Remake
August 09, 2021

I didn’t take this interior shot, the one here on the left. I wish it was mine, but it’s not. I don’t know who took it, it’s an uncredited picture from our archives, from the late 1960s I suppose. I’ve always wanted to photograph this building because of this particular image. During the lockdown in March, when all university buildings were closed, I had the chance to spend an hour of my time inside, on my own, when normally, hundreds of students would be running up and down the stairs. But the picture, the ‘remake’ is not as good as this one. That’s why it’s not here. It’s only acceptable on a safe distance from its original. It’s a mystery to me from which point exactly this was taken. I suspect it’s from where my view was hampered by a later addition to the building, a clunky elevator, a sort of black cage running through this lovely space. (It wasn’t just the elevator, many spaces were ruined by furniture, banners, room dividers and stored items). Or, this is taken in a part of the building that I didn’t have access to, but I don’t think so, considering the floor plan. It’s a bit daft, wanting to take a picture that’s already been taken. I didn’t care though, I wanted to anyway.

But now that it is as it is, I'm not unhappy with how that old photograph relates to my own pictures, from half a century later.

Aula of Delft University of Technology. Architecture by Van den Broek en Bakema, 1966. Art work 'Salami' by Carel Visser.