Rotterne 1845

Editor: So, this is Adolph Kittendorff's "Rotterne," from 1845. It’s a lithograph, so a print. The scene is… unsettling. The dead rats contrast so starkly with the eggs and bottle; there is a sense of everyday objects used in a violent setting. What’s your read on this from a material perspective? Curator: It’s fascinating to consider this image as a product of its time, examining both the depicted objects and the printmaking process itself. The starkness you noted is amplified when considering the industrialization creeping into everyday life in 1845. What materials afforded a comfortable life, what were the real-world consequences of mass-produced goods and readily available foods? The labor, the conditions to which production occurs… This lithograph can prompt us to investigate those facets. Editor: That’s interesting, how it reveals concerns about production through such mundane objects and violent images! So, the rats, the eggs… What does their arrangement tell us about the social context in Kittendorff’s Denmark? Curator: Think about it. The dead rats displayed with these goods, rendered through mass-producible lithography, become evidence, not merely still life. A viewer then becomes a kind of… inspector of materials, an auditor of consequences, don't you think? The arrangement presents a question of what’s deemed desirable and consumable. Consider: Where were these eggs produced? Who collected them? And where and why were the rats killed? Editor: It makes me think about how disconnected we are today from the production processes behind even basic items. Thank you. It’s been very eye-opening to reconsider something seemingly so… simple. Curator: It's been equally rewarding, to observe another seeing materiality through a fresh, keen perspective.