News

Visit of Mary Harman to Athens.

Τhe end of this year's summer brought to Athens a new friend of the Hellenic Institute of Holography. We had the honour to have Mary Harman, an accomplished painter and holographic artist, as our guest and the pleasure to show her around our working environment along with the classical tourist attractions of the city. (A virtual impression of her art can be formed by visiting her website on this link). 

The painting works of this American artist, who lives and works out of Montreal in Canada, are well known among the artistic circles of N. America. However, what brought her in contact with our Insititute is the original use of display holography in artistic constructions. Already since the early 90s when she was working out of the Art Hologram Studio of Doris Vila in New York, Mary Harman has combined her painting and sculptural art with transparent and futile holograms which occupy and share the same space with selected personal objects in compositions that fuse together the real with the virtual.

Read more: Back Home ...

Participation at the Holography Exhibition in MIT 

'Indra's Net' is a subtle metaphor in Hindu cosmology depicting the structure of reality as a vast net of interconnected gems, with each jewel reflected on all other. Therefore, as contemporary physicists are in general agreement that this ancient allegory is indeed a good description for the universe (and very much in line with the notion of a holographic universe) the title selected by MIT Museum (A Jeweled Net: Views of Contemporary Holography) for its exhibition opened in Boston on June 26th is very appropriate. And the HiH participation in it with 'the Chios Epitaph' already seems to be a popular exhibit among 20-odd other pieces of state-of-the-art in display holography selected by a panel of experts and 'showcasing the artistic and technical merit of individual works'.

 "Exhibiting at the MIT Museum an object of such explicit religious content is very unusual for us"   says Seth Riskin, Manager of Emerging Technologies and Holography/Spatial Imaging Initiatives. "However, it was felt by all Museum curators that -aside from its strictly holographic merits- this may well be an extra reason for having it on display in our Gallery"! Is this a hologram?

'The Chios Epitaph' is a marvellous religious artifact, which combines local folklore with hagiography and is hand-made by residing nuns at the reknown handcraft workshops of the monastery of the Holy Parthenon of St. Constantin and Helen at the location of Francovouni on the Greek island of Chios.  By meticulously combining elements of Orthodox hagiography, fabric weaving, artistic jewelry and decorative couture, it depicts a Crucifixion in the form of a flower-decorated Easter Epitaph of approx. size 25x35cm in a varnished wooden container frame of approx. 5cm in depth. This is an object of  peculiar beauty and strength, primarily addressed to Greek Orthodox pilgrims but equally appealing to other Christian faith disciplines, possibly a sign of cultural familiarity and influence from the period of occupation of the island by Francs following the Crusades.

At the same time, this object constitutes a particular challenge from a technical aspect...

Read more: MIT : a Greek 'Jewel' in the Net

Participation in the Symposium ISDH2012 and the Holography Exhibition at the MIT Media Lab

The 9th International Symposium on Display Holography (ISDH2012) took place this year (25-29 June) in Boston Massachussets at the impressive top floor of the new extension of the MIT Media Lab and the Hellenic Institute of Holography could not miss being present in this special gathering.

The origins of ISDH date back to 1982 when Professor Tung H. Jeong organized the first such meeting at Lake Forest College in Illinois, USA and since its conception it has been a unique event unlike any other scientific conference. Rather, it is one that synthesizes history, education, art, science, and economic developments that involve holography. A unique purpose of ISDH, beside the obvious exchange of information on display holography, is also to engender a sense of community among participants. In this spirit, participants were invited on the first day to present their reports on the current state of holography in their part of the world and for Greece, Alkis Lembessis, HiH director, undertook this role by presenting his Report from the Nations: Greece' whilst -at a special session of the Symposium- all 'departed' holographers since the last ISDH meeting in 2009 were commemorated.

As on earlier occasions, numerous scientific papers from the most authoritative authors on a wide spectrum of display-holography-related areas were presented in a very efficient (typically American) manner indicated by the meetings' Agenda, from which we naturally focus on the HiH contribution in the works of this Symposium entitled

"A transportable system for the in situ recording of color Denisyuk holograms of Greek cultural heritage artifacts in silver halide panchromatic emulsions and an optimized illuminating device for the finished holograms".

We cannot refrain from noting the various praises and positive comments received from the participating holographers -some of the most reknown individuals in this area- refering to the results of HiH works. Explicit compliments such as 'you are bringing a "new wave" in display holography'  or ...

Read more: ISDH2012: A 'New Wave' in Holography?

Participation in the CHARISMA workshop and training course in Herakleion Crete.

As an introductory step in its cooperation with the world reknown Institute of Electronic Structure & LASER of the Foundation for Research and Tecnhology-Hellas (FORTH) based in Herakleion Crete, the Hellenic Institute of Holography was invited to present on Wednesday 21st of June, 2012 (12.30-13.00) the progress of its works in the area of recording ultra-realistic holograms of items of cultural heritage as part of its own HoloCultura project.     

The Institute of Electronic Structure & LASER  is arguably one of the leading centers worldwide for research and development of innovative laser and optical technologies for the diagnostics and conservation of works of arts and antiquities. With an impressive number of scientific publications in this area of increasing public interest and through its various collaborations with numerous museums and relevant international organizations, IESL-FORTH has developed a unique technological output and associated applied exertise addressing a broad spectrum of challenges in art conservation and archaeology: mobile LIBS instruments for the analysis of works of art and archeological samples, mobile laser interferometry devices for structural diagnosis of artworks and monuments,  versatile imaging systems for mapping and discimination of materials and specialized laser cleaning systems currently in 'live' use  on the Parthenon sculptures.

Within the framework of its participation in the international CHARISMA project,  IESL-FORTH organized in its premises in Herakleion Crete a 7-day training course and workshop addressed to graduate students or undergraduate seniors, early-career conservation professionals and young researchers. The course focused on the applications of optical and laser technologies in Conservation and Cultural Heritage Science. This seminar was held in English and its full title was 

"Advanced laser-based techniques in art conservation, diagnostics and analysis: a training course within the CHARISMA project'

In view of the specialized scientific caliber of the audience participating in this training program, it was a unique privilege for the Hellenic Institute of Holography the opportunity to present ...

Read more: Cooperation with IESL-FORTH Crete