Holography

When writing this chapter it became apparent that we were not only exponents of digital holography, but also the critics. This is a problem when it comes to new media. How can one begin to make objective critical theory on a subject when there are no historical or ideological structures that produce and constrain it? While other digital technologies prove well developed, semantic and expressive, digital holography has some way to go before any quantized analysis of the subject is possible. This paper explores the function of digital holography, seeking comparison from other media and explores holography’s influence as a radical form of electronic digital three-dimensional image capture. Within this context we draw comparison with other forms of image making, from cave paintings in Lascaux (France), to Fox Talbot’s early experiments to capture light, Corbusiers architectural designs of space, to early television transmission. They all have one unifying factor: the unfamiliar and the strange, emblematic to visual possibilities in our perception of space.