Interieur met werknemers van de ketelmakerij van de machinefabriek van Gebroeders Stork & Co before 1894

This photograph captures the interior of the boiler-making workshop at the Gebroeders Stork & Co machine factory. The scene is dominated by towering machinery and the suggestion of industry and progress, yet it is the lines, the threads of connection, that truly seize the eye. These lines are not merely structural; they resonate with a symbolic language that stretches back through history. The industrial web mirrors the threads of fate spun by the Fates of classical mythology, each line a decision, a path taken or denied. Recall the intricate cat's cradle, played out across cultures, where strings become both a game and a metaphor for interconnectedness. This image evokes a feeling of awe, of being caught within the gears of progress. Such visual patterns provoke a profound subconscious response, reminding us of our intricate relationship with technology, of our simultaneous control and helplessness. In its lines and its shadows, we see not just a factory, but a reflection of our own tangled destinies. The machine is both a promise and a cage.