Opening van het gebouw voor de Internationale Tentoonstelling te Londen 1851 1851

Curator: Before us, we have a print titled "Opening van het gebouw voor de Internationale Tentoonstelling te Londen 1851", created by Allen & Moore in 1851. It’s currently held in the Rijksmuseum's collection. Editor: It’s incredible how much information they've managed to fit onto such a small surface. I see it as a kind of early infographic celebrating industrial progress. What do you make of it? Curator: As a medal, this engraving operates as a kind of talisman, commemorating a watershed moment. The Crystal Palace itself becomes a symbolic object of utopian vision. I see echoes of monumental structures of the past and future. Editor: Absolutely. But looking at it through a modern lens, I can’t help but consider the colonial underpinnings of such displays of industrial might. Who truly benefited from this progress, and at what cost? This building comes to stand for inequality, even if unintended. Curator: That is indeed one perspective, looking at whose labour was being showcased. Consider, also, that this image reflects a shared aspiration. In its time, the Great Exhibition was a platform for showcasing diverse innovations. The building design itself signified advancement in material sciences and construction technologies. The text speaks of iron and glass: novel at the time, signaling new possibilities of how human civilisation saw themselves as able to build higher and faster and larger! Editor: While acknowledging the technological achievements, we must examine the power dynamics embedded within this supposedly universal celebration of progress. Whose narratives were prioritised? Which voices were excluded? I wonder whether people saw it that way, back in the day... Curator: These sorts of objects, while ostensibly celebrations of technological progress, can reveal much about a culture's dreams, and even contradictions. Here, the image itself almost becomes an archetype. It taps into the symbolic meaning of architectural triumphs across human history. Editor: Yes. For me it feels that these works remind us of the importance of ongoing critical dialogue to dismantle any kind of unequal structures. We are bound to that. Curator: Well said. There’s much to learn in the contrast between optimism, as portrayed in the medal, and historical critical reflection from today. It certainly complicates any singular vision of progress, don't you think?