Bestek nr. 217, dienst 1903, 1905 Possibly 1904 - 1924

This photograph, "Bestek nr. 217, dienst 1903, 1905", was made by Arnaud Pistoor & Zoon. I imagine them working with their old-fashioned bellows camera. They may have been standing in that very spot, waiting for the right light and then holding their breath while they clicked away. There is a stark scene. It looks like it's of an industrial process – a boat dredging or digging, maybe a canal. The horizon line is super low, a flat landscape with figures standing and watching as if in silent observation. It brings to mind the work of other documentary photographers like Bernd and Hilla Becher. They also captured industrial structures with a detached, almost clinical eye. But here, there is a sense of human intervention, the three men and their machines shaping the earth. As artists we are always in conversation with one another across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. Art is embodied expression which embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations and meaning over fixed readings.