Semarang. Kalibaroe c. 1900

Editor: This is Otto Hisgen’s gelatin-silver print, "Semarang. Kalibaroe," from around 1900. The muted tones give it a dreamy, almost unreal quality. What catches your eye when you look at this cityscape? Curator: I’m immediately drawn to the stark contrast between the "natural" elements – the dirt road, the tree – and the encroaching industrial and commercial activities evident in the modes of transport. Look closely; what materials do you see that are prominent in shaping this space and suggesting its purpose? Editor: Well, there's the water for transport, certainly, and wood appears everywhere: construction, boats, docks, probably buildings. There's also what appears to be some brick or masonry in some of the structures and potentially even the road. Curator: Precisely. Note how the artist captures this particular moment, one heavily defined by resource extraction and transportation. The photo itself, a gelatin-silver print, becomes a record of this intersection of labor, materiality, and a growing economy. How does Hisgen use this photographic process to frame, and perhaps even influence, how viewers understand this industry? Editor: It's like the photograph itself becomes a commodity, part of that whole process, capturing and even romanticizing this moment of industry and resource extraction. Hisgen's choice to present this bustling port with an almost detached calmness definitely complicates that idea. It really puts into perspective how even art is interwoven with broader material and economic currents. Curator: Indeed. We must remember that the artistic decisions—the composition, the printing technique—were also decisions influenced by available technologies and the market they served. So the means of its production and reproduction play a key part in its narrative. Editor: This has given me a whole new way of looking at photographs! I wouldn't have considered the material history embedded within a seemingly simple cityscape before.