Paul Fägerskiöld's 2100: Starry Night Projections for 2100 at Galerie Nordenhake Berlin

Swedish artist Paul Fägerskiöld presents seven paintings at Galerie Nordenhake in Berlin, depicting night skies as they will appear on January 1, 2100. The works, ranging from small to large scale, feature nearly black canvases with white dots representing stars, framed by bare brown linen and walnut. Fägerskiöld based these compositions on computer projections from a program named The Starry Night, which predicts celestial arrangements for various locations including Berlin, Minsk, Venice, and Kaliningrad. Each painting shows a different perspective—south, east, or north—from these cities. The star-dots are embedded in thickly impastoed monochrome fields with subtle color variations from midnight blue to brown, created through febrile brushstrokes that reference Vincent van Gogh's 1889 painting The Starry Night. The exhibition, titled 2100, runs until March 12. Fägerskiöld's work engages with predictive traditions like Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, focusing on astronomical certainty rather than earthly events. The paintings' materiality becomes more apparent upon prolonged viewing, with star patterns ringed by underpainting colors. This conceptual approach contrasts with typical contemporary art by contemplating future celestial phenomena, offering a vision where stars remain unchanged regardless of human presence.