Kapspant voor de Stationsoverkapping S.S. te Tandjong Priok in bewerking, in onze Constructiewerkplaats te Ngagel (Soerabaia) 1916 - 1924

Here, we're looking at a photograph of the construction of Tandjong Priok Station, taken by an anonymous artist in Ngagel, Soerabaia. The gray scale makes me think of the bones of a building. All the girders are laid out like a skeleton ready to be put back together, and it makes you think about the process that goes into making something monumental. It's like you’re seeing the guts of a thing, a building, and the vulnerability of its making is exposed. What really strikes me is the texture; you can almost feel the cool, rough steel. The way the light catches on the metal gives it a sense of weight and solidity. It’s incredible to think about how each piece was crafted and assembled. It reminds me a little of the Bechers' photographs of industrial structures. Both capture a similar sense of the sublime in the ordinary. It makes you realize that art is a form of ongoing conversation.