Honorary Mention Interactive Art+
Yoichi Ochiai (JP)
Fairy Lights in Femtoseconds is a 3-dimensional holograph that creates a dialogue between the physical and the immaterial, melting the border between matter and images. The result of a successful collaboration between artist Yoichi Ochiai and three Japanese universities, compositions of light fields are created using laser-induced plasma, operating in 30 femtosecond pulses (30 quadrillionths of a second). Exciting the plasma at high intensity for ultra short time periods causes it to emit light arbitrarily outwards into 3D space. Holographic synthesis on light fields has long been the subject of science fiction and is often visualised in moves and computer games. This project employs a method of rendering aerial and volumetric graphics into three-dimensional, computationally controlled matter. It evokes a magical science-fiction narrative, situating the imaginary and intangible within the ordinary world.
