Alan Perry

Coding in time and space is as old as pottery or drumbeats. Magic was an executable code interfaced to the world long before computers and networks. Through selected readings and hackable code in Processing, this course will provide a perspective on algorithmic practices from incantations, weaving and tiling patterns to generative systems, glitching and software sourcery. The instructor, a master digital printmaker, will share his expertise, but student projects can be developed in any medium.

In this introduction to the theory, tools, and techniques of three-dimensional imaging, students study the structure of light and the ways in which it can convey information, and familiarize themselves with the basic tool of holography, the laser. Students make several different styles of holograms, some viewable in laser light, and some in white light. Techniques involving spatial juxtaposition and montage are also explored. The focus is on developing a working knowledge of the medium from the perspective of its artistic possibilities.

Readings will include journal articles that touch on the history, techniques, and aesthetics of holography. Some of the artists we will consider include Sally Weber, Mary Harman, Paula Dawson, and John Kaufman. We will also look at prior student work and discuss holography as an interdisciplinary, installation-based practice in addition to holography as a medium in and of itself. Lastly, we will discuss the unique issues around and strategies for exhibiting holographic works.

Over the course of the semester, students should expect to produce a body of work of laser- and/or white-light-viewable holograms over a sequence of assignments that conceptually build off one another, and work collaboratively to produce a digital hologram.