Fotoreproductie van een ontwerp van een te bouwen hotel op de Dam in Amsterdam 1857 - 1864

Curator: Here we have a fascinating photomechanical print dating from 1857 to 1864, after Wegner & Mottu. The artwork depicts a proposed hotel design for the Dam Square in Amsterdam. The piece is rendered with pencil on paper. Editor: Wow, it's like a sepia dream. Kind of faded and stately, you know? Like a memory someone's trying to hold onto. Gives you a bit of that melancholic grand-hotel-at-the-end-of-the-pier vibe, despite being smack dab in the middle of Amsterdam. Curator: The neoclassical architectural style places this hotel squarely within the ambition to reshape the city with a modern sensibility, influenced by broader European movements. Editor: Right? It’s that old "we need to class this joint up" attitude, eh? It almost feels a bit... out of place, like a fancy top hat at a football game, next to the medieval looking building on the background. Curator: It is a proposition to re-imagine the Dam. Thinking of the social space, the political theatre of this famous square: How does this hotel seek to redefine Amsterdam’s social identity? Who is being invited, and perhaps, more importantly, who is not? Editor: Ooh, good point! It looks rather exclusive, doesn’t it? With the dark pencil, it really drives that impression. A bit imposing, yeah? It kind of gives off the impression of wealth hoarding space more than a welcoming stay. Still pretty, mind. But pretty with an edge. Curator: And the location! Building right on the Dam – which in that time and even today acts a central meeting point and a protest ground… This is a real power move. Editor: Indeed, quite. So, beyond aesthetics, this drawing reveals ambition—almost hubris? Amsterdam as the next Paris? It makes you wonder why it was never built, eh? I find myself oddly glad it wasn't, preserving that space. Curator: Well, thinking about how spaces influence social life is central to understanding not just art but societal progress as a whole, I guess it makes you wonder if preserving old places helps preserving ways of thinking. Editor: Precisely! It makes you think and, that is what is important here.