Zetmachine in de drukkerij 1921

T. Kaneo made this black and white photograph of a printing machine, but when exactly, we don’t know. Look at all the gears and levers – the Zetmachine is a real industrial beast! It's amazing to think about the process that goes into setting type, all those tiny pieces coming together to make words. I'm drawn to the way Kaneo captures the texture of the machine, the grimy metal, the oily floor. You can almost smell the ink and hear the clatter of the press. This isn't a sterile, sanitized view of industry. There are flecks of detritus on the floor, like a Jackson Pollock canvas. And the figure at the machine! I love the way Kaneo emphasizes the contrast between her human form and the rigidity of the machine. It reminds me a little of Hannah Höch's photomontages, where she juxtaposes human figures with machine parts. It's this kind of contrast that makes art so interesting, don’t you think?