Krantenknipsel betreffende Richard Roland Holst Possibly 1939

This newspaper clipping, made by the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant, records the death of Professor R. N. Roland Holst. Newsprint is an inherently ephemeral material. The low grade paper yellows quickly, and is easily torn. It embodies the daily cycle of information, produced on a massive scale, consumed voraciously, and then discarded. Yet here, it is preserved. The inky black text, created by a mechanical printing process, speaks to the industrialization of information. Each letter, a product of mass production, is pressed onto the page, row after row, a testament to the labor involved in disseminating news to the masses. This fragment, pulled from the stream of daily information, immortalizes Holst, who was celebrated for his contributions to monumental and decorative arts. Considering its original context and subsequent preservation encourages us to consider the relationship between art, memory, and the everyday materials that shape our understanding of the world.