Gezicht op de opstelling van mechanische apparaten van George Hodgson op de Wereldtentoonstelling van 1885 in Antwerpen before 1885

Curator: Look at this incredible print, created before 1885, it depicts a view of George Hodgson's mechanical devices displayed at the 1885 World Exhibition in Antwerp. The method used was engraving, creating a real realist flavor to this piece of machinery and its exhibition setting. Editor: It's quite the captivating chaos of gears and cogs, isn't it? A mechanical ballet frozen in time. Gives me a bit of a steampunk vibe, even before steampunk was really a thing. How did they even begin to assemble so many components together? Curator: What I see here, beyond just a picture, is the dawn of automation as seen by those who are in the middle of the Industrial Revolution, I wonder what their sense of impending modernity would feel like. Editor: I think that sense of 'impending modernity' that you identify has clear labor implications, which leads us directly to how it might be made... The materials for the print are obvious—metal plate, ink, paper—but imagine the skilled labor and craftsmanship that were involved to realize the printing. Curator: You make me consider that with all those complex moving pieces and with their manufacture for commerce we arrive to our future; is that future good or is it bad? Editor: It's both, and neither, perhaps? More jobs were made with these gears to then eventually displace someone else. The material progress is intertwined with that tension. And to what extent should we, looking back, glorify this material complexity? The social and human cost needs also remembering, Curator: True; the engraving’s crisp lines render not just the machines, but also a story of societal and labor transformation, even a question; if machines get built from hands, what does that make the purpose of those same hands in a future world? What can they make then? Editor: Well, I'm struck by how an image ostensibly about machines actually raises so many interesting questions about human creation, and our role in the cycle of production, use and consumption... It is worth keeping in mind today. Curator: Yes! What this teaches me is that even with our progress and what we bring with our new visions, what truly stays behind as remarkable and awe-inspiring are the same fundamental feelings and issues from the core.