Aperture Lucida

2019, Immersive Holographic Installation

On first approach, the viewer encounters a black monolith: an 8-foot-tall cube-like structure in the middle of a white room.  A ball of light appears to hover in space several feet out in front of the monolith –seemingly projected from it.  As the viewer gets closer, the holographic ball of light can be inspected from all sides as if it is an object in the room. Step into the ball of light and things get really interesting!

Duke invented the principal technology behind this work in his search for ways to visualize the structure of a hologram.  Though the piece seems to actively generate light, in fact it is an entirely passive technology and does not include any electronics at all.  The dynamic holographic effect is achieved with precision aligned holes which harvest ambient light from the room, channeling and focusing it into a virtual object. 

Aperture Lucida is part of the permanent collection of the Exploratorium in San Francisco. The sound score for the installation was composed by Matt Barbier.