Light liquid: a holographic ‘lake’ installed on the roof of an architect's model townscape

Abstract

There has been considerable speculation about the use of holography in architecture and interior design over the past 20 years, with some spectacular examples having been realised. A number of installed works are referenced which use interior and exterior structures and spaces. Scale is considered as well as the possibility of architectural works existing within an artificial (model) environment. The visual, conceptual and critical values such an installation provokes are interrogated, with particular reference to 'Light Liquid, a holographic ‘lake’ installed within the 2011 Miniment[s] exhibition at Nottingham Trent University, UK. Aspects of miniature public art interventions, and whether they can have a critical validity within a contrived and artificial environment, are examined.