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

Wouter Cool made this photograph of a generator in Long Beach, Los Angeles. I wonder what it was like for Cool to move around in this enormous space? I imagine the sound was deafening and his overalls were blackened with soot. He found a vantage point above the machinery to capture the scale and volume of this powerhouse. The heavy forms are stacked upon each other to make this imposing technological display. It reminds me of some of the photos that Charles Sheeler was making at the time, of factories and assembly lines. Both artists were interested in how technology was transforming American life. It’s kind of crazy to think about how artists were processing the changing world around them.