Ruïnes bij Hotel Weimar aan de Spaansekade te Rotterdam c. 1940 - 1945

This photograph by J. Nolte captures the ruins of Hotel Weimar on the Spaansekade in Rotterdam. While it appears as a straightforward recording, consider that photography is never truly neutral. It involves choices about what to capture, and how. In this case, the subject matter – devastation – speaks volumes. Look closely, and you see the materiality of the city laid bare: brick, plaster, wood, all pulverized. The careful craftsmanship that went into the hotel’s construction, now rendered as rubble. Consider the labor it would take to rebuild, and the immense social effort required to reconstruct a city. In choosing this subject, Nolte prompts us to reflect on the built environment as a product of both creation and destruction, labor and loss. The art lies not just in the image, but in its capacity to evoke these profound themes.