Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1905

Curator: Well, glancing at this antique correspondence gives me an unexpectedly melancholy feel. It’s so obviously meant for private eyes only, yet here we are. Editor: It’s a peculiar intimacy to observe, isn't it? This postcard, possibly from 1905, is a "Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken," created by Anton L. Koster using ink on paper, I'd guess. It is the back of a used postal card! Curator: Yes, it's got that quality. And that handwriting! So proper, a stark contrast to the rushed digital missives of today. Look at those loops and flourishes! One can feel the writer's presence so intimately. Is that slightly haunting, or is it just me? Editor: A bit haunting, maybe…and surely it reveals an implicit trust in the postal system, something largely absent in our hyper-connected times! These mundane communications acted like social glue. And what’s more, there is a painter and the reference to art lends the object its auratic depth, what would we imagine when looking at a plain vintage card? Curator: Absolutely. One can almost imagine Koster, pen in hand, thoughtfully crafting each word. Was he thinking of his friend, picturing Zilcken receiving the card and having a quiet chuckle or two? Or it would make them miss each other a bit more... Editor: Letters like these became precious repositories, like time capsules, which is funny when the world evolves at an insane rate! In our current moment, it acts almost like a tangible resistance to digitization, which paradoxically grants objects such as this their precious aura. Curator: A tangible resistance... I love that. Maybe that's what makes it feel so alive, this stubborn refusal to vanish into the digital ether. Editor: Well said. It leaves me pondering what daily correspondence of our era will find its way to future retrospectives and historical consciousness. Curator: Precisely. And in what fragmented, ephemeral forms will those future archives be constituted! Food for thought.