Fotografisk Center, Copenhagen. Photo: David Stjernholm

Stellar Spectra

Solo exhibition
Fotografisk Center, Copenhagen, Denmark
(2020)

In photographic depictions of the sky, speculation about cosmic space meets with technological innovation and visual experimentation. Nanna Debois Buhl’s solo exhibition Stellar Spectra features two installations exploring how early photography and computing have shaped our understanding of the cosmos and our place within it.

The works draw on 19^th-century astro-photography by Irish-British astronomers Margaret Huggins and Annie Maunder. Huggins was a pioneer in astrophysics, while Maunder was employed as a “human computer” at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, specializing in solar photography. The installation A Human Computer interweaves images of sunspots and eclipses to highlight how the term ‘computer’ predates machines—and how the relationship between human and computer has changed across time. In the video installation Stellar Spectra, astrophysical photography becomes a prism to explore what is rendered visible or invisible, known or unknown.

Can revisiting overlooked figures in the history of astronomy make us more attuned to its complexities? Can rethinking the analog-digital divide help us imagine alternative futures? Through photography, film, and text, the exhibition ponders such questions.