0.0   INTRODUCTION:   "Holo Vanities' -- Reflections on the begin and end of 'West Coast Artists in Light'"
--   by Al Razutis (YOUTUBE   XAR3D,   XAl Razutis ), project director & producer.

"I didn't begin or end with the idea that my photos, videos, documentaries and accounts of works in art, in the fields that I practice, would be stripped of their credits, and used by whoever wished to grab this work, these accounts, for their own purposes, and now I'm speaking specifically of the arts, craft, and practice of holography and its arts...

"But in some notable cases, that is precisely what happened.

"Stills from 'West Coast Artists in Light' by Al Razutis, uncredited and used in promotions, videos and invites by Holocenter NYC 2022, without any notification or permission from A.R., nor invitation to participate.

...similar treatment for Anait Stephens video material (by Razutis) used by Dr. Mrongovius in her 2019 Holocenter video lecture 'What is Holographic Art' - by Mrongovius, without credit, notice or permission from Razutis, the author of those videos.

" This is unacceptable. "

Interview with Al Razutis on his background and works in 3D:

http://www.alchemists.com/visual_alchemy/writings/rayzone_alrazutis.html

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"And to get things started, how about some background?

1.0   'How other people's MALICE sets histories adrift...'

Pictured here, expression of interest with history.

     

"Do I know who did this? Who impersonated me on the phone? Who started this misunderstanding?

"Yes, I do. Took a few years to find out.

"Do I know why? I'm beginning to figure this out decades later.

"What is it about some people for whom 'MALICE' is a decent reasonable way?

"What is it about people who insist that we only spin things the 'positive' way?

"Is that what this is? Feel good? Not so fast. Let's first have some truth and beauty, and we can refer to the 1970's for some clues."

INTRODUCTION NOTES:

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On the mention of the 1979 "Franklin Institute show" in the Posy Jackson letter, please see the following link to a revue of the show, catalog essays by curator, artists (including one by Razutis), link to more pictures and essays and historical accounts:   https://www.alchemists.com/visual_alchemy/art_and_holography3.html#franklin

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On the mention of the NYC "Holocenter" and past-director Martina Mrongovius, her treatise and slide show (video) on the subject of "What is Holographic Art" (for the whole lecture, see the link here:   https://www.alchemists.com/visual_alchemy/how_much_holo.html#irridescence  )...

On this subject Razutis' doc of works by Anait Stephens was presented without credit. None of Razutis' works are included. Neither are the works of other major holographers in the 1970's (e.g. Lon Moore) from the west-coast included in Dr. Mrongovius' recitation which is based on her PhD thesis and list of favorite artists which are cited in her thesis. The same list is cited on the Holocenter web site, then in her video lecture. It's a closed loop which is common in academic circles with their theories and their proofs. In this example, the stated question and title "what is holographic art" is only answered by showing one example after another, as if the example itself constituted 'proof' and is somehow 'self explanatory'.   That position is not supported here.

DIRECT LINK TO VIDEO:

https://holocenter.org/what-is-holography/holographic-art

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On the mention of my holographic work 'Rainforest' by Posy Jackson in her letter and expression of interest to purchase:

"Pictured here, along with my FaceBook comment from Nov. 15, 2020 explaining what happened to it."

"This concerns a work of holographic art titled 'Rainforest', which was created in the early 1970's as three-plate transmission hologram sculpture and was sold to the Museum of Holography in New York city in the 1970's as well.

"Here is a pic of this work from one of the few slides (colour transparencies they are called too) that I have of it.

"'Rainforest' was on exhibit along with the original Visual Alchemy holography exhibit (toured Canada in the 1970's, last played at the Seattle Science Center before coming home) and there's ample evidence that this work 'existed' as pictured here.

"Rainforest was sold, never to be seen again by me.

"Rainforest then was sold again, as part of the entire Museum of Holography "bankruptcy sale" (see the NEXT POST on this time line for the story) to include all its holograms, everything to MIT (Mass. Institute of Technology) to be housed in an archive - collection - and preserved for "posterity".

"Rainforest doesn't exist anymore, 'two plates' in the MIT collection catalog state that they 'are clear without any image' or content. Gone.

"Nobody knows why. I'm sure MIT doesn't care either, because this is on the other coast, or because NYC didn't care either. When Al tells his story you know there's an edge to it.

"Never trust your art with those you don't know or who don't care."

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1.1   "Should there be an explanation?"

To everything, there is a context, and a background. Things happened before. Things happened in this or that context. This applies here, as I have started this essay into with a 'letter from Posy Jackson, Museum of Holography, Director to Al Razutis, holographer and holographic artist, from the 1970's, and have provided some "NOTES" (footnotes) as context to what the letter refers to.

To the reader: "Would you understand the meaning of this letter without such notes, background, context? I don't think so."

This introduction clearly and plainly implies that a person intercepted this call, answered the phone as if he was "Al Razutis" and proceeded to insult the caller, Posy Jackson, without knowing who the caller was, or without having any rational reason to do so.   In other words, this communication, its history, background and meaning were 'POISONED' right from the get-go.

It took years, and a personal meeting (in the 1980's) of Posy Jackson and Al Razutis to resolve this, to identify the problem, to see what had actually happened. And it took several more years for me to narrow down the list of possible culprits to 'one'... but that name doesn't deserve mention here, as that original harm will never be forgiven or forgotten. Now, that's the way this history works.

The history of gushers, people who praise others endlessly, people who quote press releases, offer gossip and other 'tid-bits' is not at issue here, but this happened too, simmultaneous to any events described here. And this second history is probably what most folks 'really know'...

Within the following accounting, which primarily focuses on what happened in 'holographic art' and 'documentary of this' in the 1990's, with a project titled 'West-Coast Artists in Light' ( original web pages for this project start at: https://www.alchemists.com/visual_alchemy/west-coast_artists.html ), I will present documents that attest to 'fact'. I will present correspondences between Grant Funding Organization and recipients that attests to strife, discord, and finally a 'divorce' to allow the project to continue. None of this is 'personal'. A lot of this has to do with differenent agendas on the part of participants, to include personal 'vanities' in the arts.

As the title of this essay notes: This is about "VANITIES" in the practice and arts of holography;   this is about who revised history to suit who and what, and this is to explain why it is so damned hard to do anything for anyone 'for free' in the holographic art scene, because after the initial 'rush,' the rest becomes appropriated by everyone includiong by what we call in disdain "wanna be's". That this practice and telling of it gets 'taken over by others, spreading falsehoods, inserting themselves into narratives, praising some to get this or that advantage from them' appears to be part of this 'never ending story of art'.   But what I discovered in the 90's and following decades is that in the 'holographic arts' it became an t's an 'art scene' (with publications, like NYC "Holosphere", that depended on and sought its information from a group of people who worked gtheir networks of 'who you know' and 'who you can get to praise you' on the way to awards, distinctions, mentions, and a successful (but extremely short) 'career in the arts'...

Few of these accomplishements may survive this decade of 'everything is holo' and 'VR is everything' as being considered 'culturally relevant' anymore; certainly, only a few if at all will survive the century as being something preserved and collected.

But how this story of the Shearwater Foundation funding a video documentary (for the first time), and how that went as a project to preserve, celebrate, inform and share this cultural activity is put down here for future gens to consider in more ways than one.

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2.0   "What informs these writings?   By what authority is it written?"

A summary of the author's background, should go right about here, not at the end, when there are a few still reading.   For a detailed list of answers as to Razutis qualifications visit:   http://www.alchemists.com/visual_alchemy/resume-bio.html

The topics here are 'who has the right to criticize?' this, " 'who has expertise in the fields that they preach?',   and 'who knows what they are doing, and can prove it?'

Yes, those kinds of things that prove elusive for the impersonators, liars and fakers of things.   'Don't worry, we'll visit the 'Diamond Mines' soon, to get 'more samples' of 'value added' to holograms for no other reason than claiming it.

The author's qualifications in terms of the arts and letters, in terms of knowledge and experience, and to answer the typical snide remark "Who does he think he is to make such statements?!", and author's complete list of exhibited holographic works can be found here:

NOTES CONTINUE

Author would like to add the following, also from Face Book:
"JUMBO NOTE, call it also a footnote, that contains a transcript of my story to author Ray Zone of "how I got into stereoscopic 3D in the first place" which includes "how I managed to add stereoscopic 3D video recording of holography, holograms, and laboratory facilities, and artists" in the essay I am writing ('Holo vanities" and "West-coast artists in light') which you can find on the web here: http://www.alchemists.com/visual_alchemy/writings/rayzone_alrazutis.html. "

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3.0   The origins and first year of this project

The origins here have already been acknowledged: Al Razutis (the author here) created a number of short informal videos for various L.A. and Vancouver holo artists in the 1980's for 'gratis', as a favor, as historical documents pertaining to work on our west-coast (Los Angeles to Vancouver in holography) that was hardly documented anywhere else. This was before there was any internet or videos showing on platforms like "YouTube".

In 1994, after resigning from his university appointment in 1987, and then embarking on independent film works, and also while living in Los Angeles and making videos commercially, Razutis decided to approach a grants foundation to support video documentation of 'west coast holographic artists' to be shot, edited by him.

When Razutis broached the subject to another L.A. holographer Roberta Booth, she suggested that he find a ('better known') 'artist' from the east coast to collaborate with -- an artist with a 'name' she suggested -- 'all this would make grant funding easier', she said.

"And so, I picked Sally Weber who was traveling and living part-time on the coast to be a joint applicant on this video project. I had interviewed her in the 80's for my holography publication "Wavefront" and knew only a little about her work, I had made some short videos for her, and I knew she was connected to NYC and Boston holographers based on her MIT education there.   Together, Sally Weber and I wrote an application in 1994 to the Shearwater Foundation of Florida, USA and approached the director, one knowledgeable and very supporting of holography and the arts Rosemary (Posy) Jackson and asked her to accept our grant application for video production funds." -- (A.R.)

We received a Shearwater Grant in 1994, and shortly after in 1995 offered our first 'report', and requested supplementary funds for added content:

3.1   'The point of history is...?'

"Certainly, it is not to say 'nothing', but to state what has to be stated, that which will rely on the truth."

"In other words, be courageous, truthful and set down the facts for some future history to ponder.

The present version of 'holo history' is dominated by narcissists, cliques and cowards who prefer self-promotion to truth, and in some cases this culture of 'look the other way' has allowed others to fake it for decades, on the web, as we see with the photographer Mark Diamond (cited below, and here during this excursion to 'Diamond Mines - Value Added...' ), while a number of 'Face Booked' folks still promote themselves with fictions, using other people's works or name-dropping long after quitting the practice and the art.

"So the point here is not personal, but professional, cultural, social.   And this certainly affects the 'facts of the art'.   And the caution here is to 'beware of those who falsely psychologize, engage in gaslighting, and spreading false information to disguise their culpabilities, cover-ups, or to fake their achievements for purely personal and short-term gain reasons'."

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4.0   Back to this project, and the chronology of making and breaking things.

'PREVIEW OF COMING ATTRACTIONS'

"Shortly after receiving the grant, and after completing an initial stage of shooting, a discord developed between the producers, sometimes about expenses, mostly about project directions. To wit: Sally Weber showed less interest in the project than in promoting her diffraction sculptural work elsewhere and in Europe; Al Razutis began to complain to her, and then to the Shearwater Foundation about 'doing most of the work', the imbalance of work and skills, and he complained to Weber about her lack of demonstrated competence in video, and in holography, a problem which had shifted the work burden mostly to Razutis to do." -- (A.R.)

SELECTION OF THE ARTISTS:

The ten artists included in the first series 'Volumes 1 & 2' were jointly selected by Sally Weber and Al Razutis, with Weber almost exclusively selecting the 'San Francisco and Bay' artists, and Razutis selecting the others, all based on who they knew at the time working on the 'west-coast'.   There are a number of notable unfortunate omissions from this list (e.g. see Lloyd Cross,   Lon Moore,   Sharon McCormack,   Nancy Gorgleone, Jeff Murray, Bob Hess) which are discussed elsewhere on this web site;   a few of these omissions were rectified in a subsequent Volume 4 of this project.

This initial list of ten artists (and panel showing it) of 10 artists would be later expanded by Razutis (now working solo) to include other holographers contained in this series 'Volumes 3 & 4' -- see the appropriate 'pages' concerning this added content and volumes.

Individual holographic artists represented in 'Volume 1 & 2' -- link to artists and You Tube videos:

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DETAILS CONCERNING THE SHOOTS:

The approach to our subjects was similar in each case:   we structured the shoots, documentation, interviews along the needs of each holographer.   We preferred them to 'show us the work' and 'show us where they created it', and in some cases 'show us the work in exhibition', and talk about it with us. This was not about 'how to make holograms' but 'why holograms were chosen as an art medium'.   We were interested in what the artists had to say, and not trying to illustrate any theory or validate any practice, or superimpose our point of view on this.   This was a project that relied on the generosity of our subject artists to let us into their creative life, efforts and environment.

Because of the problems (cited below in correspondence) with Sally Weber's ability to effectively and knowledgeably interact with our subjects in on-screen Q & A, this aspect of documentation (and posing questions to the interviewee) was taken over largely by the cinematographer Al Razutis, who also visited the artists in various locales, studios, obtained further documentation and did this over months and years.

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MISMATCHED INTERESTS - TALENTS - ABILITIES

It only became apparent in 1995, and only after principal cinematography was concluded, that Sally Weber's interests, talents, and abilities were completely incompatible with those of Al Razutis, and the intended project -- here we are talking about 'holography', not the general field of 'diffracted light', or just light 'interfering', or the field of sculptural installations, with sunlight or artificial light illuminating works that used plain 'diffraction gratings' or 'zone plates' (or 'holographic optical elements' (a fancy way of saying 'make a diffraction grating using holographic methods') to create spectral light displays that exploited aspects of the spectrum of visible light, as Mr. Weber's work, focus, and background clearly indicated, and as she was engaged in the 1990's in the exhibitions of her works (see 'In Light' Germany exhibition, 1995 below).

Let's be clear that 'diffraction gratings' that Weber had produced for her sculptural works 'holographically', were 'holographic optical elements' (which break apart or steer and focus light through diffraction and act as lenses), let's be clear that they are not identical or synonymous to holograms of the classic definition of the time, which are by definition 'recordings of the phase and amplitude of every point in a three dimensional scene' typically made on photographic emulsion.   That is the classical answer to 'what is a hologram?'.   Apparently Weber's fans and curators never realized or acceted that, instead showering 'kudos' on her basic diffraction sculptural pieces (lenses) and calling them 'revolutionary' and placing them on par with the greats ('Leonardo'?) in art through the ages (see catalogue of exhibition 'In Light' 1995 below for the hyperbole and details).

But it became clear to this writer and co-producer, as we shot interviews with various holographers, that Ms. Weber was 'out of her league' when talking about holography, and was at least 'out of her medium' as an interviewer for this project.

NOTE ALSO:   It's pretty clear from the topics and artists selected for interviews, and the Shearwater grant application, that the focus here was 'laser split-beam holography' (classic 'off-axis' beam holography of CW and pulsed laser works). These methods were invented by Emmett Leith & Juris Upatnieks, and separately 'reflection holography' by Juri Denisyuk), and were methods of creating spectral '3D images' of scenes in '3D space', and this focus was practiced by the artists selected to be featured in the interviews, not anyone else.

Are ruled or plain diffraction gratings holograms?   The answer is no.   Does any photograph or recording of an 'interference pattern' qualify as a hologram?   Once again, the answer is no.   Nothing worse than critics, curators and commentators not knowing their 'stuff'.

A Sample of Sally Weber's concepts, writings, and ehibited works from her exhibition 'In Light' (1995 Germany) reveals her views on light & art.   The conflation of diffraction gratings with holographic interference pattern recordings, as in this catalogue, and calling both 'holograms' is most unfortunate and misleading.   It's clear from the catalog writings, and the gushing about Sally's 'Leonardo like' accomplishments that her reputation was enhanced by others doing the diffraction gratings, the work for her, then calling it 'holographic' or the more technical 'holographic optical elements' (meaning lenses).   Artist's statement and flagship work is provided:

And to recall generally, and specifically:   It was Al Razutis who first conceived of this project, whose earlier videos of holographers and works, and his own documentations that guided its form, and not anyone else.   And certainly it had nothing to do with any 'outsiders' or 'looky-loos', 'hangers on' or 'friends' of anyone that determined how this project was initiated.   But it had everything to do with outside agitators (referring to Weber's influences) when this project and co-producer's agreement fell apart and was dissolved.

See "APPENDIX A below for more comments on Sally Weber's 'Alignment' and gushing curator remarks and nominatons for award as 'best in holo art' (in 1987, it was).

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REASONS AND DETAILS FOR SEPARATION OF PRODUCERS:

A short sample of correspondence between producers will show an increasing gulf and then breaking point ending with dissolving the co-production agreement, and Sally Weber resigning.   And then Razutis moved on.

The disagreements increase by the day. 'The devil is in the details'.
Here are 8 pages of details attesting to conflicts, a sample among many of why this didn't work.

     

     

That is to say, Ms. Weber had to leave the project for it to continue

And the official announcement of the end of 'phase 1' and co-production read as follows:

"Finally we can get on to better and 3D kinds of things." -- (A.R.)

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WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE IN 1997 -- 60 minutes -- this is the 2 min. TRAILER with original music:

More 2D Clips from 'West-Coast Artists in Light' playlist on YouTube - XAR3D CHANNEL

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NEW DIRECTION -- TWO MORE GRANTS, SABOTAGE, LIBEL, then EXPANDED CONTENT, 3D & DVDs FOLLOW:

As 'phase one' (Volumes 1 & 2) concluded, it became apparent that to continue this project Razutis would have to 'do it himself'.   In 1995, not only was a second production grant secured from Shearwater, one which had been originally witheld from notice to Razutis by Weber (it's in the correspondence) -- it is one of the reasons why this co-production could not continue.   At this point trust had evaporated.

Secondly, and during this time period, the agendas and interests of 'external forces' -- there was Mark Diamond making 'production suggestions' to Sally Weber and Craig Newswanger (Diamond is not qualified in video or film to suggest anything) creating needless conflict.   Thirdly, there was'Sally's best friend' Melissa Crenshaw pulling the plug on Razutis' lab work after he received in 1995 a Canada Council grant to do holography at her laboratory (and after her agreeing to it), after Weber resigned from the production and sent a libelous letter to the participants falsely accusing Razutis of 'trying to defame them, ridicule them', none of which was true.

In summary, there were other jealous forces out there trying to destroy this project and defame Razutis while they were at it... All about vanities, it was.

( Razutis side-bar: 'In retrospect, and in the 90's, this was such a vain, dumb, immature cultural scene that it is by now embarrassing to refer to it... but alas, history requires it'   -- and by that it is meant that this clearly includes opinion. )

Razutis freely declares and admits 'he made a mistake' by first joining forces with Sally Weber, who he discovered had no experience in documentaries, video production, and had extremely limited knowledge of holography, especially as it was practiced by our chosen artists and the techniques they used.   That's reason enough to dissolve the partnership.

During a big part of the production, Sally Weber was off busy selling her diffraction grating ('holographic optical element') art pieces in Germany -- see exhibition 'In Light'.   Therefore, her suggestions for production styhles and editing were never used because she had no real knowledge of the subjects nor time to learn them.   It could never work, but when Weber witheld notice of the second grant from Razutis, we ended this production relationship before even a year was up.

"I haven't said anything about this for decades, but time is up on waiting for apologies politely, saying nothing.   Some careers have already benefitted by others saying nothing. Enough is enough." -- (A.R.)

And it is more than notable, it is laudable that Posy Jackson, and the Shearwater Foundation (and its jury), and later director Andrew Pepper, chose to financiallysupport this project through three separate grants (25k, 6.5k, 10k) given to it over the years, and support it to conclusion, to VHS and DVD distribution to the public, to installation in a gallery in Seoul, Korea, to web pages and You Tube clips making the content available for all and for free, and forever.   That they had faith in the intergrity, commitment and skills of Al Razutis to take this to completion is appreciated and proved in the results. This support was unique and we are very grateful for it.   Grateful also will be the next generations who will rely on these documents, clips, films and written materials for their 'history' of the way holography was really made into an art, and by some of the people who engaged in this practice, and in their own words, not the words superimposed by others.

It was most unfortunate -- heck, 'it was libelous' -- that Sally Weber chose to write 'another letter to the participants' of this project, where she accused Razutis directly, specifically or working to 'denigrate the artists', with the intention of 'humiliating them', 'ridiculing them', and all this Ms. Weber stated withour any proof... based only on her twisted and narcissistic 'opinion' which she sells along with her art.   Razutis was shown a copy of this letter. It is not (currenly) reprinted here for all to read but is noted for the record.

It was also most unfortunate, that most of the first phase artists wouldn't even own up to this or mention this to Razutis, thereby leaving him isolated to slander, libel and canard.

What continues to plague this production and its aftermaths are the rumors, innuendos by people in the 'holo girl' loop -- the loop of Sally Weber, Melissa Crenshaw, Sidney Dinsmore, Linda Law and whoever is included in this 'holo sorority' which looks out for its members and makes sure only the right mentions are done.   And apparently, this group is still in control of much of holo 'art scene' culture in Face Book groups, holo conferences, and few writings in holo books.

Don't ask me, or provoke me to say more. I have stacks of records omitted for brevity from this essay and post.

"This project will outlive such vanities." -- (A.R.)

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WHAT FOLLOWED NEXT -- FOR THE NEXT DECADES?   Wonderful contributors, San Francisco multliplex archives, new directions... the end.

** Sections of this essay first published on Face Book on 'Al Razutis -- Visual Alchemy' page, Jan. 2022.

All that gushing about a 'holo-lens', you say?
Only if you 'dress it up' with some 'art new vogue' holo talk...

What about Lloyd Cross' "SPECTRAL NEEDLE" (1970) getting a 'Re-Alignment'? in 1987?

Holographic inventors and pioneers like Lloyd Cross at the seminal Finch College Museum of Art 1970 exhibition had already laid down some principles in works for others to follow. Note the first work described here: "SPECTRAL NEEDLE, 1970, Reflection type, 11 x 14, White light point source illumination creating an intense thin needle of light extending into the observers space."

FAST FORWARD 17 YEARS TO THE...     "1987 Awards Night in the Winter Palace"

70's not invited... but 'Placing the artist on par with Biblical prophets and their quotes' is certainly 'in'.

Now, for the curating comments concerning Weber's 'Alignment' and 'reification' (the trick of turning abstractions into concrete ideas, examples, and then invoking some conceptual hocus-pocus to prove one's thesis that the result is 'real'), and the idea that New York Museum of Holography and the 'holo crowd' circulating around it had the presumption to offer their own versions of 'best in show', 'best in art', best in everything, eh?...   kind of like those 'Academy Awards' presided over by a 'Academy', in this case being a NYC holo made-up thing.

So let's see how these awards and gushing on the same group's 'Holosphere' publication went concerning this diffraction grating 'holographic optical element', which all the selected contributors argue is 'holographic art'?   Not just some 'holographic art', but 'best in holographic art', made by 'Advanced Dimensional Display', created by Sally Weber's husband, Craig Newswanger, and certainly resembling a technical rendering of a 'lens'... but a BIG ONE!... in a frame!... oh, boy, 'let's hit it with some light!' you can hear them say, and 'call it art!... and then have it explained, using some really BIG WORDS!'.

Also hard to miss is the promotion of this Weber work 'Alignment' in 1987 by the Museum of Holography Director Ian Lancaster with 'Holosphere' and the MOH 'First Annual Awards Ceremony for Achievement in Holography' where 'Alignment' is accorded all the status of important 'holographic art' by Lancaster's jury:

    -----    

Fortunately, and in this case, the 'jury selected a real proven artist named Rudie Berkhout not Weber, and at least 'saved face' for a moment, which didn't last.

In the 1995 exhibition catalog for Sally Weber's show 'In Light' the curator J.S.M. Willette wrote in the essay 'Lode Star -- the Artlight of Sally Weber':

"It is perhaps worth recalling, in this context, the first recorded words of God...
> 3.   Then God said, .."Let there be light.
4.   "And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness.
Genesis 1: 3 - 4"

And the same writer-curator Willette added, placing Sally Weber on par with 'Promethean efforts' and the 'gods':

"Sally Weber does not borrow light. she does not mimic light.   She steals light.   But not for her own use. She returns light to itself as a pure medium.   The importance of her work rests upon a recognition of the continuing expressive power of archaic primordial symbols and in an acceptance of the space age technology of laser light and holography. Unlike most artists who continue to make trditinal art out of historical materials, engaged in a postmodern homage to the elements of Modernism, this artist turned away from pastiche in search of an authenticisy and an honesty in art."

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In case you missed it...

In the correspondence between Razutis and Posy Jackson, Shearwater Foundation (above), and on the subject of the video project and who was doing what to who, particularly after the 'Weber and Razutis parting' and concerning 'upcoming conference to 'exclude Al' -- yes it's there in the last screenshot examples from 1997, and reads in part   "As far as Pepper's conference is concerned, I never received a response from him (letter sent to him over four months ago), no invitation, no information, no nada. Melissa Crenshaw once told me she was on a 'advisory committee' for this event, but she also has said nothing more about it. Thus, I concluded, that I would not be invited, be a part of it, and have made my summer and September plans accordingly." -- but that's likely too much reading for the casual folks.)

You are encouraged to revisit the Razutis essay 'Art and Holography - part 3' and the Appendix C, on the subject of 'holo harpies' to see how this continued in 2018, and is documented in e-mails, and not just in the 'last century'.

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A prequel to all this:
The last big show from Canada that 'vanished', but the Canucks don't seem to care!
Lost in Time and Space -- Al Razutis, 1992

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