Bezoek aan het Kongressbad in Wenen 1930 - 1931

Curator: Looking at this gelatin-silver print from roughly 1930, Berti Hoppe offers us a collection of images in "Bezoek aan het Kongressbad in Wenen" - A Visit to the Kongressbad in Vienna. My first impression? It feels like a perfectly ordinary day, doesn't it? Like catching a candid moment in time, almost accidental, were it not purposefully documented on film. Editor: Yes, "perfectly ordinary" resonates, but I also find the grainy texture deeply evocative. Look closely at how Hoppe's handling of the gelatin silver print—the matte surface absorbs light differently in each photo, doesn’t it? These were not perfectly consistent prints; there's an intriguing interplay of chance and intent right from the production. Curator: The photo does bring to mind the Ashcan School in its themes. While certainly European in setting, we see this same unidealized representation of everyday city life among the urban working classes here, as we do in those circles. It makes the common people and their leisure central to the narrative. Editor: Absolutely, it’s not just about representing; it’s about valorizing that 'commonness.' Each of the photos focuses our attention to an area in the pool: a child about to jump from a height, women swimming in line, teenagers sunbathing and casually wading. Each print presents the textures of swimwear and the physical movement involved, suggesting that production and consumption also take place during free time, in the Kongressbad in this instance. Curator: It makes you consider the role of places such as this one and of photography within larger social dynamics. How a municipal bathing complex becomes a site for shared experiences as much as one of private relief. Hoppe shows how modern life has both intimate and shared qualities, that we can see them together and in turn understand them better. Editor: That’s well-said. What fascinates me most, perhaps, is seeing how this early photography almost anticipates social media; documenting banal moments and then gathering similar frames to form one idea feels ahead of its time. The production also anticipates an assembly-line approach to making art where consistency doesn’t matter much so long as the material or physical labor has a clear relation to what we might call Art itself. Curator: True! Looking through today’s lens certainly reshapes how we appreciate these visual records from a public bathing place. Editor: Indeed. Thank you.