OptikerOn view through July 2025
Stephen Benton, a founding faculty member of the MIT Media Lab, called himself an "optiker" – someone who works at the intersection of light and vision.
The select holograms on view in this intimate exhibition represent stopping points on an experimental journey. In his lab at Polaroid in 1965, Benton made his first conventional hologram with his wife Jeannie and with John and Mary McCann. In 1968, Benton made his own groundbreaking contribution to holography – the first white-light transmission, or "rainbow," holograms. His creations opened new possibilities in scientific and commercial imaging, while establishing a new artistic medium.
Stand in front of these holograms, and there's the illusion that you are "seeing" something. In reality, the scene in the hologram does not exist – until light waves from the hologram meet your eyes.
On view June 28.