Rietlosinrichting in bedrijf 1917 - 1938

Curator: Otto Hisgen captured this compelling industrial scene sometime between 1917 and 1938; he called it "Rietlosinrichting in bedrijf," which translates roughly to "Reed Disposal Facility in Operation." The realism is striking. Editor: Immediately, the composition hits me with an oppressive sense of industry devouring nature. That huge stack of reeds looks almost like a offering. Curator: I find the photograph compelling when considered through the lens of labor history. Images like this document the material processes that contribute to larger global capitalist systems. Where did these reeds end up? Who benefitted? Who suffered? Editor: Right, and I feel like the machinery dwarfs the raw material. You could almost see the reeds as standing in for bodies or spirits in that dehumanizing arrangement. Curator: Precisely. The industrial machinery depicted stands as a visual testament to a society structured around resource extraction and production, but this also needs to acknowledge potential human suffering connected with labour practices, socioeconomic divides, and ecological degradation that underpin progress. Editor: You know, beyond the weight of the theme, I can’t help but see a twisted sort of beauty in it. The sharp geometric lines of the architecture against the chaotic piles of organic material? The gray scale lends a certain dreamlike timeless quality... Almost like looking into the memory of a machine. Curator: The use of metal in its structure provides insight into this society's reliance on mass production techniques to sustain these operations on an industrial scale. Metal speaks to durability and permanence – concepts directly at odds with the perishability of the reeds themselves. Editor: Definitely, but I keep going back to how strangely pretty it all is, regardless of the larger implications. It speaks to something haunting, yet almost...magnetic? Maybe that tension is its own strange success. Curator: Yes, that aesthetic allure pulls us into uncomfortable truths. This photograph speaks volumes about industrial exploitation and our complicity in it. Editor: I like that --a disturbing, beautiful truth about reeds turned into things and people doing the turning.