courtyard view at Kogod Courtyar, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, image © Nathalie Pozzi

Watch Starry Heavens Video

Starry Heavens is a large-scale game installation designed with game designer Eric Zimmerman- and an architect, Nathalie Pozzi. Originally commissioned for an event at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 2011, Starry Heavens was recently installed in the Kogod Courtyard of the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of “America Now – Innovation in Art” in June 2015. The game itself is a kind of moral fable. The central player – the Ruler – commands all of the other players, telling them how and where to move. Players must work with and against each other to overthrow the Ruler, who stands at the center pulling down a central balloon in an ironically futile gesture.

Starry Heavens. image © Susana Raab

In the past, Starry Heavens has been played outdoors, often at night: from MoMA’s sculpture garden to the courtyard of the Stedelijk Museum in ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Netherlands) to Karl-Marx-Allee, the monumental socialist boulevard of Berlin. The Kogod Courtyard, although indoors, has many qualities of an outdoor space. The challenge was to develop a large form that would feel coherent with the majestic scale of the space and the undulations of the glass roof.

Nathalie Pozzi' s drawing, image via Eric Zimmerman

Technical constraints included a light overall weight, since anchoring from the glass roof structure was not possible. Other considerations included access to power sources, as well as planning for a very short setup time and working within the limited height of the vertical lifts used for installation. The final version of the curve is a cold air inflated, suspended structure which was fabricated with the consultancy of the Netherlands-based firm Air Design Studio / Erik van Dongen.

the complete game rules, that was used as signage at the installation, image via Eric Zimmerman

The large white curve integrates the project into the space and focuses viewers on the spectacle of play through a kind of performative architecture. Starry Heavens is both a game to be played as well as a performance to be spectated. The intent is for the project to be equally engaging for those people who want to jump in and play, but also for those who prefer to stay on the side and… just watch.

Starry Heavens. image © Nathalie Pozzi

The name of the game comes from the epitaph on Kant’s tombstone: “The Starry Heavens Above, the Moral Law Within.” A single player is the Ruler, who stands in the center, calling out “black,” “white,” or “gray” – the three colors of spaces on the grid. Other players move in unison to the color that is called, trying to banish each other, make it to the center, and depose the Ruler. The players dance around the Ruler in what looks like a stylized waltz, everyone stepping together when a new color is called.

Starry Heavens. image © Susana Raab

Each time the the Ruler calls a color, she pulls a large central balloon down one more mark, literally bringing it to earth as the game is played (a physical feat that becomes more challenging the more the huge helium balloon is pulled down). The ruler tries to touch the balloon before another player becomes the Ruler, at which point the balloon rises up again. But the Ruler virtually never wins.

Starry Heavens. image © Susana Raab

Starry Heavens panorama. image  © Jeff Gates

installation view, image © Nathalie Pozzi

courtyard view- 2, image © Nathalie Pozzi

installation view, image © Nathalie Pozzi

instalation view-2,  image © Nathalie Pozzi

Project Facts

Collaboration with: Game designer Eric Zimmerman

Location: Kogod Courtyard · Smithsonian American Art Museum · Washington, DC

Event: “America Now Innovation in Art”

Team: Air Design Studio / Erik van Dongen · consultant and fabricator of cold air inflatable, Clara Ranenfir · 3d modeling and design development

Year: 2015

> via nakworks.com, ericzimmerman.com