Post(colonial) cards

Post(colonial) cards

Postcard as Public Archive?

Critical documentaries from colonial archives The Berlage - TU Delft Het Nieuwe Instituut - Rotterdam Guests: Salomon Frausto, Stefano Graziani, Robin Hartanto Honggare, Amy Thomas, Jules Schoonman, Marina Otero www.giudettifrancesca.com

This project book is produced after participating to The Berlage Theory Master Class led

by Felicity D. Scott entitled “Documenting the Colonial Archive“ (2019).

Team: Francesca Giudetti. Seung Keun Lee, Eric Liao, Ella Fleri Soler, Fay Darmawi.

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Architects do not, strictly speaking, make buildings; they interpret, create, and mobilize a range of documents, recognizing their complex and unstable mode of functioning and their capacity to institute new imaginaries to impact the future.

The master class will put architectural expertise to work as a means of revisiting the histories and ongoing legacies of Dutch colonial rule in Indonesia.

Working closely with Felicity D. Scott, along with other invited guests such as Stefano Graziani, Robin Hartanto Honggare, and Mark Wasiuta, participants visited a range of archives within the Netherlands, including the National Archives of the Netherlands in the Hague, the State Archive for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning at Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam, and the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision in Hilversum.

Participants identified key documents or counter-documents, asking themselves what else to do with and through these documents. They interrogated the unstable relation between architecture and documents, creating critical documentaries in a range of creative formats—exhibitions, critical exposés, films, podcasts, interviews, artist’s talks, atlases, drawings, performance—through which to critique or counter “imperial dispositions.” The aim of the master class was to advance new political claims about Dutch colonial rule in Indonesia by testing counter-practices that might help re-script future imaginaries to more democratic ends.

Participants advanced the proposition that architects are experts at working with documents, in many media and to various ends. The master class addressed intentional and unintended documents, as found in official and unofficial archives of Dutch colonial administration, as well as in Dutch newsreels and propaganda films, buildings, infrastructures, and other environments and media, both historical and contemporary.

The final event was held at the Het Nieuwe In-

stituut in Rotterdam on May 16th 2019 [https:// thursdaynight.hetnieuweinstituut.nl/en/activities/ critical-documentaries-colonial-archives].

Consulting the National Archive, The Hague (May 2019)

Backstory The archive, first and foremost presents itself as an institution - a physical space to house and preserve documents - and then in varying degrees to allow them and their contents to be encountered by a interested audience. That audience, in pursuing their interest, perform exercises in ‘accessing information’; registering, passing through security, putting on a pair of glove. We quickly learn that in many situations there is a ritual, a series of steps to be followed; rules to be abided by, in order to be granted that access and encounter ‘the archive’. With approval, we are able to ‘unlock’ that world, and encounter the documents, in their sterile environments. The extents to which that information can leave the institution is often quite limited - at best, we are allowed to reproduce a photo (sans flash) through photographing or photocopying, at worst, we are confined to participate as mere observers, under strict supervision.

A quick observation of the building typology of the archival institution sheds some light on the spaces which house these rituals and the travseral which is made from a setting which is very ‘public’ to one which exercises more degrees of control. Along this transition we encounter lobby spaces, cafes, areas for locker storage and registration, and quite interestingly - the gift shop.

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The gift shop holds a rather peculiar space within the institute - figuring as the intersection between the public spaces and the archive: the start point and end point of any visit. The gift shop is relatable and consumable and in the right light can be viewed as an entry point to something larger and deeper - an attempt for the institute to create another gateway for its audience. Whether it is subconsciously bypassed on a regular researcher’s routine day, or successfully a focal point for the wandering visitor - the gift shop plays an active role in sharing the experience of the archive and its contents - offering opportunities for commemoration and engagement. Through the ease of its access, it figures in some way as the potential of ‘bringing home the archive’.

Beyond its consumerist connotations,the gift shop actively engages a public to offer a first and last encounter with archival content. That content consists of documents reproduced and repurposed to take shape as marketable products: images of documents printed onto journals, tote bags, t-shirts and most notably; the postcard. The post card is compact, cheap and figures as a shareable device amongst other forms of souvenirs. It can be collected it, it can connect - and it has been doing so for a good number of years. In dominating a prominent space within the gift shop, postcards line the walls with selected and seemingly curated images from archive’s collection - they are here till they are purchased, and their landing points beyond are somewhat boundless.

is put to work: to open up the colonial narrative of the Dutch East Indies to a wider audience and to stir up a current which could be potentially self propagating.

Tasked with disseminating a rich history of multiple perspectives, Post (Colonial) Card attempts to exceed the ways in which we have learnt the archive’s gift shop to curate its postcard collection.

With images typically selected by a team of marketing managers, gift shop managers and graphic designers; sometimes consulting with experts in photography - we feel the figure of the archivist or historian to be largely missing. Most postcards are understood to be chosen for their aesthetic qualities, and how these operate alone and in the place of other postcards in the gift shop. In selecting reproduced images from the vast histories of the archive, the process may be reduced to one of sampling as opposed to one of layering - resulting in isolated perspectives as opposed to dense narratives.

Post (Colonial) Card operates to carefully select documents from a defined period and context of history, that of the Dutch Colonisation of Indonesia: and attempts to balance the overall picture of that history through a heterogeneous selection.

The collection includes documents of various shapes and forms; photographs, architectural drawings, sketches, film, and letters.

Process Post (Colonial) Card rides on this trajectory for the circulation of signs and seeks to charge it with a deeper knowledge and perspective onto the archive. In the context of Documenting the Colonial Archive, it situates itself to make use of a found agency - that of the postcard as we know it - and seeks to challenge the ways in which that agency

Consulting the HNI, Rotterdam (May 2019)

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That selection is further layered onto through the variety of contexts from which the documents are extracted; albums, documentaries, loose photo collections; and the degree to which that context remains visible in the postcard. Beyond certain aesthetical qualities, each postcard is selected for the perspective onto the history that it offers: the postcard speaks volumes in isolation, and even richer entanglements emerge once viewed collectively. Embodying this, Post (Colonial) Cards are imagined to be purchased as single cards or in ‘box sets’. The duration for which a set remains complete is undetermined - but the function of a QR code enables that complete story to remain continuously connected.

can be consumed by purchase at the gift shop, shared through the mail, and live as the material evidence of the archive outside the archive. Digital links imbedded into the postcard itself, in the form of the QR code, creates a direct link back to the archive and simultaneously beyond.

Consulting the Nationaal Archief (NA), The Hague (May 2019)

Diagrams with steps to access the stories

The project The Post(colonial)cards project looks back at Dutch colonial history by pushing the form of ‘the archive’ forward. The postcard is deployed as a familiar and popular interface for the public to access official archives, and simple technology is added to augment the user experience of the postcard as well as the archive. The Post(colonial)cards is a collection of 14 postcards that represents a multiplicity of types of documentation, colonial narratives, and sources about the former Dutch colony known as the Dutch East Indies. The postcard becomes the means by which history

On the front of the postcard, is an image from an archive that documents an aspect of the colonial history of the Dutch East Indies. The images are of photographs of architectural plans, documents, and photographs found in the archives themselves. On the back of the postcard, are a brief description that summarizes the context of the image and the source including the names of the archive and collection, and any reference numbers. The brief description hints at how the colonial history complicates the image of the postcard and vice versa. The QR code links to additional material that further complicates the conversation around the significance of archive in narrating co-

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Postcard (front): archival image

Photograph taken from a series of tobacco plantations of the NV Deli Society, in regions of Sungai Balang and Bahap amongst others, listed for their 1923 anniversary album.

The National Archives of the Netherlands 2.20.46 Inventory of the Archive of NV Deli Society (CA. 1700) 1869-1989 (1994); 866: Photos for anniversary album, 1923.

The Berlage.

Theory Master Class: Documenting the Colonial Archive

Postcard (back): description, archival position, QR code link

tobacco plantations of ngai Balang and Bahap 3 anniversary album.

erlands NV Deli Society (CA.

, 1923.

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Turn on the camera with your phone, and scan the QR Code. And then the new windows will pop up on your screen.

Hence, you can access a few links. On this website, in fact, you can find attached link attributable to the archive position of the documents, and articles about the behind story of every image.

ss: Documenting the

Alive postcard: link to the website page

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lonial history. When scanned on a phone, the QR code links to the official archive website but also other articles related to the topic introduced in the image. Once the user is on the internet, many more links are a few clicks away. Once the user becomes hooked, perhaps the desire to physically visit the archive and interact with the original documents will also emerge. The Post(colonial)cards project simultaneously extracts from the archive - to disseminate narratives in an accessible manner; and reconnects back to the archive - with the hope of sparking interest into the actual institution of the archive.

Post(Colonial)Cards is focused on expanding access to the archive by using a consumer based interface of the archive, the postcard sold at the archive gift shop. This project offers the general public access to “the archive” with a simple technology added to the back of the postcard itself - the QR code.

Research question Write. Post. Connect. Post (Colonial) Cards presents a way of looking back to our colonial histories by keeping ‘the archive’ moving forward. The postcard extends its agency from the sharing of present-day stories to the service of intertwining historical narratives.

Analyzing and preparing the project brief, The Berlage (May 2019)

We questioned; could Post(Colonial)Card be the key to the public archive?

Working teams after the final event, HNI (Rotterdam)

Our perception of the archive begins to shift, from the Archive as a noun - to the archive as a verb; as a process, which is somewhat infinitely expanding, beyond the rituals and institutions which house physical documents. The archive is alive, in the lives and the imaginations of the people who encounter all its potential tangents and traces both physical, and non physical.

Selected images from various archives which document the Colonial history of the Dutch East Indies are transformed into a collection of postcards.

Together they paint a picture of the multiplicity of perspectives of a rich history - each single postcard offering a lens onto a particular narrative, extracted from the archive. An accompanying text frames that narrative and situates the reproduced document, identifying the particular archive and collection where it can be found. A QR code then offers some elaboration on that data - a quick scan connects to the official archive’s website with the documents’ specific collection, and in some cases some further relevant articles. Post(Colonial)Card simultaneously extracts from the archive - to disseminate narratives in an accessible manner; and reconnects back to the archive - with the hope of sparking interest into further layering that shared knowledge.

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Photograph of Balinese Children Dancers in Java (1929).

Young children in training wearing specific clothes and accessories during practice. Berlage presumably attempts to document the tradition of handing down cultural customs from one generation to another.

Het Nieuwe Instituut: State Archive for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning BERL Berlage H.P. (Hendricus Petrus) / Archief; BERL. I 10589302 Photos of Netherlands-Indie, 19231929.

The Berlage.

Theory Master Class: Documenting the Colonial Archive

Photograph of a temple in Jakarta taken by H. P. Berlage during his trip to the Dutch Indies (1923).

In his report for the Dutch Government about the state of the architecture and of the structural condition of the Indonesian buildings, Berlage writes that the Dutch should maintain them as they were. His collection of photographs speak mostly of the “genius loci�, the local traditions and nature.

Het Nieuwe Instituut: State Archive for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning Collection: BERL.110589302 photos Dutch East Indies; BERLph331 temple photo.

The Berlage.

Theory Master Class: Documenting the Colonial Archive

Letter from Maclaine Pont to his family on scrap paper with Mt. Fuji and Rising Sun symbol graphic, written while he was interned under the Japanese in Bandung (1943-1945).

Het Nieuwe Instituut: State Archive for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning Collection: MACL 124: Portraits of his wife and three daughters, kept during his internment in Bandung, 19431945.

The Berlage.

Theory Master Class: Documenting the Colonial Archive

Photograph of NV Deli Society staff members with their family (1910).

The National Archives of the Netherlands 2.20.46 Inventory of the Archive of NV Deli Society (CA. 1700) 1869-1989 (1994); 858: Loose photos of the management and staff members, the European and indigenous staff and of various staff activities. Partly with captions. 1880-1950 2 packs and 1 wallet.

The Berlage.

Theory Master Class: Documenting the Colonial Archive

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Blueprint of the offices of the Dutch East Indies Railway Company in Semarang, Java. Red pen corrections are assumed to be made by the architect Klinkhamer (drawing dated 1913). The plan displays typical architectural components of Dutch tradition.

Het Nieuwe Instituut: State Archive for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning Collection: KLIX.110509852 (1899-1924); KLIX56 NISM Expansion Office Building, Semarang, vm. Ned. India, 1914-1915.

The Berlage.

Theory Master Class: Documenting the Colonial Archive

Photograph of the construction site of the Bank of Indonesia (1961) taken by the architect J.M. Groenewegen. The seriality of building elements and the aesthetic of the unfinished are dominant.

Het Nieuwe Instituut: State Archive for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning Collection: GROY.110659918 photo albums; GROY0008 (pd.2).

The Berlage.

Theory Master Class: Documenting the Colonial Archive

Drawing of the main street of Yogyakarta and its monumental aspect realized by H.P. Berlage on 8th April 1923. This market of the medieval city contains a large walled square, the forecourt of the palace (kraton), the two holy trees, under which sacrifices were made in the old days. A new theater was built later at the right side of the palace to house traditional dance and Royal Gamelan Musicians (traditional musical instruments originated from Jawa).

Het Nieuwe Instituut: State Archive for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning Collection: BERL.110318053 Travel sketches, including the Dutch East Indies, on separate sheets, 1879-1929; BERL290.279: sketch (Yogyakarta).

The Berlage.

Theory Master Class: Documenting the Colonial Archive

Photograph of the American Sumatra Tobacco Corporation warehouse located in Windsor, Connecticut (around 1910).

The Sumatra tobacco strain entered the New England market in the 1800s and the Connecticut growers responded by using cloth to shield the crops from the sun and raise humidity. The “Connecticut Shade” tobacco leaf (which is used as cigar wrappers mostly) made Windsor the top tobacco producing area until the late 1960s when health concerns of smoking curtailed cigar sales.

The National Archives of the Netherlands 2.20.46 Inventory of the Archive of NV Deli Society (CA. 1700) 1869-1989 (1994); 871 - Photos of personnel, buildings, cows and tobacco processing of the “American Sumatra Tobacco Corporation” in Connecticut and Florida.

The Berlage.

Theory Master Class: Documenting the Colonial Archive

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Interview National Archive Gift Shop Questions: Martine Bartels, Senior Marketing and Communications Manager, National Archive Interview By Fay Darmawi, May 15, 2019

Q. Why does the National Archive have a gift shop?

A. The larger gift shop is new since Sept 2018 and was built along with the expanded lobby of the National Archives. We had a very small gift shop before.

Q. Who decides what should be sold in the gift shop?

A. This one, and this one, and also this one! [Martine points to a postcard of a man jumping a rain puddle, and then a postcard of a painting of a fish, then she points to the post card of the Queen.].

Q. Why is the fish postcard popular?

A. It has nice colors‌ Q. What happens to unsold postcards?

A. The gift shop manager.

A. The unsold postcards are sometimes donated.

Q. How does a document/object from the National Archive become a postcard?

A. The gift shop manager, graphic designer, and I decide. We like to include images of events historically significant for Dutch people. For photographs, we also confer with an expert in photography. If the postcard is of a document, this one is very important [Martine points to post card of a photo of the original Declaration of Independence from the Spain in 1581]. There are aesthetic considerations of the picture itself. We also think about the display [Martine points to the rack of postcards), how do the postcards look together.

Q. How do you get rights to reproduce the image of the object? Do you have to pay license fees to anyone?

A. We rarely pay fees because we own so many free documents. And if we pay a fee they would not become a postcard because it would become too expensive (to pay a fee for every reproduction).

Q. What is the best selling postcard?

Q. Have there been any controversial postcards?

A. No, not that I remember. [Later Martine shows me a journal with a cover design of a drawing by Abel Tasman from 1642 of Maori people when the Dutch East Indies Corporation first entered New Zealand. She makes a joke that the VOC killed the Maori.]

Q. Do you sell collection of postcards?

Yes when we had an exhibit about the VOC. We created ten cards in a box on spices and each card had an illustration of the plant and a recipe from Go-Tan. There is also an English version.

Go-Tan was a sponsor, they sell spices you can buy in the supermarket, like sambal, serundeng...

[Martine shows the box of postcards, the Go-Tan logo is on the back].

Copyright Š 2020 by F. Giudetti All rights reserved.

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