Jeronimo Voss: Inverted Night Sky

Jeronimo Voss’ exhibition Inverted Night Sky is inspired by charcoal drawings of the Milky Way found in the Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy in Amsterdam. From 1927 onwards, these images were transferred into all Zeiss Planetarium projection systems around the world in order to simulate the Milky Way as it is visible in the night sky. Beyond their function within the domain of astronomy, the drawings also relate to a parallel debate on “Scientific Socialism,” its critique on class relations and respective economies of time. Initiated and finalized by astronomer and socialist thinker Anton Pannekoek (1873–1960), the drawings, based on naked-eye observations, adopted a “bottom-up” approach, paralleling his view that society ought to be structured by self-organized workers’ councils, instead of being governed by state bureaucracy. Transcending the political particularities of Pannekoek’s time, in Jeronimo Voss’ installation, the inverted appearance of the night sky drawings further translates as an inversion of seemingly unchangeable, absolute natural laws—leading to the statement “true wealth is silence of time.” The exhibition comprises three newly created bodies of work, Inverted Night Sky, Aspects of the Milky Way and Relativistic Working Time, each of which open up connections between astronomical presence and its historical and social reality.

In conjunction with the exhibition at SMBA, a two-day conference “Ways of Viewing Science and Society“ (June 9 & 10) takes place at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Science and Arts (KNAW), organized in collaboration with the Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy of the University of Amsterdam. On the evening of June 9, a public event featuring a conversation between Jeronimo Voss and Johan Hartle features as part of the program. Admission is free but registration is compulsory, register here.

Anton Pannekoek’s drawings are currently on view at The Special Collections of the University of Amsterdam, in an exhibition titled Out of the box (March 18–September 4), read more.

For the occasion of the exhibition, an SMBA newsletter appears with more information on the exhibition. Pick up a free copy of the bilingual newsletter (Dutch/English) at the exhibition or download the PDF from the SMBA website. Jeronimo Voss: Inverted Night Sky will mark the last exhibition in SMBA’s 23 years of existence in its premises at the Rozenstraat. 

Jeronimo Voss (b. 1981, Germany) lives and works in Frankfurt am Main, where he studied Fine Arts at the HfbK Städelschule and the Free Class. His installations have been shown at various international institutions, most recently: Clarkhouse Initiative, Mumbai (2016); Der Tank, Basel (2015); Max-Pechstein-Museum, Zwickau, Germany (2015); SMBA, Amsterdam (2015, 2011); Bielefelder Kunstverein, Germany (2014/15); Werkbund Forum, Frankfurt/Main (2014); MMK Zollamt, Frankfurt/Main (2013/14, 2009). His installation Eternity through the Stars (2012) was shown in the Planetarium of the Orangery in Kassel as part of dOCUMENTA (13). He is part of the Realism Working Group, which, in 2015, together with Brussels-based architecture office Dogma, presented a communal housing model for artists at the House of the World’s Cultures (HKW) in Berlin.

More information and images: T +31 (0) 20-4220471 / r.degraaf [​at​] stedelijk.nl

Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam is the project space of Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.

Jeronimo Voss: Inverted Night Sky is generously supported by the Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy of the University of Amsterdam; The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW); the Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Westfälischen Kulturarbeit (GWK); the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa); Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst (AFK); and Dongemond College in Raamsdonksveer.