Originally published in Computer Graphics World, Vol. 15, N.5, May 1992, pp. 80, 82, and republished in Ylem, Vol. 12, N. 11,November 1992, pp. 2, 7.
In a darkened art gallery, a viewer encounters a collection of holograms,known as Holopoems. Here the boundaries of print poetry have been pushedto a new dimension, as each word-poem slowly dances about, inevitably challengingviewers to unique subtleties as point of view, degrees of animation, relativepositions of letters and words all combine into a telling statement ofa moment in time or culture.
Observing a Holopoem, individual letters begin to appear, twistingand turning as they line up through a luminous smoke. An "e"appears followed by an "s" and a "y". Each letter emergesin a shifting form as their random placements create any number of wordpossibilities: SEES?, SEX?, YES? Suddenly, the word appears; it is EYES.It floats in a cloud of smoke transforming its elusive presence into acomplete poetic experience. EYES is a Holopoem, a literal form borderingon the realm of the metaphysic where more is said by the relationship ofthe words to their space than their dictionary meanings. EYES, for exampleis really about one's ability to see, and sometimes not see as one's visionis clouded over. Eduardo Kac, creator of Holopoems, establishes the smokeas ambiguity, because of its dual nature, both in blocking vision and asa transparent medium.
Through Holopoems Kac achieves a literary quest, where the viewer contemplatesthe word as much for how it is dimensionally composed as to its intendedmeanings. In this case, "EYES" is a Holopoem titled Omen(1990), where the combination of word and smoky surroundings creates anextended metaphor that expresses, as its creator Kac notes, a "hazyvision of a future occurrence."
Eduardo Kac, who was born and raised In Brazil, was always intriguedwith the power of words as expressed in literature and poetry. It inspiredhim as an artist to explore semantics and the interplay of syntax to reshapethe basic compositional unit of how a poem is created. He dabbled in linearverse and free verse, he moved beyond tho printed page to deal in largespaces through graffiti, he tried multimedia, all to no avail. It was in1983 as Kac recalled,
"The burning question was, might not words exist in a 'pure poeticform' strictly as their own entity? But how? I knew the media I couldn'twork in. What I could not see was what I could use or make work to expresspoetry with the fluidity and malleability I wanted....lnevitably it dawnedon me that holography of which I had heard about as some kind of 3-D mediummight be the liberation I was seeking for poetic syntax. A way of puttingit all in a new dimension so to speak. In turn holography led to computergraphics and I knew I had found my direction".
Kac embarked on creating an architecture of form and function thatbecame inseparable from syntactic and semantic perception of text. Kac'smerging of holography and CGI created the medium he sought where pen andpaper had been replaced with discontinuous space and non-linear time. AsHolopoems came into their own, the word forms began to mature. Each piecewas staged with a title different than its verbal material, allowing eachpoem to evolve to its own layer of complexity.
For example, Souvenir d'Andromeda(1990) is the title of a Holopoem represented by the word LIMBO. It isliteral yet ambiguous. As Kac observes, "Its title refers to the futurewhere a space traveler might bring a gift that is obviously a differentform of expression than what we have on Earth....LIMBO connotes oblivion,or emptiness; rhythm is marked by a fragmentation of solid parts that reshapeinto its word form (and vice-versa) which floats in a space surroundedby nothingness."
Holopoetry generates its own grammar. Its rules are conceived in afour-dimensional space where point-of-view and time become the pivot pointof how a poem is expressed. With computer graphic metamorphing capabilities,HOLOPOETRY introduces poems whose visual behavior of verbal elements inspace expands their meanings. Kac explains:
"Ultimately holographic poetry is not just the mere luminous reproductionof 3-D words, but more the possibility of writing poetry in a space whoselaws are different from either the printed space or the surrounding world."Finally with the hologram's image reconstruction process, the viewer'sphysical motion defines each poem's creation. By reversing their head motionthey can "assemble" or "dissemble" each poem.
In creating a Holopoem Kac first begins by selecting the appropriateword or set of words, and their relationships. Once the word or words havebeen conceived he approaches his Macintosh computer and, using softwareprograms for image processing, three-dimensional modeling, and animation,he begins to model all the characteristics of how the Holopoem composesitself. As to the creation of the letter forms Kac noted:
"Sometimes I work with library fonts and sometimes I create myown. Light, shape, scale, texture, and direction of movement of the letterforms are all focused to create the proper rhythm of the poem."
As the final poem is composed it is filmed from a computer monitorusing a 16mm Bolex camera loaded with black and white film. The film isdeveloped and reviewed. Once accepted it is prepared for the final step-- the hologram. At this point the movie film is placed in a special film/hologramtransfer system known as an integral printer. Here each frame of celluloidis transferred to its equivalent form as a holographic image. Each Holopoemis a composite of 87 frames of movie film. The completed hologram is developed,mounted, and displayed.
Kac is now an instructor of computer holography at the School of theArt Institute of Chicago. The Holopoems have grown into a collection ofwork that has toured many galleries and conferences throughout the UnitedStates. Last year they graced the SIGGRAPH art show in Las Vegas. In octoberof this year a small collection of Holopoems and computer graphic/holographyworks of Kac's students is appearing at the CyberArts International (PasadenaCA) art gallery.
As to the future of Holopoems the potential is vast. Kac is workingon HAVOC, a composition of 39 wordsthat will be integrated into a single poem. The big dream as with any poetis the ultimate discovery, the publication of a book. But this is not anybook. Its "pages" will be embossed holographic foils each containinga animated holopoem, truly a case of poetry in motion .
Louis Brill is a San Francisco-based writer. He is a CorrespondingEditor of the journal Leonardo, and was the editor of Leonardo's firstspecial issue on holographic art (Vol. 22, Numbers 3 and 4, 1989). Hisarticles have appeared in numerous national publications.
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