Art in Holography2 (review)

Art in Holography2 Postcard collection, edited by Patrick Boyd. International Congress on Art in Holography <www.art-in holography.org>.

Art in Holography2 is a box of cards containing images from talks given at a symposium on holography in Nottingham, England, in 1996. It is perhaps a strange choice of medium to celebrate holography, since holograms in isolation look almost like printing mistakes, as though there has been some color mis-registration. Such images work best in an installation context, such as Paula Dawson's bar room in To Absent Friends or Setsuko Ishii's cave setting for Requiem.

The most stunning image by far in this collection is the one actual hologram on the back of the box containing the cards. The image of a gowned man cradling an electronically wired newborn infant is quite disarming--a strange conjunction of technology and the absolute truth of birth. I was a little dismayed, though, not to find a credit for the image in the packaging.

The quotes on the backs of cards make for a mosaic of observations about holography. Edward Lucie-Smith compares holography to photography and notes that holographic images appear to occupy not our world, but a parallel universe. Jean-François Moreau also compares the two media, but concludes that holography captures duration in space, rather than time, as is the case with photography. These ideas indicate a lively discussion and we hope for another symposium in the near future, in either ours or a universe parallel to our own.

Kevin Murray
6 Blyth Street, Brunswick, Victoria 3056, Australia.
E-mail: <kmurray@mira.net>.

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