Kabelstation Noord van uit den toren gezien (Noord-toren) 1905 - 1910

This old photograph, made by an anonymous artist, captures a view from the Noord tower, looking out over a cable station. It's all in grayscale, giving it that lovely, dreamy, far-away feeling. I'm thinking about the photographer, perched high up, maybe a little nervous, carefully framing the shot. What were they hoping to capture? The vastness of the landscape? The march of progress with this new cable station? Maybe they wanted to show how industry cuts through nature, literally cutting a line through the forest. That long straight line of the cable way is so different from the messy, organic shapes of the trees. The contrast makes you think about what it means to make something, and the impact our making has on the world around us. It’s about seeing and understanding, and how that process is always changing our view.