Holopoetry

Eduardo Kac

Invented by Eduardo Kac in 1983, Holopoetry is a new poetic language predicated on the exploration of the specific properties of holography. Holopoems do not simply reproduce texts written for print; instead, holopoems develop new syntaxes through perceptual discontinuities, spatiotemporal inversions, semantically productive parallax, and a plethora of new literary procedures unique to them. Holopoems must be experienced in person, since viewers/readers make decisions in the act of looking that determine their experience. Between 1983 and 1993, Kac published (i.e., created and exhibited) 24 holopoems.

NOTE: The images below are not holopoems; they are documentation of holopoems and, as such, cannot account for the decisions made by viewers/readers in the act of reading real holopoems.

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Holo/Olho (Holo/Eye)

1983

25 x 30 cm [10 x 16 in]

Silver halide reflection holograms mounted on wood and glass

Unique

Collection UECLAA, University of Essex, UK

Abracadabra

1984/85

30 x 40 cm [12 x 16 in]

White-light transmission silver halide hologram

Collection of the Museu do Estado do Pará, Belém, Brazil (gift of the National Foundation for the Arts-Funarte, Brazil)

Second edition (white-light reflection photopolymer hologram): 2019

OCO

1985

30 x 40 cm [12 x 16 in]

White-light reflection silver halide hologram

Unique. Original lost.

Remade in 1989 by E. Kac also as a white light reflection silver halide hologram. Lost.

Remade in 2023 by E. Kac also as a white light reflection silver halide hologram

ZYX

1985

50 x 50 cm [20 x 20 in]

Laser transmission silver halide hologram displayed in white light

Unique. Original lost.

Chaos

1986

40 x 30 cm [16 x 12 in]

White-light reflection silver halide hologram

Edition of 2.

Collection of the MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA

Ágora

1986

0.8 x 0.8 cm

Laser transmission silver halide hologram

Edition of 3 + 1 flown to deep space.

Wordsl

1986

30 x 30 cm [12 x 12 in]

Integral white-light transmission silver halide hologram

Edition of 2.

Quando? [When?]

1987

Diameter: 40 cm [16 in]

White-light transmission cylindrical silver halide hologram

Unique

NOTE: The self-contained display includes the clear acrylic cylinder and a rotating metal unit with a bulb. The viewer can read the poem in any direction.

Lilith

1987/89

with Richard Kostelanetz

30 x 40 cm [12 x 16 in]

White-light transmission silver halide hologram

Edition of 2.

Phoenix

1989

30 x 40 cm [12 x 16 in]

Laser transmission silver halide hologram with open flame

Unique

Albeit

1989

40 x 50 cm [16 x 20 in]

White-light transmission silver halide hologram

Unique

Shema

1989

40 x 50 cm [16 x 20 in]

White-light transmission silver halide hologram

Unique

Omen

1989/90

20 x 25 cm [8 x 10 in]

White-light transmission silver halide hologram

Edition of 2

Collection Hans Bjelkhagen, Wales, UK

Andromeda Souvenir

1990

30 x 40 cm [12 x 16 in]

White-light transmission silver halide hologram

Edition of 3 + 2 AP

Collection Frédéric Acquaviva, London

Collection Richard Kostelanetz, New York [AP]

Collection Francis Edeline, Tilff, Belgium [AP]

Amalgam

1990

10 X 12.5 cm [4 x 5 in]

White-light reflection silver halide hologram

Edition of 100 for inclusion in Kac's Museum of Holography solo show catalogue, 1990 (unnumbered)

Collections include:
Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The Butler Institute Of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio
Jonathan Ross, London

Adhuc

1991

30 x 40 cm [12 x 16 in]

White-light transmission silver halide hologram

Edition of 3

Collection Jonathan Ross, London

Collection Karas, Madrid

Collection Vito Orazem and Söke Dinkla, Essen, Germany