Verdamp- en kookstation van suikerfabriek Goedo te Djombang op Java c. 1925 - 1930

Editor: This print, dating from around 1925 to 1930, is titled "Verdamp- en kookstation van suikerfabriek Goedo te Djombang op Java." It depicts the evaporation and boiling station of the Goedo sugar factory in Djombang, Java. What strikes me is how monumental yet also impersonal the machinery appears. How should we interpret it? Curator: This photograph offers a compelling look at the materiality of sugar production and its social implications during the colonial era. Note how the factory itself, rendered in this modernist style, becomes a kind of character, reflecting both the promise of progress and the realities of labor. Editor: What do you mean by the realities of labor? Curator: Consider the human cost inherent in the repetitive, often dangerous work within factories like this one. The industrial scale is designed for output. How does the photograph draw attention to those production demands? Editor: I see the factory now less as progress and more as… exploitation. The sheer scale of these vats speaks to that industrial machine consuming resources and manpower. Curator: Precisely! And also, consider the materials. What does the prominence of metal and wood suggest about colonial trade networks? The building, materials, and labor all contribute to that material presence, shaping economic power dynamics. Editor: So, the image invites us to think about the global networks and labor practices involved in something as seemingly simple as sugar. The aesthetic beauty of these shapes almost masked the human cost initially. Curator: It asks us to critically examine how aesthetic choices, materials, and representation converge to reinforce certain social and economic structures. Hopefully you will think of those social and material structures when sweetening your next cup of tea.