Long Beach, Los Angelos, California, Verenigde Staten: gastoevoer van de (energie)centrale 1936

Curator: At first glance, this photograph, “Long Beach, Los Angeles, California, United States: gas supply of the (energy) power plant,” taken around 1936, seems starkly functional. What’s your initial impression? Editor: Bleak. There's an industrial coldness to it, almost devoid of human presence yet so clearly showing human construction and modification of the landscape. It looks almost apocalyptic. Curator: It definitely speaks to the intersection of industry and environment, echoing anxieties of the 1930s regarding industrial growth. I can’t help thinking about what communities were likely impacted by this type of infrastucture and who was likely excluded from any benefits. Editor: Yes, there's that historical tension inherent in the steel and concrete – who profits from all this material extraction, and at what cost? Considering it's a photograph of infrastructure for gas supply, what’s not present visually speaks volumes about extraction, labor, and its eventual combustion. Curator: Absolutely, there’s a real social story embedded in the material realities represented. This image isn't simply a neutral recording; it implicates a complex power dynamic between those who produce and consume energy, as well as who gains from its use. And how these types of structures shape both class and geography. Editor: Exactly. The very arrangement of the pipes, the choice of materials, the overall design - it's all about control. The infrastructure almost presents this utopian ambition of boundless resources but at what price. I see labor absent in the shot but present nonetheless by implication. Curator: I think we're seeing how photography can document but also conceal. On the surface, we have a matter-of-fact representation of machinery, but by looking closer and acknowledging absent bodies we also begin to unravel questions about social exploitation and ecological harm that still affect us today. Editor: Looking again at it I see a reminder that even in what seems a purely technical depiction, we still see and grapple with history and its material consequences. Curator: For me too it provokes considerations on history and materiality in the contemporary landscapes that continue to bear traces of such decisions.