**3. Time**

The holographic *dispositif* establishes a distinctive spatial structure. However, the holographic space has an important impact on the representation of time that is more peculiar than any other imaging technology. In physics as well as in philosophy, space and time are interlinked. This is not different in holography and it is an important characteristic of my experiments. In my *Tractatus Holographis* hologram, a page seems to turn when the viewer moves laterally. In *Graphis* (2009) (Figure 2), texts in Arabic, Chinese, Latin, middle French, Greek and other content elements appear and disappear and the whole scene changes in synchronization with the viewer's movements.

In most of my synthetic holograms, there are more than a thousand computer-generated images with small variations that trigger content transformations in accordance to angles of view. This multiplicity of images allows us to introduce variations in the sequence that will result in kinetic effects when the viewers move in front of the hologram and see these variations. It is important to note that this is not cinematographic animation, but rather kinetics. Movements and transformations of content are synchronized and dependent on the viewer's movements. A form moving down, when the viewer walks toward the right, will appear moving up when the viewer moves left. Thus, holographic kinetics is reversible. Moreover, the speed of this moving form will be controlled by the viewer's speed, and if the viewer stops, the kinetics will stop too. In fact, we cannot even talk about speed or "x frames per second" in synthetic holography. Kinetics is a relationship between the content variations and the

viewer's movements. It is space + time. This creates the possibility of temporal distortions, such as "time-smear", a deformation or blur, resulting from harsh variations in the content (Figure 3). In most cases of time-smear, our two eyes do not see the same thing at the same time. This can twist, warp or contort the form. Depending on the configuration, the kinetic form may be stretched and apparently smudged. Temporal distortions are often seen as defects; however, this distortion may offer interesting artistic experimentations for artists.

**Figure 2.** *Graphis*, 2009. Five views of the synthetic hologram, 3 m × 60 cm, created by author. (see: http://www.i-jacques.com/graphisen.html).

**Figure 3.** Time-smear of a rotation in *Graphis*, 2009.

Furthermore, multiple perspectives have an impact on the personal temporal relationship between the viewer and the content. While exhibiting synthetic holograms with some kinetics content, I noticed that the temporal relationship becomes an important part of the viewer's aesthetic experience. You may want to create a holographic artwork with a linear narration that can be viewed from left to right, but you do not control the viewer's movement. Contrary to cinema, people are free to move, look from the center, the left, moving from here to there ... What you see from the right part of the holographic space can be different from what your friend will see from the left part ... at the same time. The image

you see is your view and only yours. All other views are a different perspective. Thus, people often chose a particular angle of view, a personal space.

While the artist composes a space, time belongs to the viewer. Linear narration is shattered in holography. Visual information and its discursive attributes are contingent on spatial synchronization between elements and the viewers. Alignments, juxtapositions, superpositions, colors, transparent and reflective objects, directional vectors and focus points—all these formal elements and their significations can vary with multiple views and the spatial interactivity that holography provides. In a recent hologram, *Maze* (2018), I tried to use this spatiotemporal characteristic in the solution of a visual puzzle (Figure 4). The only way to solve this labyrinthine composition of stairs is for the viewer to move laterally and change viewing angles so that some parts of the stair's structure will appear or disappear. The movements of the viewers' bodies, the movements of their gazes, and the hologram's kinetics all contribute in this interactive hologram. "*Tempus non est sine motu*" (Time does not exist without motion) (Bacon 1267).

**Figure 4.** *Maze*, 2018. Synthetic hologram. 40 cm × 60 cm, created by author.
