Holography—A Critical Debate within Contemporary Visual Culture

Dear Colleagues,

In her seminal PhD thesis, submitted to the Royal College of Art, London, in 1994, Margaret Benyon, MBE, postulated the question “How is holography Art?”. Within her 226 pages, she attempted to put pressure on the ‘How’ not the ‘Why’ or the ‘If’, using the lens of her own, considerable, research in the field.

The broad issues surrounding this area of critical debate have not been extensively or continuously explored, either from within the field of practising artists investigating holography as a process, medium and methodology or through broader discursive platforms within the visual arts. The medium remains, for most, a curious optical innovation that lacks critical consideration.

Perhaps, almost 25 years later, Benyon’s question is somewhat redundant, or too blunt an instrument to accurately pressurise the extensive research which has taken place over this period. Artists have actively extended the vocabulary of holographic imaging, not only through disrupting the technology, which makes it practical, but also through an attempt to investigate its visual, conceptual and practical vocabularies.

Contributions are invited which explore, critically, the use and development of holography within the visual arts and culture from the perspectives of practitioners, critics, curators, observers, collectors, insiders and outsiders.

Texts investigating: individual practice and the development of an extended creative vocabulary; own works or installations which test critical concerns; speculative research which places pressure on traditional views of the medium and its supportive technologies; curatorial observations spanning historical and contemporary collections or exhibitions; contextualisation of an individual’s creative practice; analysis of research methodologies within the field and the impact of holography across the visual/cultural landscape, are invited. Papers which focus specifically on technical processes (unless they are a significant contributor to critical debate) should be submitted to more technical forums.

In 70 years holography has moved from an optical concept, through analogue technologies, which promised a new way of viewing and manipulating our visual and conceptual world, to digital production which now sits alongside data-driven virtual worlds constructed by digital natives (those who never knew a world without the internet). It is time for a considered, critical, assessment.

Dr. Andrew Pepper
Guest Editor

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