Like a half-remembered song. Curator: Right. The zeppelin as a symbol. Before it became largely associated with disaster, it embodied both hope and technological advancement but even these photos evoke an unstated ephemerality. Editor: It’s like a ghost story, told in photographs. It feels very…German. They have a tendency of making technology feel spooky. Curator: But Hoppe, by emphasizing the scale of both the landscape and the observers below, isn't he also subtly positioning the zeppelin within a context? He seems aware of both the airship’s grandeur and its impact on those witnessing its passage. Editor: I suppose. I’m seeing these and thinking about our drones, a swarm of watchful eyes that rarely catch my gaze. These old pictures hint at something shared. That wonder, lost, maybe. Curator: Yes, precisely that blend of technological marvel and shared human experience. It’s a lovely encapsulation. Editor: It’s good to be reminded. These prints echo, perhaps unintentionally, of grand ambitions clashing softly with the human element below. I can just make out some blurry faces there, they could be anyone, dreaming of flying.