A Holographic Collaboration

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A Holographic Collaboration
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2013 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 415 012018
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9th International Symposium on Display Holography (ISDH 2012) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 415 (2013) 012018 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/415/1/012018
A Holographic Collaboration
Ana Maria Nicholson

64 Toledo Way, San Francisco, CA 94123
Email: ananicholson@aol.com
Abstract. In the Fall of ’87 Rudie Berkhout and myself started a very intense and fruitful
collaboration producing a series of holographic art pieces that were experimental but that
reflected our different artistic sensibilities. The masters were made in my portrait studio in the
Museum of Holography in New York using a pulse laser and later transferred in my Long
Island City Studio. These pieces were shown at the Holocenter in 2009 and poignantly, it was
the last show that Rudie had while he was alive. My paper details the process of an artistic
collaboration, its pitfalls and advantages, its conflicts and compromises. It will illuminate the
creative process that from two separate and very different streams melded into beautiful and
evocative art.
1. The Beginnings
It began on a hot August afternoon. I was at the Museum of Holography on Mercer Street in New
York setting up a portrait studio that was to open in conjunction with the “Holographic Instant “
exhibition that Ian Lancaster, the director of the museum was organizing. JK lasers had just bought
Lumonics and was anxious to extend their markets. They agreed to lend us a one joule pulse laser
under the auspices of Holographics Inc. the company I was involved with, and I was to run it. There
were delays in delivering it, and John Webster, an expert on lasers, had to go back to England the
same day it arrived. Needless to say his tutoring was minimal to none and there I was trying to
understand the laser and design and construct a camera and studio in the lower floor of the museum. It
was a very stressful time since a high profile opening had been scheduled.
I was working on the laser when I looked up I saw this very handsome and charming man saying ”Can
I be of help?” It was Rudie whom I had not met before although of course I knew who he was. We
Fig. 1
Ana Maria and laser
Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1

talked and talked for hours and so began our friendship.
Fig. 2
Rudie
Rudie would come by on his bicycle every afternoon and we would spend hours at the local coffee
shop on Canal Street discussing love, life and especially holographic art. Was it an oxymoron? What
did it mean to be an artist; did the technology, the sheer difficulty of making a hologram affect the
Fig. 3 Fig. 4
Bruce Dali
Nauman Hologram
Hologram
outcome? Was a hologram a work of art if the artist had not made the hologram, but had hired a
technician or a lab to do it? What is the best way to align the object beam?
Holography, being a young medium at this time lacked a cannon to follow or rebel against. There
were hardly any art critics writing articles about it or art galleries showing holographic art.
2. An Art Medium Blossoms

There was a lot of chatter and publicity about holography then, but it was all about the possible
technological uses of the medium. The most difficult problem that a holographic artist had to confront,
aside from how hard it was to make a piece was the dreaded “Gee-Whiz” factor. On seeing a hologram
the main reaction of the public was “Gee, how do you do it?”
Photography was early on embraced by sculptors and painters. In holography only a handful of
established artists like Bruce Nauman, Dali, Agam and later Chuck Close tried it. Only James Turrell
took it up consistently.
One topic that was close to my heart and kept coming up was what made a portrait a work of art.
From the Roman Egyptian Fayum portraits to Chuck Close and Karsh the human face has had a great
fascination for artists. Cicero said “a face is a picture of the mind.”
Holographic portraits presented both a challenge and opportunity. The challenge is that the high
fidelity of the recording shows every hair and wrinkle without the benefit of retouching. The
opportunity is that that wealth of information can reveal more psychological depth that a photograph.
2
Fig. 5 Fig. 6
Diane Dixon Walter
Hologram Cronkite
I began doing portraits in Hawaii with my show “The Children of Hawaii” in 1973. I became
fascinated by the sense of presence in the portraits, the sense that some essential quality of the person
had been captured, almost another dimension of their being. I became quite good at it and made
portraits of famous and not so famous people.
Fig. 7 Fig. 8
Ana Maria & Bishop Moore
Bishop Moore Hologram
This was a very exciting time Keith Haring sat for his portrait, as did numerous other notable
people.
Fig. 9 Fig. 10
Keith Haring Keith Haring &
Hologram Ana Maria
3
CNN ran a whole segment, hosted by a novice Christiane Amanpour, about the process of making a
portrait. There were magazine articles and a sense that portraits would become very popular, the price
would drop and there would be portraits in every home.
This momentum gave rise to many, many discussions between Rudie and I. Is a portrait a work of
art, are the intentions of the practitioner as important as the presence of the subject. Is the very
Fig. 11
Rudie
Fig. 12
Rudie/Hand
similitude that made the images so vivid and real a barrier against having an esthetic experience?
By the way, in case you are wondering, Rudie came up with the final edict - a work is art if you say
it is art. Those of you who knew Rudie will not be surprised at this. He absolutely believed in the
power of the individual to shape his reality and not depend on some expert to tell you what is what.
Fig. 13
Francis Bacon
Self-portrait
4
This is the great lesson that Rudie taught me and I am-still learning, to play, to be free. He had no
respect for the establishment art world with its galleries and articles and rituals. He insisted that the
process of creation should be fun, joyous, that we should always be explorers.
I began to experiment with some more elaborate portraits, such as the one of me with ropes and the
diptych of Rudie where I wanted to express the conflict between the desire to trust and the necessity of
self-protection that was such an ingrained aspect of Rudie’s psyche. I placed him behind a wall
looking out where he remains weary of the viewer. In the second hologram his hand breaks through
the screen in his desire for contact.
I bring this piece up because it was our first collaboration. At that time I had begun to feel a
dissatisfaction with the constrains of a holographic portrait. They were, on the whole monochromatic,
their depth limited, the space ungenerous. I speak here of reflection holograms.I had gone to see an
exhibition of Francis Bacon’s portraits and I was overwhelmed by them. Those liquefying faces,
tormented by the weight of the flesh haunted me. Rudie and I began our conversations on how best to
break the mold. How to have portraits be more abstract, more pliable perhaps more universal.
We were using the pulse laser at the museum’s portrait studio. The camera was functional but
rather rigid. It had only one object beam illuminating the subject from above and the side.
Fig. 14
David Byrne
Fig. 15
Ana Maria
Self-portrait
5
We began to use only film and introduced irregularities on the platen behind the film. We got the
most wonderful wobbly images that changed look as the viewer moved his head.
Even though the integrity of the image was broken by this method, creating very interesting
distortions and effects, the results were haphazard and unpredictable.
To break up the face even more. We cut out different shapes out of pieces of cardboard and
removed the diffusing screen from the object beam. This created a small, tight light source so that t
only the parts of the face that were uncovered were illuminated. That is why, for safety, our eyes are
closed in all the holograms.
Those were the masters, each with a different shape, different size, some recognizable as features
some just abstract shapes.
We created the series in a matter of weeks, and then the work of assembling them into transfers
began. I took the masters to our lab in Long Island City and some times combined two or more
masters, sometimes just used a single image. At this point Rudie’s input was greatly diminished. At
that time he was not exploring reflection holography as he did later with such beauty. I was doing a lot
of color combinations and the whole process of swelling and shrinking the emulsion with
Fig. 17
Fig. 16
Rudie
Rudie
Fragment 2
Fragment 1
triethenolomine was too messy and primitive for him.
I, of course shared the results with him, but by that time our collaboration took on a different
direction, more towards learning and practicing different healing modalities. I put the series away in a
box and did nothing with them for a number of years. In fact I had forgotten how interesting they
were.
One day, Martina Mngovrious and Sam Moree who were working at the Holocenter with me,
found the box and were quite enthusiastic about the work. I took a second look, called Rudie and
proposed that we have an exhibition.
This was the show HOLOGRAPHIC COLLABORATIONS that was shown at the Center in 2008.
We had a splendid opening, the show was a great success, Rudie came down from his mountain for it.
It makes me glad but saddens me that it was the last show of his work that our great friend and
companion attended.
6
Fig. 18
Rudie & Ana Maria
Rudie’s extraordinary work has been an inspiration, not only for myself but also for a generation of
art holographers. Hopefully his efforts will be remembered as a key stepping stone in the flourishing
of this magical medium.

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Home Search Collections Journals About Contact us My IOPscience

2013 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 415 012018

Please note that terms and conditions apply.

Ana Maria Nicholson

Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1

talked and talked for hours and so began our friendship.

2. An Art Medium Blossoms

triethenolomine was too messy and primitive for him.

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