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Comments by Rosemary Jackson, DirectorMuseum of Holography, February 1976. 

From the catalog of the exhibit "Holografi - Det 3-Dimensionella Mediet".

The imagery in this hologram is particularly interesting because it uses one hologram within another hologram, an effect which produces a separate space within another space. This is not a double exposure technique. There is actually a holographic plate projecting a hologram within the hologram.  Dunkley has produced a concept of space in physical reality that does not exist in natural physical reality - at least, as far as we know.  This 'modulation' of space is a unique aspect of holography.  It has the ability to record separate viewable states of reality within one larger realm of real space.  In other words, a "space" with its own imagery, perspective and parallax can exist within a larger holographic space having its own imagery, perspective and parallax (which naturally includes the smaller space in its overall imagery, as in en Dunkley's).  It is somewhat like a three-dimensional collage technique, with the characteristic of dimensionality giving it a phenomenally unique frame of reference, the implications of which we are not wholly prepared to understand because, as a concept and as a reality, we are not familiar enough with the world of three-dimensions.  It is a provoking phenomenon, and it has been employed with extraordinary sensitivity in this piece.

However, the sole importance of this piece is not that it uses a fascinating characteristic of  holography. The technical quality and creativity of the piece, the direction it takes the viewer in, the direction it leads holography in, mark it as one of the pivotal holograms in the development of holography as an art form.

Comments by Rosemary Jackson, Director

Museum of Holography, February 1976. From the catalog of the exhibit "Holografi - Det 3-Dimensionella Mediet".

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The New York Times

ARTS AND LEISURE

Sunday, May 11, 1975

Holograms: They Seem to Float in Air

Peggy Sealfon

...One of the most fascinating works, "Thoughts," created by a young physics instructor, Kenneth Dunkley, is actually a third generation hologram ( a hologram of a hologram of a hologram) and shows a remarkable use of three-dimensional space. 

....Excerpted from a full page article on holography.

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The Gleaner

August 29, 1982  (The major newspaper of Jamaica, West Indies)

Holography: three dimensional art form

by Tina Matkovic Spiro

Recently on a trip to New York, I had the privilege of a guided tour of a unique institution, the Museum of Holography at 14 Mercer Street in the SoHo art district. I was introduced to this extraordinary display by Carolyn Mulligan, a member of the Board of the Museum and frequent visitor to Jamaica.      ....  text omitted....

• Timeless concept

Prior to visiting the Museum, I had learned that a pioneer of Art Holography was Ken Dunkley, grandson of the Intuitive Jamaican Master John Dunkley.  Ed Bush, a holographer in charge of the Museum's workshop and good friend of Ken Dunkley, gave the Gleaner the following information regarding his work. "Ken Dunkley is a Physicist in New Jersey for Princeton Applied Research in experimental physics. From 1970-1975 he worked at the New York School of Holography. One of the few pieces from the period that has held up is Dunkley's piece called "Thoughts", one of the first pieces of Holographic Art in America, and one that is still beautiful. The concept is timeless and symbolizes the goal of holographic art, which is to understand the aesthetic of Holography, plus science, physics and man's place in the Universe". 

That Hologram "Thoughts," which is unfortunately illustrated in 2-dimensions here, draws one to think of Grandfather John Dunkley,'s moody and mystical receding landscapes.  Can this sensitivity have skipped a generation and re-emerged? Uniquely, Ken Dunkley made this one and only superb Hologram and no others. As if he said it all in one work, which perhaps he did. There is a traveling exhibition of Holography called "Through the Looking Glass", which broke all attendance records at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem last year. Perhaps we could be fortunate enough some time in the future to view this exhibition in Jamaica with the addition of Dunkley's work.

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L.A.S.E.R.  NEWS 

Vol. VIII # 4, Winter 1988/89

By Bruce Goldberg

Holography came to the attention of a few pioneering artists in the early 1970's who perceived the opening up of an entirely new medium.  With the proliferation of holography in the early 1980's via embossed holograms and holographic galleries and museums throughout the world, it has become appropriate to ask larger questions about the development of the holographic aesthetic.  The most obvious of these is, what are the significant holograms produced thus far?

Early holograms were generally quite crude, both technically and artistically, but occasionally an exceptional piece pointed the way toward a new medium of unique capabilities. The first such piece, for this reviewer, is Ken Dunkley's Thoughts (1973). A laser-viewable transmission hologram, this piece depicts a face drawn in the sand of a holographic sand table with several mirrors positioned in the sand so as to reflect parts of the scene and create a staircase-like procession of images.

The artist's own Interpretation of this piece Is illuminating. 'Its particular elements and relationships were motivated by the idea that any arbitrary subset of life can also represent the whole. In this instance, sand, my daughters beach rake, and a holographically winding staircase were chosen... Five or six months after construction, I conceptually realized the image for what it really was: a three-dimensional representation of the flow of our thoughts... that the image, per se, cannot exist In our own physical space is as it should be." Posy Jackson, founder of the Museum of Holography in New York, has called Thoughts "one of the pivotal holograms in the development of holography as an art form."

The technique of holograms-within-holograms has been used by several artists, foremost among them Dan Schweitzer. 

....Excerpted from a full page article.

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by Graham Saxby

This exhibition, which was formally opened by Princess Margaret on Tuesday 21 June, was described by the President of the RPS in his introductory speech as 'the most ambitious and largest exhibition of holography ever held.'

....Ken Dunkley is a physicist and engineer, and has the unusual distinction of having made only one creative hologram in his career, and that was ten years ago; but an image so powerful as to have had a considerable influence an subsequent artists. Shown for the first time in this country, 'Thoughts' is a laser transmission hologram of rare quality. It takes as its theme a sandbox (a crude kind of optical table used by many amateur holographers) which becomes the subject itself. In the background are three steps, sweeping down to the surface of the sand, which is raked into concentric circular ridges; out of these ridges, in the foreground, rises a bas-relief sand culture of a face with a wry expression (a self-portrait, perhaps?). This is a fascinating work, and unlike many holograms it retains much of its impact when reduced to two dimensions by photography.

....Excerpted from a four page article

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For those individual imagemakers who work uniquely, who abandon conformity, who dissimilate and vary, who see the world realistically through abstract technologies, who have the capacity to resolve the incomprehensible, who can compose images without the use of a camera and, in so doing. present society with a totally new way of seeing itself, thank God!

Imagine a laboratory isolated from the outside world-vibration free, tenebrous; a dark, limited space. Across a table, a beam of coherent light cuts through the darkness, so perfect, so powerful, so pure that it cannot be found in nature. Split into several beams at adjacent angles, the light of one or more beams illuminates an object, while another crisscrosses the object's reflected light image on a photographic plate. The chemically processed plate, viewed later under the same laser light source reveals the object as fluorescent light sculpture; dimensional, with real depth, chroma, texture, and absolute detail.

The process of holography was conceived by Dr. Dennis Gabor in 1947; it has been refined and expanded upon ever since. First thought of as a tool for scientific investigation, it has now been recognized as an art form with the opening of the Museum of Holography, 11 Mercer Street, New York City.

Holography as art is not a unique concept. The first holographic art exhibition was held at the Cranbrook Acaderpy of Art in Michigan in 1970. Five years later, the International Center of Photography in New York City featured: Holography '75: The First Decade; the exhibition received mixed reviews. While limited exhibition and productive work by scattered individuals proceeded slowly in the Western countries (mainly the United States, Germany, and Sweden), the Soviet Union rapidly pushed ahead research and production. Teams of scientists and artists were given priority status to work in elaborate state-financed laboratory facilities. New developments, especially in holographic movies and time-sequence pictures were made.

Art and photography critics in the United States continue to contradict one another over the medium's validity as art. Still feared and misunderstood by artists, photographers, educators, and critics, holography now has another opportunity. One hopes the museum's opening will reestablish holography's precedence in- the United States and the West. …Text omitted

Fortunately, most of the holograms in the show are of far greater artistic consequence. Thoughts, by Kenneth Dunkley, uses the holographic space as a limitless dimension reflected into infinity. Here is a subaerial sand portrait, not unlike man's first prehistoric attempt at representing himself. This crude image presents holography as an antinomy, a clear plastic paradox. Man drew lines in soft earth; he traced shadows and made outline of himself on cave walls. They can be found today at Altamira in Spain and Lascaux in France. Yet holography is distinctive. …

Excerpted from a full page article

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A hologram is a kind of three-dimensional "photograph." A laser beam reflected from the object being holographed is directed onto a photosensitive glass plate. No picture becomes visible on the plate, but when a laser beam is later focused on the plate a three-dimensional life-like image of the object holographed appears like magic in space. Kenneth Dunkley, a young Black physics instructor, is quickly becoming an important holographer. He began working on a problem in holography for his Ph.D. in physics, but soon found himself making holograms just for "fun." He talks about them as if he were an artist describing his painting. His Space Children illustrates this wedding of science and art, and Thoughts has not only been acclaimed as first-rate art, but is considered an example of the furthest the medium has been carried to date. In November an exhibition of his holograms will be held at the New York School of Holography, 120 West 20th Street, New York City.

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The  Atlanta Journal Thursday. March 1, 1979 

Dunkley Clan Exhibit Entertaining Look at 75 Years of Talent

By W.C.Burnett

 

"Seventy-Five Years of the Dunkley Family" contains so many  interesting facets that it has to be one of the most unusual shows in the Atlanta area.

Kenneth Dunkley is an engineer, and his 'involvement with physical things is shown in his photographs, which include pictures of a ship's rudder, splashing water, the shape of primitive boats in the Caribbean, and scenes from Brooklyn. It's tight, well disciplined work.

(The reviewer did not see the hologram)

The show is at Handshake Gallery, 401 W. Peachtree St. NE through March 30.

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NEXT      July /August 1980

[Photo of Thoughts covering two full pages] 

...All holographic formats use variations on this basic process. A table covered with a deep layer of sand is often used to isolate a hologram-in the-making from ruinous vibrations.  A face is sculptured in the sand in Kenneth Dunkley's transmission hologram, THOUGHTS, 1973, 8" x 10". Dunkley says the hologram is "a three-dimensional representation of the flow of our thoughts."  THOUGHTS is the first recorded example of independent "serially connected" visual spaces. The first visual space contains a second that is completely independent of the first, and it in turn contains a third independent space. And so on.      

...Excerpted from a four page article.

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The Bulletin

           Philadelphia, PA                        December 2, 1979

Holographers - fighting an uphill battle

New Spaces: The Holographer's Vision at Philadelphia's Franklin Institute, 20th and Race Sts., through March.

By Nessa Forman, Bulletin Arts and Leisure Editor

For better or worse, the American artist has always been seduced by technology.  During the past decade the public has been bored by the video artist, whose romance with equipment, for the most part, was one sided. ...

....Ten years ago, it was widely believed that holography would be a common word by now. It isn't. The serious holographer, staging an uphill battle, found himself closed out of commercial galleries, misunderstood by the public and shunned by most traditional art museums.

There was good reason. ...

...Now the $64 question raised by Philadelphia's science museum, the Franklin Institute, in its current show, "New Spaces, the Holographer's Vision:"  Is holography a valid art form, capable of communication, esthetic discovery and critical attention? This is the first national exhibit ever funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, treating holography as a serious art.  This is the first exhibit which comes to terms with holography as a technical and esthetic experience....  

...Are holograms art? Perhaps. Holography has potential in the right hands.....

...But there are extraordinary masters of technique a such as ...

...Most effective, though, is the holographer with the artist's sensibility. Look to Sam Moree's "Sidewalk Dreams" for a poetic interpretation of nature; Harriet Casdin-Silver's "Equivocal Forks I" for a touch of floating surrealism; Nick Phillips "Digital" a contemporary computer landscape; Scott Nemtzow's "Creme de Motion," a hypnotizing motion study; and Kenneth Dunkley's extraordinary haunting "Thoughts."  

Science can fail and publish the reasons for its failure.  Artists must produce.  Holography and holographers are in the transitional stages. What the Franklin Institute shows is the rudiments of a technological explosion that has potential for becoming art without qualifications.

...Excerpted from a half page article.

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Diverse Holographic Works Grace Franklin Institute

Medium's meditation greeted visitors to "New Spaces: The Holographer's Vision, at tile Franklin Institute. "Thoughts" by Ken Dunkley (1973) occupies a prominent place in the minds of many who have followed the advance of the art. Its inclusion in the exhibition affords a rare opportunity to view this affecting early work. Photo c l 9 75, Steven Borns.

PHILADELPHIA - "New Spaces: The Holographer's Vision," an exhibition of holograms from around the world, opened here on September 26 at the Franklin Institute Science Museum. The show, made possible by grants from the NEA and Marilyn L. Steinbright and organized by Harvey S. Miller brought together a diverse set of works spanning the last decade and representing the spectrum of holographic techniques. On the whole, the exhibition impressed this critic with the fact that the only bond the works share is a common medium. Holography has long suffered from the stigma of being considered a three-dimensional medium with a one-dimensional approach and it was a delight to see as many philosophical and aesthetic as technical issues addressed and, for the most part, answered.

….The show includes several classic historic pieces never before or seldom exhibited. "Hologram" by Bruce Naumann, is a pulse laser self portrait and one of the earliest uses of this technique by an artist. "The Witch and the Devil" by Bob Schinella is one of the first holograms to incorporate a hologram within a hologram, but while both of these pieces are technically and historically significant, their imagery is outstripped by the profound vision expressed by Ken Dunkley in "Thoughts." Dunkley presents us with his own sand-sculpted self portrait with sand-sculpted interference fringes issuing from his head, metaphorically equated with his thoughts. In a curve stretching endlessly into the background are other holographic permutations of the same image, leading us into infinity. This highly contemplative work would have been better placed away from the entrance where ambient light detracted from it.

… On the whole, the works in the Franklin Institute show establish new criteria of excellence from both a technical and artistic perspective. The question that remains to be answered is why it should take a science museum to mount the most versatile and intriguing exhibition of artistic holograms this side of the Museum of Holography.

...Excerpted from a two  page article.

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By Timothy R. Dougherty 

(of the Tribune Staff)

[Photo of Ken Dunkley]    HOLOGRAPHER KENNETH DUNKLEY, presently living in Philadelphia, is credited with boosting the art of holography from an infant into its mature state. - Photo Courtesy of Franklin Institute.

[Photo of Thoughts]    Entitled "Thoughts," this hologram is one of the earliest examples of holography as an art form. - Photo by Steve Born

Probably the first thing that will strike you when you enter the darkened room which houses the holography exhibit in the Franklin Institute is the way folks look, at them. Usually stooped over and squinting, at first, then backing away with their heads bobbing up and down.  After a moment or two, the exhibit-goers look more like Oriental people greeting each other than they do art appreciators.

....Some of the images in the exhibit are genuinely breath-taking and others simply defy description.

....The most provocative hologram comes from Kenneth J. Dunkley, considered by his peers as the pioneer in holographic art. His creation, entitled "Thoughts", is actually a hologram within a hologram.  Dunkley, a young Black physicist whose knowledge of holography is surpassed by few, described his exhibit as "a three-dimensional representation of the flow of our thoughts."

Although that description might be a bit cerebral for most laypersons, it probably is right on target. Circular lines resembling ripples in long sand dunes in Dunkley's hologram evoke images of wandering thoughts in this truly mind-boggling art form.

Dunkley, a Brooklyn born holographer of West Indian ancestry, has lectured on physics and science at Brooklyn College, New York University and New York Community College. He interrupted his work on a Ph.D. degree in physics three years ago, but is now considering continuing.  It is because of his background in physics that Dunkley first became aware of holograms.

"I stumbled into my first show in New York about eight or nine years ago, after I was blown away by seeing and understanding holograms," he said in a recent interview. "For me, they made sense mathematically after a complete study."

For most of us who can't figure out a checkbook mathematically, the idea of understanding an aesthetic idea such as holography by numbers is a little hard to fathom. But, no matter how you look at these lifelike photographs, they are something to behold.  They will remain on display at the Institute for the next few weeks, if you appetite has been whetted.

...Excerpted from a half  page article.

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Light Dimensions: The Exhibition of the Evolution of Holography

June 22nd to September 10th, 1983 at the National Center of Photography, The Octagon, Bath England

From the catalog of the exhibit:  By Andrew Pepper

AP

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MESSAGES TO THE FUTURE

Some of the history of holography 

by... Jody Burns

Thank you for that nice introduction. I'm here because of my past association and collaboration with Dieter Dieter Jung in the art of holography.

Dieter asked me if I could come and talk to you today about some of the history of holography and the interaction between its artistic and scientific aspects and then speculate on what the future might hold.

...Much text omitted

Ken Dunkley, (Twenty third slide - KEN) a graduate physics student at Fordham University [correction:  New York University] in NYC, produced a piece in 1973 called "Thoughts". It is the only piece he is known for but it has been exhibited all over the world. Thoughts has had a profound impact on the holographic art community. Not only is it aesthetically pleasing, it was the first piece to extend holography beyond the third dimension. No holographer after seeing Ken's piece was ever able again to think of holography as strictly "three dimensional photography that can be seen without special glasses." In Thoughts, Ken used other holograms to create new spaces within the actual hologram....

....Excerpted from an extended talk delivered in Germany

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