Stereofoto van een gezicht op de haven van Sète before 1892

Editor: Here we have "Stereofoto van een gezicht op de haven van Sète" made before 1892 by Adolphe Louis Donnadieu. It is a stereoscopic print of a landscape featuring a harbor with ships. It’s quite striking how the print itself becomes the artifact, almost more so than the scene it depicts. What's your take? Curator: What I find most compelling is the confluence of industry, leisure, and representation captured here through photographic means. Consider the materiality: a print, made reproducible through labor and chemical processes, portraying a bustling harbor – a hub of both commerce and perhaps, to a limited extent, pleasure. The production of this image is as critical as the image itself. This wasn't painted by hand but chemically rendered, then mechanically reproduced. Editor: So you're saying the photograph's existence as a commodity changes how we see the harbor itself? Curator: Precisely! The act of photographing flattens a lived experience. These stereoscopic prints were produced for consumption. People in, say, Paris could feel as if they are experiencing a distant location through relatively cheap mass-produced materials. Who produced them? Under what working conditions? What was discarded and considered waste? Consider all of these points, and you will reveal how photographic prints played a part in solidifying socio-economic hierarchies and ways of looking at the world. Editor: I never really considered the socioeconomic impact behind what feels like such a straightforward image! Curator: Looking at the image as a final polished artifact is a good starting point; however, what's more rewarding is revealing the human element involved. Considering the materials as integral parts of the story allows for a richer experience.