Andrew Pepper

ABSTRACT

A National Holographic Centre has been proposed for construction in England. Its aim is to offer teaching facilities for creative holography to degree level students, the design based holography industry,the local community, school children and members of the public. There are also plans to provide advanced studies and master classes from artists and scientists renowned for their work in the field as well as formal artist-in-residencies. Unlike other teaching and display facilities, this will be a purpose-designed building with labs, gallery space and accommodation for users.

Keywords: Architectural holography, Creative holography, Educational holography, Holography schools, Art, Design, Gallery, Artist in residence, Design-lead building, Architecture.


2. INTRODUCTION

The proposed National Holographic Centre in England is not an isolated architectural dream based on a desire to build something ‘spectacular’, but a well considered project which reflects the needs of display and educational holography in the UK. It has moved through several stages during its rapid development and reflects the current state of holography in the latter part of the 20th Century. Its development can be clearly seen against the background of some of the key historical events in the popularisation of holography.

There have been many ‘public centres’ for holography established around the world. These can be divided into three main types: Gallery/Museums, Retail outlets and Educational. Some of the ‘centres’ have provided services which cover all these broad groupings, attempting to be “everything to everyone”. Others have concentrated on providing a very specific service to a very specific market. What is now common to many of these centres is that they no longer exist.

It is against this ‘shift’ in the perception of holography that The National Holographic Centre has been proposed. Perhaps one of the most interesting differences between this proposal and those centres, which have come and gone, is that it has developed from an architectural standpoint, not from the desire to promote holography and then find a building in which to house the project. All of the major holography centres which have been opened around the world have been housed in existing or adapted buildings. What drove these projects was a desire to promote, teach or collect holography - a building was then found and converted to accommodate the project as best as possible. The National Holographic Centre would be the first teaching and gallery building in the world designed and built specifically for creative holography and the multiple facets the project wishes to present.1

3. SHIFTING VIEW OF HOLOGRAPHY

3.1 Education

Over more than 30 years, since holography first showed itself to be a fascinating display medium and optical tool, people have wanted to see the results and learn the techniques. A new, and developing medium, will not expand if people cannot gain access to it by having the chance to see and learn. The early schools, galleries and museums, which grew out of this interest, have been a contributing factor to the intense activity around holography, which took place in America and then spread to Europe and the rest of the world.

Small and large scale holography exhibitions stimulated a public eager to learn the processes involved. This in turn encouraged schools and classes to be organised, as well as more permanent venues to display the results. The educational areas were provided by courses within ‘accredited’ colleges such as Lake Forest, which held its first week-long class in 1972, directed by Tung Jeong. Since then ‘students’ from over 30 countries have been taught how to make holograms.2 Private, or non-mainstream ‘unofficial’ schools such as The San Francisco School of Holography, also began teaching classes in 1972,3 directed by Lloyd Cross, and in 1973 The New York School of Holography was opened, directed by Joseph Burns4 . This ‘school’ later metamorphasised into New York Holographic Laboratories (directed by Dan Schweitzer and Sam Moree). Many people who have made a major contribution to the development of holography learnt their skills at these early, and very important, ‘schools’.

In Europe Richmond Holographic Studios, founded by Edwina Orr, provided teaching and studio facilities, and the Royal College of Art, London, established a well equipped lab to teach and develop holography for postgraduate art students. In Germany at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, the Holography Labor, instigated by Dieter Jung, teaches holography to media art students and has worked extensively with artists and engineers through its Fellowship programme.5

This is not a definitive list. Many other educational resources have been made available for holography within physics and optics courses at colleges and universities as well as artist-in-residence programmes, and many special ‘master’ classes and introductory courses are taught by artists, scientists and engineers on a supply and demand basis.

3.2 Venues

Venues to view holograms have been established and have included educational elements in their programmes. The Museum of Holography, New York, directed by Posy Jackson, established an active artist-in-residence programme and an educational outreach service in addition to its already extensive exhibition and ‘museum’ responsibilities. The Museum of Holography, Chicago, directed by Lorne Billings, established a School of Holography and has taught over 2,500 people how to make holograms.6 The Museum of Holography, Paris, directed by Anne-Marie Christakis, has provided studio facilities for artists to develop their ideas, and the Museum for Holography and New Visual Media, Germany, directed by Matthias Lauk, attracted school groups for their gallery tours and educational services as well as commissioning limited edition holograms from artists. Shops, travelling exhibitions, permanent displays, enthusiast groups and many combinations of education, retail and gallery services helped contribute to the awareness of display holography on a global scale. But things have changed.

Although many of the ‘schools’ in the USA still exist (Lake Forest, San Francisco, New York, Chicago) others, around the world, have closed, along with some of the influential display venues and Museums.

3.3 Closed Venues

As people became more fascinated with holography, they wanted to visit permanent exhibitions, and the Museums which were founded provided a focal point on a national and international level. Some of these were ‘official’ museums, accredited by the cities in which they opened, and charged with specific museum duties such as maintaining collections or educational services. Others were private/commercial undertakings. Most of them have now closed. The reason is probably a combination of commercial and economic restraints and the fact that display holography might no longer need dedicated venues as holograms begin to appear in public and private art and design collections around the world.

The Museum of Holography in New York closed in early 1992 after almost 16 years dedicated to promoting the medium and its protagonists. Its exhibitions in the SoHo building in Manhattan, and its travelling shows brought holography to the attention of millions. The Museum of Holography Paris, closed its operations in March 1994 after having brought art and commercial images to a wide range of European and international visitors for 14 years in various locations in the City as well as in other venues around the world. They do have plans to reopen but, as Anne-Marie Christakis, director of the museum commented, “...probably in other museums and not in Paris.”7 The Museum for Holography and New Visual Media in Pulheim, near Cologne, closed its operations towards the end of 1994. It still has a large collection, but substantial parts of it have been sold to the Zentrum für Kunst und Medien Technologie, Karlsruhe, (Centre for Art and Media Technology) for their soon to be opened Museum of Contemporary Art,8 and the LandesMuseum, Bonn9 .
This German example highlights the ‘shift in perception’ which holography has undergone. An enthusiastic business ‘entrepreneur’ and art collector opens a private museum and starts to collect creative and commercial holograms. Several years later, when attendance figures at his museum have fallen, he sells key pieces from his collection, for substantial funds, to contemporary art museums who intend to show the work, along side their other art collections. Holography has moved out of the holography ghetto and into the main stream. The implication is that the dedicated gallery/museum (ghetto) is no longer needed. 10

Smaller galleries and shops have come and gone in almost every major city in the world. A couple of serious contenders who do remain, The Museum of Holography - Chicago, and the Interference Gallery in Toronto are the exception rather than the rule.

Against this background of change, the question arises, whether it is prudent to attempt to establish a new, dedicated, centre for holography. Is there still a need for such a dedicated venue and could it possibly survive against a background of global economic recession. The answer appears to be positive.

4. THE NATIONAL HOLOGRAPHIC CENTRE PROPOSAL

This dedicated centre for holography has been proposed for construction in Nottingham, a large city located in the middle of England with good transport infrastructure for contact with the rest of the county and a surprising focus for holography. The Centre was originally a contender for funds from the Millennium Commission, a body set up in the UK to distribute substantial funds, earned from the National Lottery and earmarked for projects which could be built to celebrate reaching the Millennium. What is unusual about this project is that the original idea has come, not from within the familiar ranks of the entrepreneurial or creative members of the holography ‘community’, but an independent architect/sculptor team.

4.1 Background

The project was conceived in December 1995 as an opportunity to make a holographic sculpture to celebrate the millennium by architect Julian Marsh in collaboration with sculptor Jo Fairfax. Marsh is an award winning architect with a practice in Nottingham11 . Fairfax is a competition winning sculptor, holographer and teacher. 12 They had previously worked together on holographic/architectural/sculptural proposals for a ‘Fountain of Light’, using holograms to be installed on and around a pumping station and water tower in Kensington, London. Initial research for the Nottingham Sculpture was carried out to identify the wider context in which it might be developed, bringing Marsh and Fairfax into contact with technologists, writers and artists around the world, expert in their respective art and holography fields, who suggested a number of concurring and interlocking themes. It was at this point that the project developed from a proposal for an interesting structure to support and incorporate an outdoor holographic sculpture into a proposal for a National Holographic Centre. The Centre would provide a focal point for creative holography, be open to the general public, mount changing exhibitions in its purpose built gallery, organise travelling shows, teach holography at all levels to school and university students and members of the public, provide artist-in-residencies, local and global archives, carry out research and development, organise conferences and lectures and provide a retail outlet for holograms and information on the subject.

4.2 Site

The proposal is for a design-lead building to be built on Colwick Hill, a wooded hillside in the Sneinton area of Nottingham, which forms part of a ridge of hills in which the City lies. One of these prominent hills is the site of Nottingham Castle which has provided a dominant focal point for the city, in various forms, since 1068. It is now proposed to build the National Holographic Centre on the other dominant hill and so provide a significant landmark for the year 2000. The resulting visual and conceptual significance of juxtaposing two landmarks, the historic ‘castle’ originally built to defend and control, and the futuristic Holography Centre, built to educate and inform, would provide a eloquent statement as we move into the new Millennium.

The location chosen on Colwick Hill is ground owned by The Greenwood Dale School, a grant maintained secondary school with a specialisation in technology and strong links with the local community. It is keen to be involved in developments at the forefront of technology and sees the proposed Holography Centre as a vehicle to achieve this. Interestingly, it is also enthusiastic about using holography for teaching on a wider level within the school. As one of the main ‘champions’ of the project they will donate the site on which the Centre is to be built, which contributes, in financial terms, almost £200,000.00 to the proposed project. Naturally the school would have exceptionally strong links with the Centre and integrate its facilities and expert focus into their curriculum and school activities.

4.3 Nottingham and Holography

The city of Nottingham is not one usually thought of as a ‘burning cauldron’ of holographic activity. London, Paris, New York, San Francisco or Chicago spring to mind, however, Nottingham has a number of significant links. Dennis Gabor Inventor of holography, often visited the city to see his brother, André, who was a senior lecturer at The University of Nottingham. André Gabor’s wife still lives in the area. The University of Nottingham hosted the first exhibition of art holograms13 at their Art Centre in 1969. Margaret Benyon was invited to be an arts fellow at the university and mounted this first exhibition as part of her fellowship. Research and production of holograms is carried out in and around the area, particularly by Nick Phillips at De Montfort University, Rolls Royce, Optical Securities and the Royal Ordnance Factory. Art in Holography2, the International Symposium took place in the city last year and brought together some of the most significant artists, critics and collectors to discuss the state of creative holography. Pascal Gauche, the French artist, was a student in Nottingham at Trent Polytechnic, built a small experimental lab and began to work with the medium during his degree studies in photography. Nottingham is twinned with the city of Karlsruhe, Germany, which has one of Europe's largest collections of creative holography within its Centre for Art and Media Technology. Some of these links might appear tenuous, but they have helped encourage the National Holographic Centre development team into producing a project of significance with relevance to its location.

4.4 Design Elements

The Centre will have several elements specifically designed and built for holography and its promotion. These include:

Reception/Foyer

Lecture Theatre, 40/60 seats
Gallery, 280m2
Shop
Cafe
Administration

Holographic Studios:

A 20m2 further education level studio with first quality
equipment and
isolation table.
A 25m2 experimental studio with first quality equipment,
pulsed laser and 2 isolation tables.
Two 10 m2 fixed secondary level studios with basic equipment
and isolation table.

Darkroom
Layout and laminating space
Computer suite
Resources room
Relaxation room

Technicians’ Workshop
General Workshop
Store

Toilets

Integral to the project is the construction of an accommodation block, built into the hillside (with grassed roof), so that students attending the centre for courses or projects will have overnight accommodation in the complex. This space will also be utilized for other events connected with the Centre and Greendale School.

4.5 Design Considerations

This is not a building which is to impose itself on a randomly selected site, but one which hopes to react with sensitivity to the project’s location, physical site and the community in which it will exist. The Centre sees itself as an impressive landmark for the 21st Century, but there have been a number of design considerations drawn up to allow for careful and successful building:

1. The building should grow out of the site. It should be able to be
a prominent landmark without appearing to be out of place.

2. There should be no tower-like masculine form to achieve the
landmark quality.

3. The building should be made of ecologically sound materials and
minimise its impact on the local environment.

4. It should be fully usable by the disabled.

5. The gallery should be circular or hexagonal and include complete
blackout and flexible theatre lighting.

6. The public should be able to see holography taking place within it.

7. There should be interior spaces that can utilise the possibilities of
holography in their architecture as well as exterior surfaces.

8. The nature of, and support for, the holographic lightscape should be
integral with, and come out of, the architectural form.

There are several considerations in this list which make the project unusual, particularly the fact that the architectural holograms are not intended as an addition to the building after it has been designed and built, but something which grows and develops with the design.

5. EDUCATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS

The entire project has been extremely well thought out and addresses a number of fundamental problems with the teaching of holography. Although many colleges and universities might like to include holography in their educational programmes, the perceived cost of building a studio, staffing and maintaining it for the small number of students who might like to take advantage of the medium is a stumbling block. In the UK the National Educational Curriculum, a set of educational requirements set down by the government to be met by every school, includes the teaching of holography in General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and A level Physics and Photography. This is currently taught theoretically, as the schools do not have funding to build holographic facilities, and the staff do not have the time or familiarity with the subject to teach it on a practical level.


The thinking behind the National Holographic Centre is to act as a partnership focus. Main educational partners would be universities and colleges who would invest part of their budget into the project and have regular access to the Centre so that their students could attend classes and carry out research on all levels. Schools in the UK would be able to pay a smaller fee so that their students could attend classes as and when required. The on-site accommodation means that classes can be compact and intensive - students staying for several days, and that the entire ‘educational element’ of the project can be sold to schools as a complete package. Schools and college staff have enough to do maintaining their own courses and students without having to organise outside excursions, classes, accommodation, food etc.

The educational element of the Centre would be flexible and address all levels of the holography field. This would include, access to holography for the local community, specific classes in line with the UK National Curriculum for primary and secondary schools, with an element of research to develop new educational opportunities for these schools outside the rigours of that Curriculum. University and college partners would be able to include creative holography (fine art, design, packaging etc) within their own course structure and offer their students the possibility of regular sessions in the holography labs and workshops.

The proposed structure for the Centre means that no single college or school would have the financial burden of building and staffing their own labs and then be concerned about whether it is used regularly. Each will share the cost of an independent Centre which would aim to work with its partners to service their needs and develop new creative possibilities for the medium.
There would also be the opportunity for students particularly interested in the subject to concentrate on holography and use the facilities on a more regular basis to develop their own work. Special advanced classes would also be made available from leading scientists and engineers and particularly artists with an international reputation. The Centre’s main aim would be to encourage and promote the creative use and development of holography on all levels. It would be sensitive to the needs of artists and their working requirements and aim to encourage and promote their work and ideas. As holographic design, packaging, promotion and security develops, there is an expanding industry in need of trained and creative holographers. The Centre would also aim to fill this gap in the educational market and develop it in collaboration with the UK, and international holography industry.

Being a National Centre it would also aim to act as a repository for information on the subject of creative holography. There are plans not only to make its archives available to visitors, but globally by including its own World Wide Web server and so distribute information free of charge to anyone with access to the Internet.

6. HOLOGRAPHY AND ARCHITECTURE

6.1 External

As mentioned previously, the holographic element of the Centre has been planned from the outset and has been approached by Marsh and Fairfax with intelligence and an understanding that there is a need for flexibility in such a large-scale object. They have not attempted to impose a holographic image, design or concept on the building, but taken their creative and design starting points from the development of the building itself.

There are two display holography elements to the Centre: the external Lightscape and use of holograms within the design of the internal spaces. The most visible element, and the one from which the project grew is the Lightscape, which Marsh and Fairfax describe as follows:

“We have called the exterior integration of architecture and holography in this project a holographic lightscape. It is a series of masts which are structural elements of the building and which soar into the sky carrying hundreds of individual holographic plates. These plates are encapsulated in resin and supported from the masts on a light aluminium grillage. The plates are constructed and supported in such a way as to catch the sunlight in different combinations of image, form and colour as the sun moves around the building during the day. The experience would change with the seasons, as the sun angles changed. The effect of the lightscape would be as a kind of kinetic 3d stained glass. Areas of the structure, site and history could be emphasised or highlighted for example during a storm or again on a summer’s day. The changing nuance of light conditions from minute to minute, hour to hour would be reflected by the response of the holographic gelatin. As clouds pass by the sun, colours would alter from sharp focus to floating implications of form through colour. The effect would be extraordinary and would integrate the environment and architectural/sculptural form in a completely fresh and captivating way.”14

6.2 Internal

The indoor holographic elements will be designed and incorporated as the internal finishing of the building is planned and executed. The aim, at all times, is to ‘incorporate’ the holographic elements and ‘walls’ rather than ‘place or impose’ them on an already designed building.

“This work would experiment with the notion of virtual space as a real experience. Large scale holographic plates would be used to form a specific room which would have real and virtual boundaries. It would have vitual objects within the real space and real objects within the virtual space. It would serve to illustrate the potential of the holographic wall as a new element in architecture to give space where no space exists and to convey qualities on real space by means of virtual reference.”15

7. DETAILED PLANNING

7.1 Costs

Unlike many proposals of this type, the National Holographic Centre has been researched to a very high degree. The proposal document, submitted to the Millennium Commission, included complete financial statements: capital, expenditure, equipment, building, landscaping, development, tax and elements for contingencies and inflation costs, giving a total project cost of £3,368,722.00 (Approximately $5,389,955.00) The Millennium submission also included detailed projection of income and expenditure figures for all aspects of the Centre over the first 10 years.


7.2 Supporters and organisational structure

This proposed centre has inspired a great many people who have indicated their support for the project, including key members of the art and technical holography community, City and Council officials, funding bodies, universities and colleges and a massive positive response from members of the public in the local community.

Meetings were arranged with local interest groups and societies to allay any concerns about damage to the environment and local woodland ecosystem close to where the Centre would be built, with particular attention to non-disturbance of foxes by building work. There was also concern from one local group that the proposed holographic light scape would produce ‘light pollution’ and make it impossible for local astronomers to observe the night sky with any degree of clarity. In the meantime all objections appear to have been overcome.

Although Marsh and Fairfax conceived the original project, they were clear in their understanding of its scale to know that a much larger team of experts would be needed to move it forward. Several experts were enlisted to help prepare the diverse aspects of the growing project, all of which have done so on a ‘deferred payment’ understanding, so allowing the initial stages of the plan to move ahead quickly, and in detail, without first having to raise substantial development funding. An organisation was formed, The Sneinton Holographic Society16 so that a formal application for funding could be made to the Millennium Commission. If successful in gaining funds to build the Centre this ‘society’ would be converted into a limited company responsible for overseeing and running the Centre. Any profits made from the Centre would be used for reinvenstment and programme development. In effect the National Holographic Centre would become a not-for-profit, independent company, limited by guarantee with a governing board and advisory council.

8. OUTCOME AND FUNDING SUBMISSION

At the beginning of 1997, the Sneinton Holographic Society was informed by the Millennium Commission, that it had not been successful in obtaining the requested funds. They felt that the project was not “distinctive” enough for funding. Quite what could be considered ‘distinctive’ was not explained. Plans are now underway for the application for funding from other sources, including Arts funding bodies in the UK and abroad.

This ambitious project, and the detail in which it has been planned and presented, has shown people, not involved in holography, that there is scope for the incorporation of holograms in architecture and that creative holography is a serious element contributing to 20th Century society and culture. That a project of this scale can be intelligently conceived and developed. That a serious attention to detail and business planning is possible and that a centre for holography can benefit the local community, an expanding professional industry and the art and education requirements of the UK and abroad.




9. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank all members of the planning group involved with this proposal for providing information and material for incorporation in this paper and in particular Julian Marsh and Jo Fairfax for instigating the original proposal and maintaining enthusiasm.


10. REFERENCES
1. Extensive research has been carried out into the development of already established holography centres and at the time of writing none has been found where the building was constructed specifically for all of the holography services proposed.

2. E-mail from Tung Jeong, February 1997.

3. P. Jackson, “In Perspective, A Thirty-Five Year Account of the Development of Holography (part2),” Holosphere, Vol 12, No. 5, pp13-17, Museum of Holography, New York, USA, Fall 1983.

4. Burns founded the New York School of Holography as a 3-way partnership with Cecile Ruchin and Selwyn Lissack, who, in 1974, stepped out of the project, leaving Burns as Director. E-mail from Joseph Burns, May 1997.

5. D. Jung and A. Pepper, “Creative Holography: Its Development in the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, Germany,” 4th International Symposium on Display Holography, Tung H. Jeong (ed), Vol, 1600, SPIE Proceedings, Bellingham, USA, July 1991.

6. Fax from Loren Billings, February 1997.

7. Fax from Anne-Marie Christakis, February 1997.

8. The Museum for Contemporary Art is expected to open in renovated buildings in the centre of Karlsruhe in September 1997.

9. A permanent gallery, in the renovated Landesmuseum, will house the Lauk Collection and is planned to open in 2001.

10. A. Pepper, “Beyond the Gallery Ghetto,” The Creative Holography Index, The International Catalogue for Holography, Vol 2, issue 2, Monand Press, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany,1994.

11. Julian Marsh, Marsh and Grochowskie, 16 Commerce Square, The Lace Market, Nottingham NG1 1HS, England.

12. Jo Fairfax, 60 Arthur Street, Netherfield, Nottingham NG4 2HN, England.

13. The first exhibition of art holograms was by Bruce Nauman in February 1969, however he did not make the holograms himself and so Benyon’s exhibition can be seen as the first from a ‘hands on’ basis.

14.J. Marsh, Et al, “The National Holographic Centre”, a submission document to the UK Millennium Commission, November 1996.

15. See ref 11.

16. Secretary Judy Liebert, Sneinton Holographic Society, 16 Commerce Square, The Lace Market, Nottingham NG1 1HS, England.

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