Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1924 - 1928

This "Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken" was created in 1924, it is a simple postcard created by Adriaan Pit. What makes this mundane artifact interesting is the convergence of social, cultural, and institutional contexts it embodies. This postcard provides a snapshot of the cultural landscape in the Netherlands at the time; a world of personal correspondence facilitated by institutions like the postal service. But such institutions never function neutrally. The postal service, for instance, shapes social interactions by determining the speed and cost of communication. The fact that this postcard ended up in a museum like the Rijksmuseum raises questions about how such institutions assign value and meaning to everyday objects. Whose stories are preserved and why? It prompts us to investigate the collecting practices of museums and the social narratives they construct. To fully understand this piece, one might delve into postal archives, study social networks of the time, or examine the Rijksmuseum’s collection policies. In short, it’s a reminder that the meaning of art, or indeed any cultural artifact, is contingent on the social and institutional context in which it exists.