What do Audiences Really Think About Holographic Avatars?

At a time when pop stars, sports personalities and politicians are queuing up to have their likenesses enshrined as a hologram for posterity, new research asks whether audiences can really interact with the performer when, in reality, they are not present.

Holographic projections

In Italy, politicians, footballers and TV celebrities recently gathered in the small town of Paestum to celebrate ‘Berlusconi Day,’ on what would have been the controversial former prime minister’s 87th birthday. Silvio Berlusconi, who died in June, was also present – in the form of a hologram.

In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, the Rolling Stones 80-year-old but still very much alive singer Mick Jagger hinted at the possibility of the band embarking on a posthumous hologram tour. ‘The technology has really moved on since the ABBA thing,’ he said.