Kinetic Art: 3-Dimensional Luminous Images Projected into Volumes of Smoke (Pentrojection)

The author tells of his fascination by beams of sunlight passing through stained glass windows that can be seen in the dusty air of a church. In his electric light art he has made use of this idea. He explains the ways in which he has employed light beams to produce 3-dimensional luminous images in air containing suspended particles.

His first displays involved the projection of a beam of light and its reflection from one point to another in a darkened, smoke-filled room. His subsequent work made use of smoke confined in a viewing chamber with transparent front and rear walls and in a transparent spherical chamber. Beams were projected from slide projectors to produce static 3-dimensional images of tubes in a volume of smoke. Kinetic images were produced in later works by employing a rotating mirror in the path of beams. In the latest work reported, he utilized a cinema film projector and an animation cinema film, prepared for the purpose, to introduce continually changing beams into the volume of smoke. In this work involving motion, the images cast on the walls of the room, wherein the smoke-filled chambers were placed, were also of interest.