Inside the Sweet Spot of Holographic Sculptures

The first time I encountered Dr Ioana Pioaru’s work with holographic sculptures was during my visit to Geola’s research labs in the UK for an interview with Prof David Brotherton-Ratcliffe – founder of the Geola Group (see HN December 2021). Ioana is artist-inresidence at the research facility and her studio is on the second floor above Geola’s OptoLab. When I entered the studio, I was immediately struck by the ethereal sculptures that flashed into view as I entered the ‘sweet spot’ of the viewing zone, so familiar to hologram makers and observers around the globe.

The images are like nothing I have seen before. Displayed on a series of plinths, sculptural portraits of recognisable figures have been rendered into fine mesh masks straddling the holographic plate. At first, I thought that the images must be holographic stereograms generated from computer graphics, but as I looked closer, I saw no staircasing, no jumps and no evidence of slits. Just images that looked like sculptures in space made from fine wires, brush strokes and what I can only describe as intaglio engraving. It looked like the portraits had been carved from glass and then decorated with light.