I was aware that the collection of the Museum of Holography in Chicago, formed by Loren Billings, was also lying dormant and, having recently been to China, it occurred to me that a combination of the two collections would make a great show to take to the Far East, which had not (apart from Japan and S. Korea) experienced the blockbuster holo-shows of the 1980s and 90s. I went to Chicago and documented the holograms there, which also comprised some great large format work along with major holdings of John Kaufman, Rudie Berkhout, Mary Harman and other significant artists and display holographers.
UEG had recently opened offices in Taipei and Shanghai, and Teit said he liked the idea so would see if he could get some sponsorship. Well, it took two years but he finally managed it and, in December 2011, I got an email saying that Formosa TV were on board and that they wanted the show to open at the National Museum of Science & Technology in Kaohsiung at Chinese New Year - five weeks away! Personally I thought this would prove impossible but Teit insisted that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and that we should go for it. Our working title for the show, which ended up sticking, was ULTIMATE 3D.
I don't think I have ever worked as hard as during those five weeks, selecting the 175 holograms required, writing the captions and texts, photographing everything for the catalogue (which didn't appear in the end) and sourcing merchandise. The latter came from Marvin Uram in Florida, who also supplied a number of holograms for the exhibition, filling in gaps in the other collections with works from Richmond Holographic Studios, Walter Spierings and Larry Lieberman. To bring the content right up to date, I sourced digital images from RabbitHoles in Canada (now closed) and full colour stereograms and Denisyuk holograms from Colour Holographic in London. I also lent my copy of 'Sara' by Liti Holographics, a stereogram which updates Lloyd Cross's famous 'Kiss II', and it proved to be one of the most popular images in the show.
We flew to Taiwan, allowing a week for installation, which we definitely needed as the local team hadn't hung holograms before, and it was a pretty steep learning curve for all concerned. To cut a long story short, I worked until 2 am on the morning of the opening and then had to catch a plane at 6 so never actually saw the finished exhibition! However our sponsors took some great photos and video clips and have posted a number of them on their Facebook page
Here is a photo of Teit Ritzau and his daughter, Rosa, outside the Science & Technology Museum
and here are Teit and me, standing in front of the poster for the show, which uses the image of a hologram called 'Animation Mother', made by RabbitHoles from a design by the artist Meats Meier.
When not working we were eating, mainly Japanese food which is Teit's favourite, and I must say that the food is one very good reason to visit Taiwan!
Our hosts at Formosa TV took us out for a fabulous meal one evening and I entertained them with my favourite iPhone app, Muybridgizer.
This animates a series of photos into a short movie which looks like it might have been made by the 19th century photographer after whom it is named. (You can post these to Facebook but not to this blog unfortunately).
Here's another of Yaling and two of her students.
ULTIMATE 3D - The Wonder of Holography, runs in Kaohsiung until the end of April and then we hope to tour it to other destinations in Asia. Watch this space for details!
