Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1919

This letter was created by Paul van Goethem using paper and ink. These are hardly esoteric or high-tech materials, yet the handwriting itself, done with a practiced hand, suggests years of education and refinement. Reflect on the labor involved. First, in the making of the paper itself, likely industrially produced. Then, the production of ink. Finally, the author’s own labor, performing the act of handwriting. We can imagine the author sitting down, taking up his pen, and writing in a deliberate, elegant script. Consider also what is conveyed by the labor of handwriting itself. In a time long before electronic communication, this was how relationships were maintained over distance. It’s a form of work, but also a form of care. So while this letter is not an artwork in the traditional sense, it prompts us to consider the social and material conditions of communication itself.