What happened to creative holography?
It was the future — it was bright — it would revolutionise the art world.
It was described as the Ultimate Visual!
So, what happened to it, where did it all go? Did it die?
No!
In 1988, I wrote an article for the British Arts magazine, Art Monthly: “Holography, Visual Medium or Cheap Trick?”, where I attempted to explore the state of holography and its use by artists. I didn’t feel, looking at the evidence, that it was a cheap trick, but a clear opportunity for artists to develop work and ideas. Thirty-five years later, I’m still of that opinion. It does, however, seem to have gone a little ‘quiet’.
So what happened?
Read the full article on Medium.com
To coincide with Deana Lawson's solo exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, a text, which looks at how artists work with holography, has been published on the Guggenheim Website.
Holography: How Artists Sculpt with Light, Space, and Time
Monday, 13 December 2021 16:08 Published in Writing
Commissioned by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, this text provides an overview of how artists have embraced holography within their practice. It was published to coincide with Deana Lawson's solo exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, in which she included holograms alongside her photographic work. The exhibition ran from May - October 2021.
Holography: How Artists Sculpt with Light, Space, and Time
Illusion has been practiced in art for centuries. The painted effects of trompe l’œil, for example, have long been employed to highlight our thirst for trickery and demonstrate the artists’ technical prowess. In recent decades holograms have emerged as a new means to achieve such effects, and artists have begun to use them to explore opportunities beyond simple gimmickry.
Originally devised as an attempt to improve the resolution of electron microscopes in 1947, holograms have developed into a visual and technical phenomenon that provides scientists, engineers, researchers, and artists a new tool to explore the display of objects and spaces around them. Holograms fascinate us partly because they offer a novel way of sculpting with light and partly because they can reproduce three-dimensional objects in staggering high fidelity so convincing that they seem real.
Holography A Critical Debate within Contemporary Visual Culture
Thursday, 05 November 2020 11:44 Published in Writing
Special Arts issue edited by Andrew Pepper and Published by MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
As part of MDPI's Arts publication, Andrew Pepper was invited to guest edit this special issue which deals with critical observations about the use and development of holography within visual arts and vulture.
Holography A Critical Debate within Contemporary Visual Culture.
A wide range of practitioners, artist, curators and observers have contributed chapters to the book in which they place critical presure on their own work or consider the inclusion of works with holography in cutlural venues.
Availabel as a hardback publication, which can be ordered directly from the publishers here,
a free PDF version which can be downloaded here
and as an online publication here.
ISBN 978-3-03936-226-4 (Hbk)
ISBN 978-3-03936-227-1 (PDF)
Contributers include:
Angela Bartram
Sydney Dinsmore
M. Melissa Crenshaw
Andrew Pepper
Pearl John
August Muth
Jacques Desbiens
Doris Vila
Mary Harman
Preface to ”Holography—A Critical Debate within Contemporary Visual Culture”
This Special Issue attempts to provide a platform for the critical discussion, reflection and analysis of holography, as a process and methodology within the work of creative practitioners. The Issue examines, through the values and vocabulary of artists and curators, how this medium has developed as a considered practice and where pressure can be placed upon the critical principles of this relatively young medium. The participants published here have taken a risk, not only through the public examination of their development, but also by attempting to contextualise the use and display of holography within a contemporary, cultural framework. I want to thank the contributors of this Special Issue, who share my curiosity towards the critical investigation and contextualisation of our work and ideas in the sphere of creative holography.
Andrew Pepper
Special Issue Editor
A new book, edited by Andrew Pepper, published by MDPI Switzerland
Holography A Critical Debate within Contemporary Visual Culture, brings together key artists, curators and observers to offer a critical reflection on the development of holography in the visual arts.
Published by MDPI Switzerland, it is available in hardback or as a free PDF download.