S.O. Goenoengsari. Turbinehuis. 5-4-1927. 1927

This photograph, taken on April 5, 1927, captures the turbine house in S.O. Goenoengsari. Here we see a space dominated by large, mechanical forms—turbines, pipes, and structural supports that rise into the high ceilings. Consider the pipe snaking across the floor; its form, while functional, is reminiscent of the serpent, an ancient symbol found across cultures. The serpent, a motif that has wound its way through history, embodies potent and contradictory forces. In some traditions, it represents chaos and destruction, and in others, healing and wisdom. Think of the Rod of Asclepius, where the serpent symbolizes medicine. The imposing machinery here evokes a sense of power, an industrial sublime. These machines, like the serpent, represent a transformative force. As it evolves, it also reflects our complex relationship with technology—its capacity for creation and destruction, and the ambivalent emotions it evokes.