Gezicht op de galerij met machines op de Wereldtentoonstelling van 1885 in Antwerpen before 1885

Curator: We’re looking at "View of the Machine Gallery at the 1885 World Exhibition in Antwerp." This print is anonymous and was created sometime before 1885. Editor: It's striking. All those meticulously rendered machines and power systems… the sheer scale of the exhibition hall feels almost overwhelming, even in this monochrome print. It makes me think about progress, ambition. Curator: The exhibition itself was a showcase of industrial advancement, of course. Look at the signs and labels – these emerging technologies and brand names became icons of modernity. Consider what this reveals about labour, industry, and material wealth at the time. Editor: Precisely. And it presents all these mechanical symbols as almost… godly. The hall seems designed to inspire awe and even fear, as though humanity is being consumed by this new wave of technology. Curator: World's fairs functioned as powerful mechanisms for propagating imperialist ideologies and expanding international commerce, so this impression underscores its underlying socio-economic currents. It presented the latest technologies, consumer goods, and architectural wonders. Editor: What does the iconography surrounding electricity—clearly central in this image—convey at the time? How do these symbols signal transformation, the future, to an audience steeped in older, perhaps more agrarian, values? It almost feels like a new kind of cathedral. Curator: A cathedral to industry, maybe? And mass consumption! One could consider it as a reflection of the material conditions of that period, with a heightened focus on production, capital, and market exchange. Editor: Exactly. The print almost feels prophetic— a visual language evolving alongside industrial expansion, a symbolic lexicon for a machine age. Curator: By examining the production and means for distribution of printed imagery during this period, we can begin to dissect those messages to create our own symbolic language that engages this artwork in a productive dialogue. Editor: Seeing the building itself becoming a testament to future advancement... it brings forth thoughts of evolution.